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Kris SarriAssistant Secretary - Policy, Management, and Budget
FY 14-15: Agency Priority Goal
Engaging the Next Generation
Priority Goal
Goal Overview
a. Problem or opportunity being addressed
The future of the Country’s natural, cultural and historic heritage depends on the next generation of active stewards. The Millennial generation, defined as individuals born in 1980 or later, is larger, more urban and diverse than any generation in our history. Yet Millennials have grown up more disconnected from the natural world. As Secretary Sally Jewell indicated, “Engaging the millennial generation in service on public lands, welcoming them into the Department of the Interior, and so many other opportunities to have work within public lands management, is going to be a critical part of our future, if we care about these special places that help define us.”
Secretary Sally Jewell, March 14, 2014 – Announcing the Next Generation Priority http://www.doi.gov/youth/news/engaging-the-next-generation.cfm
The underlying objective of Interior's Engaging the Next Generation priority is to establish meaningful and deep connections between young people from every background and every community to the great outdoors. Interior is investing millions of dollars in our Engaging the Next Generation priority to inspire millions of young people to play, learn, serve and work outdoors. To that end, Interior has established a goal of providing 100,000 work and training opportunities over four years to individuals up to the age of 35. In support of this long-term goal, the FY 2014-FY 2015 priority goal is being extended to include ages 15-35 in providing 40,000 work and training opportunity over the two year period, starting in FY 2015.
This priority goal complements Interior’s efforts to develop a 21st Century Workforce. The Department benefits from a workforce that is passionate about the mission, dedicated to public service, and highly skilled and knowledgeable. Across Interior, 40% of our permanent workforce will be eligible to retire within the next five years. Providing a variety of work and training opportunities to students and recent graduates is critical to our succession planning.
b. Relationship to agency strategic goals and objectives
This priority goal supports Strategic Plan mission area 4, “Engaging the Next Generation” as well as efforts to create a 21st Century Workforce. The priority goal aims to address reductions in work and training opportunities created by fiscal challenges in FY 2013 and builds upon the number of opportunities provided in FY 2010-FY 2012.
This priority goal for work and training opportunities builds upon other Engaging the Next Generation initiatives at DOI. The Department’s goal of engaging youth in conservation includes programs to encourage the nation’s youth to play, learn, serve, and work in the great outdoors. As the culmination of this four pronged approach, work and training opportunities for youth depend in great part on successful efforts to promote recreation on DOI-managed public lands, encourage the nation’s educators to bring our natural environment into classrooms, and cultivate a culture of service in support of conservation and natural resource management.
c. Key barriers and challenges
Work and training opportunities, both directly by the Department and through partners, must occur within a specific time-frame for seasonal and temporary summer employment in order to secure commitments from participants. If bureaus miss the window of opportunity during the limited time-frame, participants may seek employment opportunities elsewhere. Additionally, with approximately one-third of DOI youth employment stemming from partnership agreements, budget uncertainty creates significant challenges to Bureaus’ ability to enter into partnership agreements, particularly for the peak hiring seasons when colleges are out of session. These public/private partnership efforts help to leverage Federal dollars, in some cases by a 3 to 1 ratio, and assist the Department in increasing youth employment opportunities.
In FY 2013, fiscal and budgetary challenges significantly impacted the Department’s ability to fund work and training opportunities for youth. Furthermore, the timing of the budgetary uncertainty, as well as the implementation of new models of youth employment across the government, via the Pathways program, made timely hiring of youth for those available positions difficult. Should current budgetary and fiscal trends continue, the Department expects these to pose a barrier to fulfillment of this goal.
d. Stakeholder Engagement
Key partners include the over 150 members of the Corps Network that engage 30,000 young people in all 50 States in addition to the work of the Public Lands Service Coalition. These public/private partnership efforts help to leverage Federal dollars in some cases 3 to 1 and have assisted the Departments in increasing youth employment opportunities. In addition, there are many non-profit, corporate, state, local and tribal entities that partner with the Department to enhance volunteer service opportunities and youth employment in the great outdoors. It will continue to be important to engage these stakeholders as we implement related recommendations for the broader youth stewardship and engagement priority goal.
Strategies
The Department has already implemented mechanisms to track and evaluate the number of youth ages 15 to 35 employed by DOI or through partner organizations starting in FY 2015. On a quarterly basis, the Department obtains DOI employment data directly from its personnel system to ensure a consistent data collection methodology is used to report youth employment. Additionally, bureaus report employment through partnership so that total employment can be tracked and analyzed each quarter.
