California Conservation Corps seeks residents ages 18-25 for workforce development program

VISTA − The California Conservation Corps (CCC) is looking for individuals from the ages of 18 to 25 years old to take part in their workforce development program.

The CCC began in 1976, when Governor Jerry Brown created a program he envisioned as a "combination Jesuit seminary, Israeli kibbutz and Marine Corps boot camp." He also modeled the new CCC after the original Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s.

Now, the CCC is embedded as a state agency, still hiring thousands of young people for a year of natural resource work and emergency response. It is the oldest and largest conservation corps program in operation. The CCC is a state department that puts young people and the environment together for the benefit of both.

Corps members are young men and women between the ages of 18-25 (and veterans to age 29) who sign up for a challenging year of service to California, working to improve the state’s natural resources and communities. At the end of the year, corps members are employable citizens with life skills training and experience in hard work in environmental conservation and emergency services.

To be eligible to become a corps member, men and women must be ages 18 to 25, California residents, not on probation or parole, and willing to work hard. They sign up for a year, earn minimum wage. Since 1976, 115,000 corps members hired, including some second-generation sons and daughters of earlier corps members.

The CCC tackles a wide range of natural resource work. Since 1976, the CCC has provided more than 67 million hours of conservation work throughout the state. The CCC works with project partners from agencies large and small. The CCC works with federal, state, local and nonprofit agencies on projects that provide a public benefit from planting trees, building and maintaining trails, improving fish and wildlife habitats, fighting fires and more.

The young women and men of the Corps work hard protecting and restoring California's environment and responding to disasters, becoming stronger workers, individuals and citizens.

The CCC also helps young men and women get their high school diploma and qualify for scholarships. Currently the CCC has openings in its Vista location and needs 10 young men and women by July 18 who are from the ages of 18-25 years old who are in need of their high school diploma.

The CCC is located throughout California with 27 residential and nonresidential sites located in urban, rural and suburban areas, from Humboldt County to San Diego County.

After the CCC, many corps members are hired by resource management agencies; others have become teachers, firefighters, law enforcement officers, and small business owners.

The most common alumni refrain is "It was the best year of my life.

The CCC offers two different scholarships for post-secondary education or training after the CCC.

The CCC's Motto: Hard work, low pay, miserable conditions ... and more!

For more information on the California Conservation Corps and for upcoming orientation dates, go to http://www.eventbrite.com/o/california-coservation-corp-10834992725.