X-Cel Conservation corps [Ma]
2021 giving while living regional grant: $10,000
X-Cel Conservation Corps, based in Boston, MA, recruits unemployed and underemployed young adults, ages 18-29, and trains them for careers as wastewater operators. Programming includes water conservation projects which develop workforce-readiness skills, introduction to wastewater operator skills, and preparation of corps members for the MA Grade 3 Municipal Wastewater Operator’s license.
X-Cel put their $10,000 Foundation GWL Grant to work in ways that have immediate and lasting impact on their members’ lives.
X-Cel breaks the cycle of poverty by preparing Boston young adults for careers in water management and conservation.
Wastewater Operator license exam fees
Some of the GWL grant money was used to pay for the MA Grade 3 Municipal Wastewater Operator license exam fees for corps members who completed wastewater treatment classes as part of the X-Cel Conservation Corps program. Funding from our Giving While Living Grant paid for 19 corps members to take their license exam and all of them passed! Today, 19 young adults who came to the program unemployed or underemployed now have a MA Grade 3 Municipal Wastewater Operator’s license.
X-Cel Conservation Corps Instructor Jean Aman, teaching Grade 3 municipal wastewater operator’s license class.
CHris: Wastewater Treatment Plant Paid Internship
When Chris, one of the corps members from the summer 2020 cohort came to X-Cel, he was working part-time in an entry-level job that would not lead to a well-paid career. After he finished phase one of the X-Cel Conservation Corps program, Chris completed a ten-week paid internship in the winter of 201 at a wastewater treatment plant, gaining hands-on work experience in the everyday work of a wastewater operator. Following his internship, with a Grade 3 wastewater license and experience from his internship, Chris landed a full-time job as a wastewater operator at an industrial wastewater facility. He is still working there now and is currently studying to take his Grade 5 Wastewater Operator’s license exam.
Chris conducting a habitat assessment on a water conservation work project.
Isaiah: Wastewater Treatment Plant Paid Internship
Isaiah was unemployed when he applied to X-Cel Conservation Corps. He was part of X-Cel’s spring 2021 cohort and completed phase 1 and obtained his Grade 3 wastewater license. In fall 2021 he completed a ten-week paid internship, supported by this grant. At the end of his internship we will assist Isaiah to apply for a full-time wastewater operator’s position.
Isaiah collecting benthic macroinvertebrates for water quality assessment on a water conservation work project.
“What impressed me the most was that our program was nominated for a GWL grant by a graduate of our program who now has a fulltime position at Woodard & Curran, Inc.”
Thank you to Thomas Connolly, who works for Woodard & Curran, Inc. in Linden Ponds, MA, for nominating X-Cel Education for a Foundation Giving While Living Regional Grant.