2022-09-07T08:07:22-04:00 2020-09-30 474306215 Mullins PC 7625 Wisconsin Avenue Bethesda MD 20814 990 2019-10-01 521683270 Earth Conservation Corps EART 1520 First Street SE Washington DC 20003 Robert H Nixon Co-Chairman 2024794505 2022-09-07 true John Mullins P01429307 2027706371 2022-09-07 2019 2023-04-26 12:10:37Z Robert H Nixon 259147 false X earthconservationcorps.org X 1990 DC Our mission to empower our endangered youth to reclaim the Anacostia River, their communities and their lives ECC engages at-risk youth in service through its corps on the river, in work force development and continued educational opportunities. 7 7 8 100 0 0 444147 206282 19287 51865 0 1000 463434 259147 0 0 275766 146159 0 23880 66997 286237 342763 432396 120671 -173249 482466 542789 32023 118866 450443 423923 Our mission to empower our endangered youth to reclaim the Anacostia River, their communities and their lives ECC engages at-risk youth in service through its corps on the river, in work force development and continued educational opportunities. false false 260809 Anacostia River Environmental ActionEarth Conservation Corps members volunteer for year of active conservation leading the community in Anacostia River restoration, raptor education and hands-on science to deliver solutions to the urgent challenges of climate change and environmental injustice. Our impact model builds tomorrows leaders though vital conservation work today. A small but expert staff and board teams with field biologists who define meaningful habitat restoration and research priorities. Eagle Corps Members are trained to care for our raptor education ambassadors and to handle them while make public conservation presentations, the lead teams of volunteers in build our raptor education center and share their stories of solution-based work through Youth Media Arts.See Schedule O for Continuation 260809 true true false false false false false false false false true false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false true 4 0 true 8 true false false false false false false false false false false false false X 7 7 true false false false false false false true true false false true true true true true true true true false false DC X X X The Organization 2024794505 1520 First Street SE Washington DC 20003 X Hon John Bridgeland Co-Chairman 15.00 0.00 X X 0 0 0 Robert H Nixon Co-Chairman 15.00 0.00 X X 0 0 0 Dan Tangherlini Secretary Treasurer 15.00 0.00 X X 0 0 0 LeVar Burton Director 15.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Dr Sylvia Earle Director 15.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Dylan C Glenn Director 15.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Sarah Guinan Nixon Director 15.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 false false false 8601 20273 177408 206282 Program Service Fees 900099 51865 51865 51865 8601 Other 900099 1000 1000 1000 259147 52865 0 0 X 127116 97688 10765 18663 19043 15634 398 3011 46740 2341 43473 926 81144 73696 6844 604 2782 1803 631 348 11354 1574 9464 316 1661 106 1543 12 12000 12000 1053 1046 7 44047 40222 3825 10503 2581 7922 Other 11146 11146 Bad Debt 63807 972 62835 432396 260809 147707 23880 166794 57637 32032 129005 1610667 1254520 283640 356147 482466 542789 32023 118866 32023 118866 X 450443 423923 450443 423923 482466 542789 X -173249 146729 X false false false X 267658 322360 355171 278544 206282 1430015 267658 322360 355171 278544 206282 1430015 271400 1158615 1430015 0.81020 0.81080 X RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED 274483 274483 835950 762254 73696 500234 492266 7968 356147 Officer directors etc family relationship Part VI line 2 A co-chairperson is married to a director. Form 990 governing body review Part VI line 11 The 990 is presented to the Board of Directors before it is filed. Conflict of interest policy compliance Part VI line 12c Annually, the staff and members of the Board of Directors sign the Conflict of Interest Policy at meetings in which the policy is discussed. CEO executive director top management comp Part VI line 15a Compensation for the Executive Director is reviewed annually by the board in comparison to similar organizations in the Metropolitan area. Other officer or key employee compensation Part VI line 15b Compensation for all key employees is reviewed annually by the board in comparison to similar organizations in the Metropolitan area. Governing documents etc available to public Part VI line 19 The Organization makes its governing documents, conflict of interest and financial statements available online to the public and upon reasonable request. Explanation of other changes in net assets or fund balances Part XI line 9 Prior period adjustment to reconcile the current year net assets to the prior year net assets. List of other fees for services expenses Part IX line 11g Program $73,696G&A $6,844Fundraising $604 General explanation attachment Program Service Accomplishments (Continuation):Across thirty years, we have seen youth engagement with nature through raptors and assisting field biologists in a transformative experience that increases graduation rates, sparks interest in higher education and improves employment prospects and lifelong commitments to conservation. In 2020, our focus is engaging youth enrolled Capital Guardian ChalleNGe Academys 5 month dropout prevention program and adjudicated youth in the New Beginnings Centre to empower them in the hands-on study and conservation of raptors. Being responsible for a wild raptor is a transformative experience that inspires; a desire to complete high school, interest in STEM subjects, and a reconnection to self. We have seen the successful quest for a high school diploma blossom into a pursuit of higher education and careers in wildlife science and environmental restoration.The DC high school drop-out rate is 32%. There is a 10-year difference in life expectancy and a 12.8% unemployment rate disparity between Ward 8 (16.8%) and Ward 2 (4.0%) as of February 2021 according to the Department of Employment Services. The International Journal of STEM Education reports that many minorities youth feel that they do not belong in STEM-based subjects and therefore do not pursue them. Nationally, the youth disconnection rate is 14.7% or 5.8 million young people. The most disconnected neighborhoods in DC are in Northeast and Southeast (Wards 7, 8) where the rate is 33.1% compared to NW DC, which is 2.9%. (Burd-Sharps, et. al.) In Wards 7 and 8, communities in DC that are greater than 90% non-white, not only are rates of disconnection higher for young people, but they are also more likely to experience lower levels of preparation for college and other postsecondary options. Our innovative programming has been recognized in scientific publications including Leaders, Archetypes, and Totems: A Psychodynamic Theory of Sustainable Culture by Dr. Janis L. Dickinson, Professor, Natural Resources, Professor of Citizen Science, Cornell Lab of Ornithology; and popular publications including, The Wonder of Birds by New York Times Science Writer, Jim Robbins. Earth Conservation Corps has engaged over 50,000 students in its school programs and 200 million around the world through our innovative raptor education program eaglecam.org. Humans have an innate fascination with raptors. We have found success through our formula of training adjudicated youth to care for our non-releasable education birds and present the public raptor education presentations mandated under FWS Permit #MB071444-0, Special Purpose Possession for Education Live Migratory Birds. In 2020 we again saw that the pairing of birds and youth offers mutual healing and often drives engagement in STEM can change the course of a young persons life. A primary goal of both of our programs is to inspire our high school volunteers to become full time AmeriCorps leaders at our Anacostia River education centers. 