Progress Update
While the goal was initially targeted for youth, ages 15-25, the goal was expanded in FY 2015 to include “Millennials”, i.e. ages 15 to 35. Throughout FY 2015, 35,952 Millennials had been engaged in the conservation mission of the Department. Combined with the 16,644 youth, ages 15-25, engaged in FY 2014, the Department engaged the sum of 52,596 individuals, exceeding the two year goal of 40,000 work and training opportunities for the next generation. The level of FY 2014 and FY 2015 engagement will be added to the next 2 years’ level of engagement for the FY 2016-2017 Priority Goal toward a level of 100,000 individuals between the ages of 15-35 engaged in the conservation mission of the Department.
Significance of the Accomplishment (through the Priority Goal) especially in relation to past experience and benefit to the public
The Department met its priority goal by providing 52,596 work and training opportunities over the past two fiscal years. The Department offered a variety of opportunities through partnerships with tribes, colleges and universities, corporate networks, other Federal agencies, Non-Government Organizations, and DOI Bureaus. Opportunities to work in programs related to natural resources, forestry, engineering, water conservation, climate change, earth and biological sciences, agriculture and rangeland better ensures a continued appreciation for conserving our natural and cultural resources, and provides invaluable exposure to career opportunities available in conservation.
Collaborative efforts across all levels of government, and mobilization of the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps resulted in several high impact initiatives, including Latino Heritage internships, an engineering internship pilot in the field of Materials and Corrosion, Developing the Next Generation of Conservationists grants, the AmeriCorps Environmental Summer Steward program, and expansion of the Urban Wildlife Conservation Program. These initiatives enabled significant progress towards the Department’s goal to provide 100,000 work & training opportunities to young people and veterans by the end of FY 2017.
Next Steps
No Data Available
Contributing Programs & Other Factors
Contributing Programs within the agency
Every Interior Bureau is participating in the priority goal: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Indian Education, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, Bureau of Reclamation, National Park Service, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Geological Survey.
Contributing programs or partners outside the agency
Interior collaborates with multiple partnership organizations to employ youth. These include Federal Partners, such as the Departments of Labor and Agriculture, Office of Personnel Management, and Corporation for National and Community Service and non-Federal Partners, such as The Corps Network, Southwest Conservation Corps, and Student Conservation Association.
A key initiative to leverage partners for FY 2014 and FY 2015 will be the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps (21CSC). In 2010, President Obama created the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative to encourage Americans, particularly young people, to enjoy our country’s rivers and waterways, farms and forests, and local and national parks. As part of this initiative, the President called for the creation of the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps (21CSC) to establish quality jobs, career pathways and service opportunities for youth and veterans. $20 million is being raised from the private sector to support the work of youth and veteran corps.
Expand All
Strategic Goals
Strategic Goal:
Develop the next generation of lifelong conservation stewards and ensure our own skilled and diverse workforce pipeline
Statement:
To develop the next generation of lifelong conservation stewards and ensure our own skilled and diverse workforce pipeline, Interior will provide 100,000 work & training opportunities to young people (ages 15 to 25) over four years. In order to achieve the goal, we will utilize public-private partnerships to leverage additional resources and provide additional work and training opportunities than those we could do on our own. Our work and training opportunities will support the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps (21CSC) which is a multi-agency effort to provide work and training opportunities in stewardship of our public lands to young people and veterans, helping them develop skills to serve both the nation’s natural and cultural resources, but also their own futures. The other 21 CSC federal agency partners are Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Environmental Protection Agency, Army, Council on Environmental Quality and the Corporation for National and Community Service.
Strategic Objectives
Statement:
Number of work and training opportunities provided to young people.
Description:
Young people’s involvement in the Department’s stewardship activities provides benefits that are far reaching, including: educating a generation about nature and the values surrounding conservation; infusing energy and new thinking into the Federal Government; creating opportunities to improve the health of younger generations; providing hands-on green job experience and career pathways; and supplying important economic benefits in both rural and urban communities. The Department’s bureaus and offices are taking a number of steps to engage the next generation in the Department’s conservation work, including partnering with schools, coordinating volunteers, and welcoming young people to play, learn, serve, and work in the outdoors. With one-third of the Department’s workforce eligible to retire within the next 5 years, engaging the next generation is critical not only for the health of our public lands and economy, it also is key to ensuring a new generation of land managers, wildlife biologists, tribal experts, park rangers, scientists, civil engineers, lawyers, and the many other professionals that enable the Department to carry out its diverse missions.
Agency Priority Goals
Statement:
Engaging the Next Generation: By September 30, 2015, the Department of Interior will provide 40,000 work and training opportunities over two fiscal years (FY 2014 and FY 2015) for individuals age 15 to 35 to support the mission of the Department.
