MICHIGAN—Just this May, Indya Hunt started her permanent position with Urban Connections, an Eastern Region outreach program that engages city residents in stewarding and recreating in green spaces.

But to see where Hunt’s career first took root, you’d have to look back more than a decade to her very first job for The Greening of Detroit, an Urban Connections partner — an experience that became the first step of her journey into the Forest Service.

Hunt was 14 when she began working for Green Corps, The Greening of Detroit’s youth employment program. That’s how she met Lisa Perez, the Urban Connections coordinator for Detroit, who had partnered with Green Corps to create an opportunity for each year’s group to explore natural resource careers. In 2012, Hunt was among the cohort who spent a week working on the Huron-Manistee National Forests in northern Michigan.

“For many, this was their first time out of the city of Detroit, and, for all, their first time camping in tents out under the night sky,” Perez said. “It introduced them to places, activities and careers they had not previously understood existed, let alone were welcome to experience.”  

Years later, through her ongoing work with The Greening of Detroit, Perez knew that several of these Green Corps alums were now pursuing degrees that could qualify them for Forest Service jobs —including Hunt, who was earning a master’s in forestry from Michigan State University — and reached out to spread the word about opportunities.

For Hunt, the opportunity seemed to come out of the blue: “Lisa just called me one day,” she said.

The call came at the right moment. At a career crossroads, Hunt decided to interview with the Urban Connections team and took the leap into the Forest Service’s Resource Assistants Program, which connects young people with careers in natural resources.

Through RAP, a Forest Service partner — in Hunt’s case, Environment for the Americas — provides an internship at a Forest Service location, where the RA gains experience and receives mentoring. With 960 hours as an RA and a college degree in hand, these young people can be considered non-competitively for permanent positions in the Forest Service and other land management agencies for up to 2 years, enough time to ensure they find the best fit.

But Hunt had already found that good fit as an RA with Urban Connections, which has staff and programming in Boston, Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, St. Louis, Chicago and Milwaukee to connect underrepresented minorities not just to national forests but also to the green spaces in their own communities.

“I knew what I wanted,” Hunt said. “Urban Connections is about collaborations. It’s about networking. It’s about partnerships.”

The timing worked out again — for Hunt and for Urban Connections — when a permanent position opened on the team for a program assistant supporting work in Michigan and Minnesota. Hunt’s work ranges from representing the Forest Service at events to working with partners and navigating the ins and outs of grants. Her position involves lots of travel, which helps Hunt connect with organizations and networks beyond the Forest Service.

Hunt’s favorite part of the job — education — brings her experience full circle. Her master’s thesis in forestry examined how to bridge the gap between minorities and forestry at the high school and college levels. Today, her position with Urban Connections does just that, as she finds innovative ways to introduce students to soil hydrology, tree identification and more.

Through partnerships, she’s reaching young people who might not otherwise get the message that Hunt herself received a decade earlier.

“I’m showing students how cool it can be to be in forestry,” Hunt said.