About Northwest Service Academy

We build healthy and successful communities by addressing local environmental needs and promoting a culture of civic participation and responsibility.
 
We develop leadership by partnering with non-profits, schools, and agencies to do locally-relevant environmental service projects which give our members skills and valuable job experience while also growing the capacity of the organizations with which we work.

We serve locally throughout the entire Pacific Northwest and have the expertise to address the environmental service and education needs of vibrant urban areas as well as the needs of rural communities and wild land management agencies.

We are “Getting things Done!”  Northwest Service Academy is one of the most successful AmeriCorps programs in the nation.  In addition to our core environmental focus, our LINKS program partners with local schools, community-based organizations, and agencies to directly address community needs in the areas of education, public safety, the environment and other human needs. 

We conduct locally-relevant environmental restoration and preservation through direct on-the-ground restoration activities; through support to individuals and agencies engaged in these activities; and through school and community-based education focused on environmental issues and sound environmental practices.
 
Our approach is effective:

• Engage individuals in service activities focused on preserving or restoring the natural environment.
• Provide resources to agencies that work to preserve or restore the environment.
• Educate individuals about environmental issues, responsible environmental practices, and the value of civic participation.
• Teach skills needed for effective civic participation, and provide opportunities to develop those skills through locally-relevant environmental service.

A history of vision, community, growth, and success.  
Northwest Service Academy began as a vision in 1991 by a partnership formed by the U.S. Forest Service, the Western Rural Development Center at Oregon State University, and school superintendents from across the Northwest.  This group aimed to develop a service program that would address local environmental issues while providing opportunities for individuals to gain valuable leadership and job experience in both rural and urban settings.

This vision was funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service (then known as the Commission on National and Community Service) in 1993, when the Western Rural Development Center was awarded a two-year grant to start the Northwest Service Academy.  In 1994, as a result of organizational changes at the Western Rural Development Center, Educational Service District 112 assumed management responsibility for NWSA.

NWSA began as a field team program with two centers, the Metro Center, serving the Portland-Vancouver Metro Area, and the Mt. Adams Center, a residential center located in Trout Lake, WA, serving rural Oregon and Washington.  An Individual Placement (or an intern) program was added in 1995, and an Education Award Only program (the member receives only an education award for their term of service, unless a partner organization provides a living stipend) was added in 1998.