Description:
a. Problem or opportunity being addressed
The future of the Country’s natural, cultural and historic heritage depends on the next generation of active stewards. The Millennial generation, defined as individuals born in 1980 or later, is larger, more urban and diverse than any generation in our history. Yet Millennials have grown up more disconnected from the natural world. As Secretary Sally Jewell indicated, “Engaging the millennial generation in service on public lands, welcoming them into the Department of the Interior, and so many other opportunities to have work within public lands management, is going to be a critical part of our future, if we care about these special places that help define us.”
Secretary Sally Jewell, March 14, 2014 – Announcing the Next Generation Priority http://www.doi.gov/youth/news/engaging-the-next-generation.cfm
The underlying objective of Interior's Engaging the Next Generation priority is to establish meaningful and deep connections between young people from every background and every community to the great outdoors. Interior is investing millions of dollars in our Engaging the Next Generation priority to inspire millions of young people to play, learn, serve and work outdoors. To that end, Interior has established a goal of providing 100,000 work and training opportunities over four years to individuals up to the age of 35. In support of this long-term goal, the FY 2014-FY 2015 priority goal is being extended to include ages 15-35 in providing 40,000 work and training opportunity over the two year period, starting in FY 2015.
This priority goal complements Interior’s efforts to develop a 21st Century Workforce. The Department benefits from a workforce that is passionate about the mission, dedicated to public service, and highly skilled and knowledgeable. Across Interior, 40% of our permanent workforce will be eligible to retire within the next five years. Providing a variety of work and training opportunities to students and recent graduates is critical to our succession planning.
b. Relationship to agency strategic goals and objectives
This priority goal supports Strategic Plan mission area 4, “Engaging the Next Generation” as well as efforts to create a 21st Century Workforce. The priority goal aims to address reductions in work and training opportunities created by fiscal challenges in FY 2013 and builds upon the number of opportunities provided in FY 2010-FY 2012.
This priority goal for work and training opportunities builds upon other Engaging the Next Generation initiatives at DOI. The Department’s goal of engaging youth in conservation includes programs to encourage the nation’s youth to play, learn, serve, and work in the great outdoors. As the culmination of this four pronged approach, work and training opportunities for youth depend in great part on successful efforts to promote recreation on DOI-managed public lands, encourage the nation’s educators to bring our natural environment into classrooms, and cultivate a culture of service in support of conservation and natural resource management.
c. Key barriers and challenges
Work and training opportunities, both directly by the Department and through partners, must occur within a specific time-frame for seasonal and temporary summer employment in order to secure commitments from participants. If bureaus miss the window of opportunity during the limited time-frame, participants may seek employment opportunities elsewhere. Additionally, with approximately one-third of DOI youth employment stemming from partnership agreements, budget uncertainty creates significant challenges to Bureaus’ ability to enter into partnership agreements, particularly for the peak hiring seasons when colleges are out of session. These public/private partnership efforts help to leverage Federal dollars, in some cases by a 3 to 1 ratio, and assist the Department in increasing youth employment opportunities.
In FY 2013, fiscal and budgetary challenges significantly impacted the Department’s ability to fund work and training opportunities for youth. Furthermore, the timing of the budgetary uncertainty, as well as the implementation of new models of youth employment across the government, via the Pathways program, made timely hiring of youth for those available positions difficult. Should current budgetary and fiscal trends continue, the Department expects these to pose a barrier to fulfillment of this goal.
d. Stakeholder Engagement
Key partners include the over 150 members of the Corps Network that engage 30,000 young people in all 50 States in addition to the work of the Public Lands Service Coalition. These public/private partnership efforts help to leverage Federal dollars in some cases 3 to 1 and have assisted the Departments in increasing youth employment opportunities. In addition, there are many non-profit, corporate, state, local and tribal entities that partner with the Department to enhance volunteer service opportunities and youth employment in the great outdoors. It will continue to be important to engage these stakeholders as we implement related recommendations for the broader youth stewardship and engagement priority goal.
Strategic Objectives
Strategic Objective:
Provide conservation work and training opportunities for young people
Statement:
Number of work and training opportunities provided to young people.
Description:
Young people’s involvement in the Department’s stewardship activities provides benefits that are far reaching, including: educating a generation about nature and the values surrounding conservation; infusing energy and new thinking into the Federal Government; creating opportunities to improve the health of younger generations; providing hands-on green job experience and career pathways; and supplying important economic benefits in both rural and urban communities. The Department’s bureaus and offices are taking a number of steps to engage the next generation in the Department’s conservation work, including partnering with schools, coordinating volunteers, and welcoming young people to play, learn, serve, and work in the outdoors. With one-third of the Department’s workforce eligible to retire within the next 5 years, engaging the next generation is critical not only for the health of our public lands and economy, it also is key to ensuring a new generation of land managers, wildlife biologists, tribal experts, park rangers, scientists, civil engineers, lawyers, and the many other professionals that enable the Department to carry out its diverse missions.
