Having been in operation since the inception of the AmeriCorps National Service program in 1994, AmeriCorps St. Louis has continuously provided disaster response and environmental stewardship while exemplifying the highest value of national service for the last 27 years. The organization has learned from evaluations of National Civilian Community Corps as well as two internal evaluations about the benefits and effects of our work. For the first time, we conducted an impact evaluation to gather some rigorous quantitative data to measure the effects of our environmental stewardship efforts by examining the treatment of invasive species at the Greenwood Cemetery in St. Louis, the region’s first non-sectarian commercial cemetery for African Americans.
Research Questions
- Is a homemade solution effective for reducing wintercreeper coverage compared to a no treatment comparison group?
- Is a commercial solution (Contact Organics) effective for reducing wintercreeper coverage compared to a no treatment comparison group?
- Is a homemade or a commercial solution more cost-effective for reducing wintercreeper coverage considering both the relative impact and cost?