USFWS/NCTC: Evaluation Plan and Implementation for the Youth in Natural Resource Careers Initiative

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Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has launched the Youth in Natural Resources (YNR) Initiative to ensure that talented and capable young people are ready to enter public service as natural resource professionals. The YNR initiative will reinvigorate the workforce with increased numbers of young people engaged in public service (employees) and national service (volunteers) as custodians of our natural resources. This new pool of public servants will be supported first by their families, communities and schools, then by Departmental youth programs intended to build their competencies, and finally by their employing bureau. The Department will work with colleges and universities to align degree programs with required competencies for entry-level positions, including resume building internships and jobs. Ultimately, this new cadre of natural resource professionals will forge a new era of conservation stewardship and public service for America. The National Conservation Training Center (NCTC) has been tasked with developing programs and projects to support the YNR initiative. A needs assessment has been developed by the Division of Education Outreach (DEO) at NCTC to identify needs of the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The DEO office is interested in formative and summative evaluations of these programs and products. Evaluations must be qualitative as well as quantitative.

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