PHANTASMA: NATIONAL PARK PRESERVERS

“Someone with financial problems, you can’t help them with money.”

Such is the motto of Ronald Leaks, community organizer at non-profit Groundwork Somerville–teach people how to use brushcutters, and give them an eye for an overgrown field.

Through a program called National Park Preservers, Leaks preps four at-risk youth for a competitive entrance into the outdoor work job market with 16 weeks of job training, skill development and resume building.

This year’s program, which started in July and runs through October, focuses on revitalizing the Minute Man Trail in Concord, Mass. As team members work to restore the land to its original state, they’re taught a repertoire of skills in landscaping, gardening and other green development.

“The guys who I hire are like ‘I can’t work inside. I can’t do an office job. I gotta work with my hands. I gotta be outside. I need this knowledge,’” Leaks explains. “What this does is just introduces them to the fundamentals– knowledge of basic tools, gardening, a feel for working outside all the time.”

The bottom line though: they need the money. For Leaks, it’s a situation that hits close to home. Just last year he was one of those youth.

“I took it because I needed the training,” he says. “I couldn’t afford an education. I fell on some hard times and I was looking for an opportunity to learn a trade and pursue a career.”

With the skills he learned and connections he built through NPP, Leaks quickly picked up side jobs and was hired by Groundwork as a community organizer.

Painfully conscious of the program’s importance, when funding from the National Park Service was cut down to 1/8 of last year’s, Leaks fought to keep it alive.

“It was on the chopping block, and that’s when I took it on,” he says.

Leaks cut down his hours at the other program he was coordinating and trimmed last year’s 20 team members down to mere 5, including himself. He says he’s “trying to make a lot with a little,” managing to finagle the 16-week program with $10 hourly pay for his part-time team.

In addition to their work on the Minute Man Trail, the NPP team completes weekly community service, pairing with local Somerville businesses like Apex Green Roofs, Corpbasics, Growing Center and local landscapers, helping with sundry needs while networking within the community.

“Not only do we help the city but we make these connections,” Leaks says. “Now these guys know about us, they know about the crew. They love the crew. Now they’re approachable to us– it’s not just another fitness gym that I walk by, it’s Andy’s gym, I can go and talk to Andy.”

Connections like these are part of the broader scope of National Park Preservers– to allow team members to build a network of resources that they’ll take with them once the program has ended. Leaks also sets up workshops on owning your own business, resume writing, budgeting and plans to take members to look for jobs in October.

For team member Kegan Graham, 20, this aspect of the program seems the most important.

“We’re not only doing landscaping, but also resume building so that once the program finishes we can get a job– a good job where you need a resume,” he says.

Graham, a self-described outdoorsman (he rides his bike everywhere, regardless of the season) says before the program he wasn’t doing much.

“I was sitting at home and doing nothing,” he says. “I didn’t want to get up and work or do anything. Now I’m excited to get up on that Monday or Tuesday morning with that drive to work.”

Ultimately, working on the trail is rewarding: “I just love seeing the change I can make in the environment. You cut the grass or you plant something and you look and you’re like ‘Wow, I did all this.’”

For Leaks, the objective is simple: that this year’s team members achieve the same fate that he has. That could mean working on a farm, starting a landscaping business or even running the program.

“I started off not having any direction, not knowing what to do and I came seeking an opportunity to learn something to leave with and now I’m in a stable position so that I have a job looking towards a career. I want all of them to wind up with that same story.”

National Park Preservers is looking for local businesses to partner with in Somerville and surrounding areas. Please e-mail Ronald Leaks at ronald@groundworksomerville.org