2020 was a very challenging year. We are a hands-on organization but that had to change when our country shut down in March. 2020 brought a continued focus on restoring a once abandoned dairy barn in Anne Arundel County into centerpiece of a raptor conservation center. We appreciate the forward-thinking vision of the DC Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services and The National Guardian Youth Challenge for embracing raptors as an access point for the 80 talented high school student volunteers connected to nature and science through the study of wild hawks, eagles, falcons and owls. They excelled in the training to care for, handle and to speak engagingly about our non-releasable raptor ambassadors. Additionally, we held raptor experiences at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. Hundreds of visitors over the course of the year were able to experience these birds of prey during special programs at the research centers visitor center. In March, all in person raptor education programs were shut down due to the pandemic. Following the shutdown, our staff offered Face Book Live events of virtual raptor encounters. Board approved the plan and budget to expand Raptor Education & Conservation to include raptor propagation inside in the secure DYRS Facility and submitted a Raptor Propagation Permit to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. 2021 funding was authorized to engage 100 Capital Guardian Cadets in the construction of a 140 x 20x16 aviary for non-releasable bald eagles as the first step in the process of qualifying for an eagle exhibition permit. Following eagle aviary completion and successful application for the Eagle Exhibition Permit, ongoing funding was committed to support eagle exhibition staff and eagle care support. Anacostia Raptor Watch is a citizen science program that takes community members on our River Life Expeditions boats to monit the raptors that call the Anacostia River home. One truly gets to see A Tale of Two Cities. The lower Anacostia is very much an urban landscape. When you head upriver, everything changes, it gets quiet, the city disappears as ones is enveloped by nature. You see an amazing hidden Anacostia that you can only witness on the water. Osprey, wood ducks, turtles, and kingfishers are your only noise. River Life Expeditions ceased in 2020 due to the pandemic. As learning moved online in 2020, Earth Conservation Corps had the advantage of a head start. In 2009, Anacostia Raptor Watch launched Washingtons first live web eagle on the nest of Liberty and Justice, the now famous bald eagle pair is at the Metropolitan Police Academy. We managed the cameras in partnership with the Metropolitan Police Department and the National Geographic Society in what would quickly become a global eagle education and citizens science event. As nature would have it, in 2020 the eagles abandoned their nest and moved a mile south to a tree on Oxon Cove. Just when the eagle cam would be most useful, it was streaming from an empty nest. We monitored the pair in their new nest site from afar but there was no consideration to adding a new camera until well after the nesting season. The osprey nest cam located on the Anacostia River has been the focus of a nest study under the guidance of Dr. Rob Bierregaard. Viewers from around the globe observe these birds of prey 24/7 through our web cameras.Duck Boxes - In 2020, we continued wood duck box monitoring. In March we had to cease all in-person events, but this program continued through COVID by our staff (without volunteers after March). We had two active boxes, one with Wood Ducks eggs and one with Hooded Mergansers. Both boxes had fledglings. We work to have what we love. Earth Conservation Eagle Corps members service focuses on restoring the Anacostia through direct action that exposes the entire community to the river and the reclamation fight. Full time Eagle Corps members lead our environmental education programs giving students an opportunity to connect with the Anacostia Rivers past, present and future. Eagle Corps leaders make direct impact to the river with a focus on engaging our citys school children. Service learning included designing and planting a rain garden, leading a group of volunteers in a service project, speaking to a fifth graders with a bird on your arm. Our Eagle Corps members acquire green infrastructure training that leads to meaningful careers and the soft skill tools such as learning how to set goals which is essential for their next step in life.In March Earth Conservation Corps Our annual Martin Luther King National Day of Service at Pope Branch Park. The creek is a spot for illegal dumping and the corps led 293 volunteers. Volunteers, local partners and city officials clean from trash and debris from the tributary. Turtle Beach - Wetlands are natural filters for a river system and vital for their health and 90 percent of the Anacostia wetlands were gone when we stated in 1992. One patch at a time we have turned dumpsites back into functioning wetlands. Possibly the one we are proudest of is at our doorstep. The foot of First St. SE was for decades the snowplow graveyard for DC Water. Then the corps arrived. Pulling out old trucks revealed a last natural section of Anacostia River shoreline saved by being bulkheaded by the dump. After 20 years of restoration the vibrant wetland planted by the corps is testament to the power of nature and service. Through grants with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Earth Conservation Corps has restored 8500 square feet of wetland at Turtle Beach with native wetland plants that include, Arrow Arum, Wild Potato and Wild Rice.The restoration of the wetland at Turtle Beach continued in 2020 with the planting of 9 Cypress Trees and leading volunteers in the removal of invasive species. Trash Trap Data collection &mapping. - Eart