Joan Lionetti, Executive Director, Trees for Tucson, discusses a program with the Pima County Juvenile court to that teaches youth job skills including tree care at the 2013 ACTrees Day.

1. Youth
Achieving
Resource
Development
Skills
Youth Landscape Training
Program
together with
Pima County Juvenile Cour
Community Service Unit CREW
Grant provided by:
The Wolslager
Foundation

2. Dave Stadle
Pima County Juvenile Court
Community Service Unit
Joan Lionetti
Executive Director
Tucson Clean & Beautiful
YARDS Program Objectives:
• Vocational training - by certified professional arborists & horticulturists.
• Certification of Training in Landscape Techniques and Principles of Desert Landscaping.
• Jobs!!! city and county government, local landscape industry.

3. Participant Requirements:
• Students selected by P.O.’s and S.O.’s.
• Based on:
• assessment
• aptitude
• commitment
Class:
• Three per year
• 12 student max
• Saturdays
• Nine weeks
• Four hours per week
• Graduation on the ninth week

4. Orientation-Stress Management. Tools and Safety

5. Soil, Plants & Water

6. Desert Water Harvesting. Job
Skills

7. Design & Planning. Nutrition

8. Sonoran Desert Plants. Urban Heat Island

9. Irrigation

10. Tree Pruning. Sun Protection & Poisonous Critters

11. College or Vocational Training. Legal Affairs

12. Tree Climbing & Pruning

13. Graduation

14. Certificate of Achievement!
Cake

15. Program Media Coverage
Y.A.R.D.S Spring 2012 Class:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnRka0oDLO4
(Media releases required)

16. Program Media Coverage
Tucson Green Times
Posted on April 16th, 2010.
New program provides teens with green job training skills
By Gretel Hakanson
Tucson Green Times – April 2010
Eight Pima County teenagers accepted graduation diplomas on March 13 – the entire class beaming smiles
brighter than a row of sunflowers.
Graduation always brings a budding pride that you made it this far. But this crop of graduates had a lot to smile
about. They were the first class to graduate from a unique program aimed at improving community sustainability
and, at the same time, offering a new path for teens headed down the wrong one.
Dave Stadle (left), community services coordinator for Pima County Juvenile Court and Joan Lionetti (center),
executive director of Tucson Clean & Beautiful with Luis Campos-Lopez, a recent graduate of the new YARDS
program in Tucson. Photo by James Patrick.
Tucson Clean & Beautiful, in partnership with the Pima County Court system, have initiated a formal program to
cultivate green-thumb job training skills in local youth who have gotten into trouble and subsequently wound up in
the court system.
YARDS (Youth Achieving Resource Development Skills) is a nine-week, 34-hour program focused on teaching
landscaping skills, knowledge and practical experience to the teens through classroom and hands-on instruction.

17. The Wolslager Foundation Grant
Site Visit

18. 2010 /2013 Budget, Income & Expenses
Total income:
Total expenses:
$69,000
$59,000
Includes: instructors, storage, tools/equipments, supplies,
food, graduation ceremony.
Balance forward 2014: $10,000
In-Kinds
Site Location: $18,200
Instructors: $6,300
Profession Service: $2,700
Administration Cost: $6,900
Summary:
Average cost per session: $6,500

19. Next 20 years
Program Goals & Improvements
Y.A.R.D.S will become a model for personal development
and job training for juvenile court systems throughout
the Southwest. We will compile data that the Y.A.R.D.S
program reduces recidivism, reducing the costs of
incarceration and detention, reinforcing productive
citizens.
Wolslager Foundation

20. Class of
Winter 2013
Questions?