After Mark Hays (LA '01) graduated with a dual degree from Tufts and the New England Conservatory, Hays wanted to do something meaningful that involved working with people and addressed socio-political issues, but wasn't simply a job in politics. He found GreenCorps, an organization focused on training the next generation of environmental leaders.
"I knew I didn't have enough experience as an activist, but I didn't want to wade through internship after internship," said Hays, who was an English major and in Classical Voice at the New England Conservatory. "I wanted a jump-start, to be totally immersed in a new experience that gave me a comprehensive approach to this kind of work."
The GreenCorps program, founded in 1992, lasts one year and includes classroom training, field training and career job placement.
Hays' year with Greencorps was a highly important step in preparing him for an environmental career. "The experience was a defining one for me," he said. "Though my experience at Tufts was great, GreenCorps ended up being the program that set my life course."
That life course has been a highly engaged and effective one: Hays currently works as an outreach coordinator in energy/air pollution issues for the Natural Resources Council of Maine, a state-based environmental advocacy group.
During his first year with the Council, he and other organizers, along with members, activists and allies, successfully helped pass a bill that set in statute statewide goals for the reduction of pollutants that lead to global warming. This bill was the first of its kind in the United States.
Hays did not land his current job directly through GreenCorps, but he did learn of the opening from GreenCorps alumni job postings.
Hays finds that his undergraduate studies, though not directly relevant to the type of work he does now, have provided him skills that help him lead effectively and think critically.
"Being a good spokesperson is like being a good performer," Hays said. "The discipline you need to be a successful musician is the same kind of discipline you need to be a successful organizer."
"The kind of critical reasoning you use to dissect the work of an author can also easily be applied to how one develops a campaign plan or an argument for environmental protection," he added.
Hays worked on four campaigns total throughout his year with GreenCorps. He spent four months in Chicago working to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from drilling, two months in Concord, New Hampshire working on a campaign to stop the rollback of the Clean Air Act, and four months in Worcester, Mass. working as an assistant director of a fundraising canvass office and campaign office working on behalf of the Sierra Club and the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MASSPIRG).
In addition, Hays spent two months in Chicago working with Corporate Accountability International (formerly Infact), a corporate accountability group, on a campaign that targeted Philip Morris for directing its advertising at underage youth.
Although Hays said that each campaign was compelling and instructive, the Arctic Campaign stood out because of its national scope.
"We were a team of about 10 organizers spread out over 10 different states, working with groups already on the ground to convince key senators in those districts to vote against drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge," Hays said. "It was very exciting to feel as though we were a part of mobilizing people all across the country to act on this issue, in a strategic fashion, using plain old power."
In Hays' opinion, GreenCorps resembles both a graduate degree program and a first full-time job. "GreenCorps awakened my political sensibilities," he said. "It showed me that fundamentally, environmental issues are political issues."
"It demonstrated to me that the skills people need to become effective advocates and organizers for social change can be taught to anyone, and should be," Hays added. "It also taught me that this work is hard, but very rewarding. It can be a lifelong pursuit."
Hays recommends GreenCorps to other Tufts graduates interested in environmental activism and in need of foundational experience to start their journeys.
"My one caveat is that people should be prepared," he said. "GreenCorps pushes you mentally, physically, politically and philosophically. It is, in some ways, organizer boot camp."
