As the only land trust based and operating in northern virginia, nvct is playing an increasingly expanded role with local county jurisdictions in assessing how housing needs and significant planning…

As the only land trust based and operating in northern virginia, nvct is playing an increasingly expanded role with local county jurisdictions in assessing how housing needs and significant planning and zoning decisions can meet conservation goals, create livable communities, expand climate change solutions, and provide more affordable housing options. The suburbs of northern virginia are at a significant crossroads when IT comes to urban conservation opportunities and supporting housing options for communities of color. This nexus demands new programmatic focus for nvct and creates a need for diverse voices helping build trust while listening to and learning from those communities. These emerging dynamics and nvcts commitment to being a more representative organization of our region have led to the formation of an inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (idea) committee of its board of directors to analyze our work in northern virginia and create a path forward that embodies idea principles. One goal of the committee, and the focus of this project request, is to offer significant opportunities for young conservationists to work in the organization, be introduced to career paths in our field, and become community leaders who are passionate about urban conservation and building connections with diverse stakeholders. Nvct seeks to use funding from the chesapeake gateways network grant program to fund two initiatives for early career environmentalists: - a full school year paid fellowship in each of the next two years, geared towards junior or senior students of color from the university of mary washington or george mason university, and - paid summer internships in each of the next two years for students and young professionals interested in the conservation field. This project seeks to meet several diversity-focused objectives for nvct. The first objective of the project is to address the lack of diversity often seen in local conservation and environmental groups, despite the majority minority demographics of northern virginia noted above, by providing critical work experiences for more diverse applicants as a part of nvcts virginia conservation fellowship. Not only will working with nvct allow fellows to add a year of key experience with a conservation organization to their resumes, but IT will also build connections in our industry and create a pipeline of future employees for our own organization and to communities of color across our region. Nvct also wants to provide equitable early career experiences through our summer paid intern program. By offering paid internships with highly competitive wages, nvct will provide more equitable opportunities to all applicants, allowing a wide array of individuals to apply. Providing both early career experiences and financial support means that nvct can open the door to more historically underrepresented groups to make key contributions in how to best energize urban and suburban communities that need adequate parks, accessibility, and natural spaces as northern virginia develops at breakneck pace. Both the fellows and the interns will work directly on various projects that address key issues of equity, housing, and urban conservation in northern virginia. Their efforts will have a direct impact on communities of color by expanding their access to conserved lands, allowing nvct to listen to community needs, protecting local stream corridors and small forests, and helping to create a better educated public aware of tools and incentives they can access to create balanced neighborhoods and combat growing climate change impacts.