distributing food, water, and supplies, and mucking and gutting flooded homes. Environment NCCC performs environmental work in a number of areas, usually in collaboration with state and national parks. Common examples of environmental projects include removing invasive species, protecting native species, planting trees, building new trails, and maintaining existing trails. Education NCCC teams have worked in partnership with school systems across the country. A summary of national service work by AmeriCorps NCCC, released in early 2006, states that NCCC had by then tutored 319,000 students. In conjunction with the American Council on Education (ACE), NCCC Corps Members who complete course requirements during their year of service can earn undergraduate credits hours for "Introduction to Service Learning" and "Core Supervisory Skills" (See ACE's "National Guide Online"). Upon successful completion of service, NCCC Corps Members earn a (taxable) education award of $5,350 for college tuition—awards that are matched by many colleges and universities. Fire fighting All National Civilian Community Corps members are trained in CPR, first aid, and disaster services, and about 15 percent become red-card certified fire fighters. NCCC teams have successfully served in fighting major wildland fires and in completing fire mitigation work, according to National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service officials. The NCCC Southern Campus in Vicksburg, MS, has also recently teamed up with the US Forest Service to create three teams dedicated to wildland firefighting and serving with the Forest Service. Summer of Service The NCCC Summer of Service is a shorter, 2-3 month-long service program designed to take place during the summer. The structure of the program is the same as the full-length term of service; members receive training at the beginning of their term and spend the rest of the summer completing service projects on their team of 8-12 members. The main differences between the full service year and the Summer of Service pertain to the hours requirement and member benefits. Members are only required to complete 300 service hours and there is no requirement for independent service hours. Members who graduate from the Summer of Service are eligible to receive a prorated Segal Education award worth $1,459. Impact and reactions Since 1994, more than 12,000 members have invested more than 20 million service hours on 6,500 service projects with thousands of nonprofit organizations and other public agencies to provide disaster services, tutor children, preserve the environment, build homes for low-income families and meet other