The Corps Network is governed by a Board of Directors. The Corps Council serves as the voice of member Corps. During her time at NIU, Vivian conducted research and contributed over eight oral history recordings and transcriptions to the Latinx Oral History Project. In this role she was able to use her passion for history to educate and uplift the Black community of Denver, CO. Vivian has experience working alongside the National Park Service and U.
She is passionate about fostering safe spaces for BIPOC communities in our public lands and providing opportunities for youth to grow professionally in cultural and natural resource management. In her free time Vivian loves to travel, explore museums, go hiking and bird watching.
She is an activist, an educator, a musician, and currently resides in Colorado with her pup and two cats. Over the last three decades, she has developed innovative social and education policy, authored groundbreaking reports, and advised national organizations and foundations on strategy. For President George H. Bush, she served as first vice chair of the Commission on National and Community Service, authorized under the National and Community Service Act of , which she drafted and negotiated for the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee.
Mary Ellen Sprenkel has been a long-time champion for youth. During her tenure, Service and Conservation Corps have become better known programs to lawmakers and policymakers throughout the federal government. Legislation that would expand and bolster youth programs including Service and Conservation Corps has been routinely introduced in both the U.
House of Representatives and the U. These projects provided youth with jobs and service opportunities while connecting them to public lands including national parks and forests. More recently, Mary Ellen has served as a member of the Federal Advisory Committee tasked with providing recommendations to federal land management agencies on how to implement a 21st Century Conservation Service Corps. In addition to her productive time at The Corps Network, she has ten years of Capitol Hill experience, including two years on the House Committee on Education and Labor handling postsecondary education, training, and life-long learning programs.
