Projects

Civicorps’ Environmental Management Social Enterprise conducts environmental enhancement and mitigation projects across the Bay Area. Working in partnership with 11 public agencies, our Corpsmembers get paid to perform critical conservation projects while advancing their education and leadership skills.

Over the last several decades, we have worked diligently to acquire the equipment and train our crews and leadership to perform a wide range of conservation services. We are able to support our community and partners by providing trail construction and maintenance, woodland fire mitigation, habitat restoration and shoreline resiliency, and waterway improvement. In 2021 alone, our youth contributed 95,183 hours of conservation work to the community, reducing 45 acres of wildfire fuel load, clearing 43 miles of waterways and shorelines, and maintaining 65 miles of trails.

“Civicorps performs a lot of outstanding work for us,” says Jeff Rasmussen, Assistant Finance Officer for East East Bay Regional Park’s District (EBRPD). “As a government agency, we benefit from supporting the mission of the Park District and the community, and the park district benefits by supporting the work that you do and giving people job opportunities, job training experience, and experience out in the parks.It’s challenging work, and we appreciate Civicorps’ hard work and flexibility.”

As an agency, we strive to be flexible, prepared, and ready to send a crew wherever our community and environment need us.

New Customers Existing Customers

For over 35 years, Civicorps has worked to increase recycling rates in California by providing single-stream collection. This has been made possible largely through funding received from CalRecycle. Today we provide commercial services to over 1,300 businesses and institutions in Oakland – collecting over 300,000 pounds of recycling materials every month.

In 2015, we added three additional recycling services in response to diversified funding from CalRecycle: E-waste collection, removal and disposal of illegally dumped tires and used oil safety and education programs.

We offer competitively priced and customized collection services to ensure that the maximum number of businesses can responsibly and easily dispose of their recyclable materials.

Our seven daily routes are performed by program participants who are on a pathway to become Class B licensed drivers.  Participants train in industry standard vehicles and receive specialized instruction from our licensed trainer. All training hours are paid whether on the road performing a route, receiving behind-the-wheel training, or in the classroom. Our instructor will even accompany our interns to their driving test. Once they get their Class B, they’re eligible to transfer to Waste Management as a Teamster Apprentice, which is a recognized position in the Teamster union. They’re also highly sought after by companies in the trucking industry, other recycling companies and city and county governments.

Our recycling services create a feeling of community for our Corpsmembers and the neighborhoods we serve. Cleaning up the tires, being present for the recycling services – often in Corpsmembers’ own neighborhoods – creates a feeling of pride and partnership that can be as rewarding as a paycheck.

Deeply embedded in West Oakland, Civicorps has responded to our community’s changing needs throughout our 40 year history.  From engaging in emergency response after the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989 to confronting a global pandemic in 2020, we are consistently  challenged to innovate new ways of serving and supporting both our participants and our community.  We are called upon, over and over, to meet the moment.  And meeting the moment is what being a Corpsmember is all about.  It is about leadership. It is about understanding how what we do today influences who we will be tomorrow. And it is about service.