Quintin Williams (standing) on a trail with fellow UCC member Ron Hubbard. Photo courtesy of the Utah Conservation Corps.
Quintin E. Williams, a Utah Conservation Corps (UCC) crew leader, has been selected by The Corps Network for a 2009 Corpsmember of the Year award, one of six corpsmembers chosen for this honor. The Corps Network honored Quintin and the other honorees during an awards ceremony on February 9, in Washington, D.C., on Capitol Hill.
The UCC is an AmeriCorps program based out of Utah State University’s Division of Student Services. It is dedicated to improving the quality of public lands and the communities surrounding them through partnership projects, service, and education. The UCC is primarily funded through an AmeriCorps grant from the Utah Commission on Volunteers and generates other needed revenue through partnership projects.
Williams had demonstrated leadership through programs at the CPD as well, serving as one of the original youth mentors in the “Becoming Leaders for Tomorrow” project.
An article in the USU Utah State Today online news source stated that “Williams served as a UCC crew member during the summer of 2008 and returned to serve as a crew leader in 2009. Although Williams is completely blind, he is extremely independent and does not consider his blindness a disability. Williams was not only a leader, but a mentor and an example to his crew.”
While he was serving in the UCC, Williams identified physical barriers and challenges associated with wilderness environments for people who are blind. He helped to develop reports that described methods to make these areas more accessible, information that the Forest Service can use to make outdoor recreation more accessible for people with disabilities.
Quintin has been associated with the Center for Persons with Disabilities on a variety of projects including being a member of the Becoming Leaders for Tomorrow (BLT), a project designed to empower young people with disabilities to develop strong self-determination/self-advocacy skills and further develop their leadership skills so that they can make a difference in their own lives and in the lives of others with disabilities. He has also completed the Interdisciplinary Disability Awareness Service and Learning (IDASL) class at the CPD. This program prepares students from a variety of disciplines, as well as individuals with disabilities and family members of children with disabilities to become part of a collaborative interdisciplinary team in the workplace.
In 2009, the UCC collaborated with the Center for Persons with Disabilities in developing an inclusion toolkit or guidebook that will enable service and conservation corps to become proactive in including corps members with disabilities. The toolkit provides a step-by-step guide to becoming an inclusive program, including program models, sample curriculum and adaptive equipment, and video clips. Quinton is featured in the toolkit and the upcoming DVD that will accompany this toolkit.
Since 2001, UCC AmeriCorps members have maintained and restored over 560 miles of trail, built or maintained 82 miles of fence, restored over 4,000 acres of habitat on public lands, and contributed 36,000 hours to community service projects.
UCC members continue to be a huge part of the solution, building trails, restoring habitat, and working hard to make a difference in National Parks and forests in Utah.