Wildfire Partners’ Youth Services Program
is now accepting applications for the 2025 season.
Eligibility Requirements
This program is designed to provide free services to improve wildfire resiliency for vulnerable individuals and communities. Recipients must live in Boulder County including Unincorporated Boulder County, City of Boulder, Erie (Boulder County portions), Jamestown, Lafayette, Longmont, Louisville, Nederland, Superior, and Ward.
Underserved individuals include people who qualify as:
- Historically underrepresented
- Financially disadvantaged
- Physically unable to perform necessary wildfire mitigation measures
Underserved communities include:
- Historically underrepresented
- Communities characterized by residents on fixed incomes
- Communities with non-native English speakers
- Mobile Home Parks
- Several neighbors who qualify as historically underrepresented
- To qualify as a community project, work must take place on multiple private lots or communal public land.
Services
Services will be paid for by Wildfire Partners. This work is funded through Boulder County’s Wildfire Mitigation Tax and a grant from Fire Adapted Communities Network.
Services will be provided by our two program partners: Teens, Inc. and Mile High Youth Corps.
Youth crews will range between 8 to 12 members. The size of a project should be large enough to keep an entire crew busy for one to four days (or a total of 64 to 384 hours).
Work will be focused on creating and maintaining defensible space around structures, including:
- Community clean up for decluttering outdoor spaces. (Wildfire Partners will provide the dumpsters and youth crews will help community members fill them.)
- Cutting trees
- Low-limbing trees
- Cutting shrubs
- Cutting grasses
- Raking
- Removing and hauling surface fuels
- Removing material from under decks and other locations
- Creating and maintaining a 3-5 foot noncombustible zone
Program Process
- Boulder County residents who think they or their community might qualify as vulnerable or underserved and have project ideas based on the list of services above should fill out our application form.
- A member of the Wildfire Partners team will contact you to discuss your project.
- Wildfire Partners staff will perform a site visit to determine if the potential project is appropriate in size and scope for youth crews. (We recognize this may be hard for applicants to predict.)
- If your project is selected, Wildfire Partners will work with you to develop a work plan and select the dates when it will occur.
- Wildfire Partners will help inform the participant/community about wildfire risk and mitigation. We also will educate on how to maintain and build upon the work that the youth crews perform.
Our Program Partners
Summer 2025
TEENS, Inc. is a non-profit based in Nederland, Colorado whose mission is to connect youth with nature and community. They build crews of urban and rural youth to work together on paid fire mitigation projects each summer. The crews are engaged in training, career exploration, and work experiences aimed at fostering skill development, knowledge about careers in conservation and the environment, cultural competency, appreciation for the outdoors, and a sense of belonging all while they earn a paycheck and, for graduating high school seniors, college scholarships.
The program’s core tenets are healthy risk-taking, professionalism, inclusion, collaboration, leadership, and environmental stewardship. These core tenets guide the season’s work through daily planning, activities, and reflection. Crews each include 12 crew members, 2 junior crew leaders, and 2 adult crew leaders.
Fall 2025
Mile High Youth Corps is a non-profit base in Denver. Their mission is to help youth make a difference in themselves and their community through meaningful service opportunities and educational experiences. Its vision is “Youth are empowered to serve, steward, and succeed.”
MHYC serves 250 young adults annually and has the largest geographic footprint amongst Colorado’s eight accredited youth corps. Youth ages 18-24 receive on-the-job training and career readiness support leading to the obtainment of industry-recognized certifications, an education scholarship to be used toward post-secondary education or apprenticeship, and leadership opportunities to help them achieve their educational and employment goals. These young adults serve on community-based projects related to wildfire mitigation, land conservation, energy and water conservation, healthcare, and construction.