Agency Priority Goals
Statement: Engaging the Next Generation: By September 30, 2015, the Department of Interior will provide 40,000 work and training opportunities over two fiscal years (FY 2014 and FY 2015) for individuals age 15 to 35 to support the mission of the Department.
Description: a. Problem or opportunity being addressed The future of the Country’s natural, cultural and historic heritage depends on the next generation of active stewards. The Millennial generation, defined as individuals born in 1980 or later, is larger, more urban and diverse than any generation in our history. Yet Millennials have grown up more disconnected from the natural world. As Secretary Sally Jewell indicated, “Engaging the millennial generation in service on public lands, welcoming them into the Department of the Interior, and so many other opportunities to have work within public lands management, is going to be a critical part of our future, if we care about these special places that help define us.” Secretary Sally Jewell, March 14, 2014 – Announcing the Next Generation Priority http://www.doi.gov/youth/news/engaging-the-next-generation.cfm The underlying objective of Interior's Engaging the Next Generation priority is to establish meaningful and deep connections between young people from every background and every community to the great outdoors. Interior is investing millions of dollars in our Engaging the Next Generation priority to inspire millions of young people to play, learn, serve and work outdoors. To that end, Interior has established a goal of providing 100,000 work and training opportunities over four years to individuals up to the age of 35. In support of this long-term goal, the FY 2014-FY 2015 priority goal is being extended to include ages 15-35 in providing 40,000 work and training opportunity over the two year period, starting in FY 2015. This priority goal complements Interior’s efforts to develop a 21st Century Workforce. The Department benefits from a workforce that is passionate about the mission, dedicated to public service, and highly skilled and knowledgeable. Across Interior, 40% of our permanent workforce will be eligible to retire within the next five years. Providing a variety of work and training opportunities to students and recent graduates is critical to our succession planning. b. Relationship to agency strategic goals and objectives This priority goal supports Strategic Plan mission area 4, “Engaging the Next Generation” as well as efforts to create a 21st Century Workforce. The priority goal aims to address reductions in work and training opportunities created by fiscal challenges in FY 2013 and builds upon the number of opportunities provided in FY 2010-FY 2012. This priority goal for work and training opportunities builds upon other Engaging the Next Generation initiatives at DOI. The Department’s goal of engaging youth in conservation includes programs to encourage the nation’s youth to play, learn, serve, and work in the great outdoors. As the culmination of this four pronged approach, work and training opportunities for youth depend in great part on successful efforts to promote recreation on DOI-managed public lands, encourage the nation’s educators to bring our natural environment into classrooms, and cultivate a culture of service in support of conservation and natural resource management. c. Key barriers and challenges Work and training opportunities, both directly by the Department and through partners, must occur within a specific time-frame for seasonal and temporary summer employment in order to secure commitments from participants. If bureaus miss the window of opportunity during the limited time-frame, participants may seek employment opportunities elsewhere. Additionally, with approximately one-third of DOI youth employment stemming from partnership agreements, budget uncertainty creates significant challenges to Bureaus’ ability to enter into partnership agreements, particularly for the peak hiring seasons when colleges are out of session. These public/private partnership efforts help to leverage Federal dollars, in some cases by a 3 to 1 ratio, and assist the Department in increasing youth employment opportunities. In FY 2013, fiscal and budgetary challenges significantly impacted the Department’s ability to fund work and training opportunities for youth. Furthermore, the timing of the budgetary uncertainty, as well as the implementation of new models of youth employment across the government, via the Pathways program, made timely hiring of youth for those available positions difficult. Should current budgetary and fiscal trends continue, the Department expects these to pose a barrier to fulfillment of this goal. d. Stakeholder Engagement Key partners include the over 150 members of the Corps Network that engage 30,000 young people in all 50 States in addition to the work of the Public Lands Service Coalition. These public/private partnership efforts help to leverage Federal dollars in some cases 3 to 1 and have assisted the Departments in increasing youth employment opportunities. In addition, there are many non-profit, corporate, state, local and tribal entities that partner with the Department to enhance volunteer service opportunities and youth employment in the great outdoors. It will continue to be important to engage these stakeholders as we implement related recommendations for the broader youth stewardship and engagement priority goal.
