Coos County
Request: $35,000
AYA is requesting funds to assist with student stipends, equipment, and certification fees. The Southern Oregon Coast lacks consistent state funding for improving staffing capacity for local fire departments and large portions of wildland fire fighting support comes from counties as distant as Linn and Marion (three hours away). Working closely with the next generation to encourage workforce exploration into firefighting will address the capacity for low-to-moderate income youth achieving financial independence while also addressing the shortfall in fire fighting service capacity. AYA is a collaborative organization designed to assist disadvantaged and disenfranchised youth in achieving success. Part of that program is on the job training. AYA is working closely with the Coos Forest Protection Association to establish fire mitigation teams. Youth work directly with industry professionals, not only to achieve certification and job experience, but to actually do the much-needed work of wild fire mitigation for the vulnerable areas in the county. This includes working with the local workforce investment board to achieve a Fire Fighter Type 2 (FFT2) certification through the city's fire department to increase the community's resilience whether that be for forest fire fighting or traditional municipal work.
