Welcome to the Urban Ranger Corps
The Urban Ranger Program Year 2012-13 begins on June 4th and important new elements are being added for a troop of 65 rangers, up from 50 rangers in 2011-12:
- • “New” Rangers (sophomores rising) will participate in a three year “School-To-Career” certification project in partnership with 4Sight Construction Company and the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC). Following high school graduation some rangers will be hired by 4Sight or pursue apprenticeships with other companies.
- • “Returning” rangers (juniors and seniors rising) will serve in paid internships at the Kansas City Zoo or paint homes, plant trees for neighborhood associations, clean up yards and lots, and help improve the Swope Park mountain bike trail
- • Our career coaches, in partnership with the Leawood Rotary Club, will modify and use the Club’s Project REACH – a successful college prep mentoring project – to recruit other Rotary clubs to do a Project REACH with Urban Rangers.
- • A partnership with the Manheim Park Association where a special team of rangers will be assigned to a full slate of projects with neighborhood residents
We congratulate the Missouri Department of Conservation’s Anita B. Gorman Discovery Center on delivering 10 years of “urban wildlife” education in the heart of our city. This will be the eighth summer when the Center’s dedicated and caring staff teaches our new rangers. It will be the third summer that the Center’s staff, with our staff, takes rangers for a three-day outdoor learning adventure and float trip on the Current River. The Department of Conservation is a Missouri treasure.
A Word From Father John
Our 2011-12 Urban Ranger program year ends on May 31. All of the 39 rangers who completed the 2011 Summer Session have completed their high school year. Our three seniors will graduate in May. The others will advance to the next grade level in the fall……
Meet Our Board
Our Board member introduction for May is Michael Halterman who also chairs our governing board. With Fr. John, Mike was one of the three incorporators of the Urban Ranger Corps in 2003. When the Urban Ranger program became operational in 2005, he continued as a director and in 2011 he was elected Chair….
