By Chris Mele For Delaware Currents

This article first appeared in Delaware Currents October 11, 2022-- 

When Aaron Kirkland Sr. got out of prison in late 2014, he enrolled in a service in Philadelphia that helps ex-convicts reintegrate to the world after incarceration. Then he heard about a program called PowerCorpsPHL.

At the time, he recalled with a laugh, he was skeptical of anything that called itself a program.

What he found at PowerCorpsPHL, though, was passion, energy, motivation and inspiration. He was with the corps for six months and then did a yearlong apprenticeship with the Philadelphia Water Department.

“Having the government on my resume, I knew that would help me,” he said.

Watch a video about Aaron Kirkland Sr.’s involvement in PowerCorpsPHL

The corps, which is based in Philadelphia, models itself on an “earn and learn” approach to set its members on specific career paths and to maximize their chances of success.

The corps is one of 10 that make up a larger Delaware River Climate Corps, a new initiative to enhance climate resiliency and improve paths to so-called green careers in the Delaware River watershed in Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

The William Penn Foundation awarded a $1.65 million grant to establish the Delaware River Climate Corps. (Note: Delaware Currents is also the recipient of a grant from the foundation.)

The Delaware River Climate Corps is made up of groups in: Wilmington, Del.; Bridgeton, Camden, Phillipsburg and Trenton, N.J.; Hancock, N.Y.; and Allentown, Chester, Philadelphia and Reading in Pa.

Click Here to read the entire article in Delaware Currents.

(Photo: Aaron Kirkland Sr. is a supervisor overseeing 24 people in the green stormwater division of the Philadelphia Water Department.)

[Posted: October 13, 2022]

10/17/2022