Northwest Youth Corps

Northwest Youth Corps, a tax-exempt nonprofit based in Eugene, Oregon, delivers youth workforce development and natural resource conservation services to the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Forest Service as a prime recipient of federal grants and cooperative agreements. The organization acts almost exclusively as a prime recipient (98% of awards), with a small subgrant footprint primarily under AmeriCorps formula programs. Northwest Youth Corps does not hold federal contracts; its federal footprint is entirely grant and cooperative agreement based.

The organization's core capability centers on deploying trained youth and young adult crews aged 16–35 to perform hands-on conservation, restoration, and maintenance work on public lands, paired with educational and workforce development programming. Representative awards include a $11.987 million Inflation Reduction Act urban and community forestry project grant from the Department of Agriculture Forest Service (CFDA 10.727) running through January 2029, an $859,693 cooperative agreement from the National Park Service for an internship program at Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve (CFDA 15.931, ending December 2026), and a $324,324 cooperative agreement from the Bureau of Land Management for trail maintenance and campground improvements in Douglas County, Oregon (CFDA 15.243, ending September 2028). Typical work includes invasive species removal, trail restoration and construction, meadow rehabilitation, fence installation and repair, habitat restoration, vegetation management, and facility maintenance across national parks, wildlife refuges, and BLM lands in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain West regions.

Northwest Youth Corps' customer base concentrates heavily within the Department of the Interior. The top five funding agencies account for 73% of awards by count: the National Park Service Pacific West Region leads with 55 awards, followed by the Bureau of Land Management Oregon-Washington Region (41 awards), the National Park Service broadly (37 awards), the Bureau of Land Management nationally (21 awards), and the Fish and Wildlife Service Region 1 (19 awards, $219 thousand combined potential value). By dollar value, the Fish and Wildlife Service Region 1, Bureau of Indian Affairs Northwest Region, and Fish and Wildlife Service Region 5 anchor the largest individual awards, though the National Park Service and BLM collectively hold most of the portfolio's dollar volume. Fourteen awards face ultimate completion inside the next twenty-four months, creating recompete exposure across the recipient's active pipeline.

Activity has been steady across the past five years, ranging from 12 to 17 awards annually (2023–2024), with 13 awards in 2025 and 3 to date in 2026. The combined potential value across all awards stands at $610 thousand, though obligated dollars total $39.5 million—reflecting the heavily grant-funded model where amounts typically obligate at substantially higher levels than the cooperative agreement ceilings. The portfolio's work aligns with the Inflation Reduction Act, departmental climate and biodiversity priorities, and legacy restoration funding for deferred maintenance on federal lands. Northwest Youth Corps has served as a subgrantee under AmeriCorps formula programs administered by the Higher Education Coordinating Commission, with fire training and trail maintenance components documented in the sub-award record.