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PROPOSED CONTRACT AMENDMENT
Department(s): Department of Resource Management
Vendor: Friends of the Forest Preserves, Chicago, Illinois
Request: Authorization for the Forest Preserves of Cook County (the “Forest Preserves”) to extend and increase contract
Good(s) or Service(s): North Branch Conservation Corps Crew
Original Contract Period: 1/9/2018 - 12/31/2019; Board Approved Extension 1/1/2020 - 12/31/2021; Administrative Extension 1/1/2022 - 12/31/2022
Proposed Contract Period Extension: 1/1/2023 - 12/31/2023
Total Current Contract Amount Authority: $780,000.00
Original Approval: 1/9/2018, $300,000.00
Previous Increase(s): 12/17/2019, $300,000.00; 4/5/2022, $180,000.00
This Increase Requested: Not to exceed $180,000.00
Estimated Fiscal Impact: FY 2023, $180,000.00
Accounts: Professional Services 51031.520840; Grant and Mitigation 51010.521444 and 51010.520840; and all future Professional Services accounts
Contract Number(s): #74000004350
Concurrences: The Chief Financial Officer has approved this item. Final amendment is subject to legal review and approval.
District(s): 9, 10, 12, 13, 14
Summary: The Forest Preserves is requesting to add $180,000.00 in authority and extend the North Branch Conservation Corps program through the end of 2023. The proposed extension will allow for continuity of existing professional development programs funded directly by the Forest Preserves and avoid conflict with the simultaneous bidding and deployment of new Conservation Corps programs funded through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The Forest Preserves intends to issue a separate Request for Proposals (“RFP”) seeking proposals for new, longer term Conservation Corps program opportunities which would be funded in-part through the Forest Preserves’ annual budget starting in 2024.
Conservation Corps programs are part of the Next Century Conservation Plan and the Expansion Strategy for the Conservation Corps, which defines conservation corps as paid employment that mobilizes people who reflect the diversity of Cook County to maintain and restore the land to ecological health. The North Branch Conservation Corps program engages up to four (4) participants, one (1) crew manager, and one (1) assistant crew manager in hands-on ecological restoration activities including invasive species control, herbicide application, seed collection and dispersal, and prescribed fire within preserves surrounding the North Branch of the Chicago River. Participants receive the training and technical expertise necessary to pursue a long-term career in ecological restoration and related fields. The North Branch Conservation Corps program is administered by Friends of the Forest Preserves through a contract which was originally approved by the Forest Preserves of Cook County Board of Commissioners on 1/9/2018 (Board Item No. 18-0113), and subsequently amended on 12/17/2019 (Board Item No. 19-0497) and 4/5/2022 (Board Item No. 22-0210). Conservation Corps programs provide youth and adult participants with paid environmental education and job skills training within the conservation field, with a focus on ecological restoration in the Forest Preserves.
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