The Lowell Spindle City Corps, a partnership between the Lowell National Historical Park and Community Teamwork, Inc., invests in the future of Lowell youth by focusing on three guiding principles – service, diversity, and education. The Spindle City Corps, founded in 1994, provides opportunities for Lowell youths to contribute to and take pride in their city.

Corps members are encouraged to value and promote cultural diversity in their community and employment. The Spindle City Corps encourages personal and professional growth and rewards accomplishments and initiative. Each Corp members is encouraged to cultivate an environment where innovation and creativity are valued and where all experiences are seen as opportunities for learning. Corps members contribute to creating a positive work environment by cultivating a joy of life that reflects the spirit of their work, fostering public enjoyment and understanding of the Spindle City Corps.

Year Round Team

Working in partnership with Community Teamwork, Inc., Lowell National Historical Park expanded its youth offerings under the Spindle City Corps umbrella to include the Year Round Spindle City Corps program. National Park Service Centennial Challenge funds supported this program comprised of 12 youths who assisted LNHP and CTI staff with community projects such as the Monster Bash, the City of Lights Parade, Winterfest, Kids’ Week, the Martin Luther King Day of Service and Earth Day.

Kicking off in September with the new school year, the Year Round team members met weekly for 2.5 hours and participated in one 8 hour service project a month. Weekly meeting consisted of activities geared towards leadership development and preparation for upcoming service projects. Corps members also participated in leadership development activities provided by the Lowell-Lawrence Summit Project of the Appalachian Mountain Club Youth Opportunities Program. The trainings involved an overnight trip to the AMC Cardigan Lodge with snowshoeing, cooking and star gazing activities as well as a visit to a rock climbing gym.

Summer Programming

Summer offerings included two Spindle City Corps Maintenance teams that worked with Lowell National Historical Park maintenance staff assisting with backlogged projects such as painting fences and cutting brush. The Youth Theater Program team presented first person costumed interpretation programs throughout the Park and city. The Artship Enterprise team traveled in an art studio on wheels presenting projects to neighborhood youths in a multitude of venues. A major goal of the summer was to integrate the maintenance, theater and Artship teams to work cooperatively to serve the community and to create learning experiences for all team members. This included camping together, offering opportunities for maintenance team members to work on the Artship and including all team members on service trips and camping trips as feasible.

Funding from a VIP Special Projects grant allowed the Artship Enterprise team of three youths and one team leader to represent the National Park Service at the Lowell Folk Festival, the Lowell Summer Music Series Children’s Programs, the Hellenic Cultural Center and other community programs.

The Year Round program ran from September 2008 through June 2009. The summer program ran for eight weeks and kicked off at Thompson Island with team building exercises led by Outward Bound Leadership Program staff including other youths from Massachusetts youth programs. The culminating event was the Lowell Youth Summit held in Lowell August 21st with nine youth groups represented by over 120 youths.

Members of the Spindle City Corps hosted CTI Day where all team members invited 150 youths ages 5-11 from the CTI summer day camp program to enjoy a day of activities at Lowell National Historical Park. All Corps members attended a camping trip to Cape Cod National Seashore. They also participated in a stewardship project at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park with youths from the Vermont YCC, Boston African American NHS Trailblazers, the SCA, and AmeriCorps. 

Corps members participated in a savings match program designed to provide an understanding of the power of saving money as well as providing an introduction to banks as financial institutions. In addition they all had the opportunity to attend weekly educational seminars on the following topics: Ready to Work and Soft skills, Financial Literacy, Team Building, Conflict Resolution and Career Ladder with the Career Center.

Maintenance Teams  
Youth Theater Program Team
The Artship Enterprise Team