Every year since 2009, Minnesota GreenCorps places AmeriCorps members at host sites around Minnesota, where they serve for 11 months on locally defined environmental stewardship projects. A program of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), Minnesota GreenCorps preserves and protects Minnesota’s environment while training a new generation of environmental professionals.
MPCA is required to conduct and submit an evaluation with its application for renewed federal funding to sustain the program. MPCA contracted with Management Analysis and Development (MAD) to conduct an independent evaluation of the program for service years 2017–2018, 2018–2019, and 2019–2020.
MAD’s primary objective with this evaluation was to answer the following research questions:
1. To what extent do structures served by GreenCorps members in the area of air pollutant reduction demonstrate reductions in energy usage as a result of member support?
2. Does Minnesota GreenCorps build capacity at host site organizations?