Save-the-CCC
Save-the-CCC
Capitol Weekly
California Conservation Corps: The stuff that dreams
are made of
By John Berge (published Thursday, January 15, 2009)
Has the bell tolled for the iconic California Conservation Corps? Is the agency that
provides training opportunities to some 1300 young men and women to become
history, ground up like so much granite dust in the 2009-10 budget proposal released
by governor Schwarzenegger the first week of January?
Modeled after the original federal Civilian Conservation Corps created in 1933 by
President Franklin Roosevelt, today’s California program was signed into law by
Governor Jerry Brown on July 7, 1976.
Since its inception, the CCC or “The C’s” as it is commonly known has racked up
some impressive statistics over the years; More than 100,000 corps members since
1976, now with some “second-generation” corps members whose parents were in
the CCC. More than 3,000 young men and women hired annually. 9 million hours of
emergency response. More than 11 million hours of work improving rural and urban
parks and recreation areas. Three decades of energy conservation work. These are
just a fraction of the C’s accomplishments over the years
The California Conservation Corps currently has 15 non-residential centers, from
Escondido to Yreka; there are seven residential centers from Camarillo north to South
Lake Tahoe where corps members live on site. The cost for retaining the 1300 corps
members currently enrolled in the program is negligible compared to the cost of
retaining a young person in a Division of Juvenile Justice facility at around $225,000
per year.
There is also a cost-saving compared to housing a similarly aged person in the
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation at approximately $75,000 per
year.
What do Californians get for their investment in these young people? We get young
people who learn the discipline of hard work, along with the sense that they are
contributing to the quality of life in the communities that they serve. We get young
people who may have failed in school but are now given a chance to earn a high
school diploma through partnerships with contract education entities. We get young
people who learn transferable work skills, prepared to enter the job market with a
willingness to work hard toward shared goals.
There are twelve so-called Local Conservation Corps in California. These range from
the San Diego County Urban Corps to the San Francisco Conservation Corps. These
corps have programs of education and training similar to the California Conservation
Corps, however, to expect that these twelve Public/Private entities can respond during
state emergencies is a stretch. Although most of the Local Corps programs
occasionally work together with CCC sites on urban projects, the focus of the two
groups are different by virtue of their individual legislative mandates. Since 1976, the
CCC has assembled and sent out armies of young men and women to assist in
everything from Wildfire support to Fruit Fly eradication, and Newcastle Disease
mitigation. The local corps, funded mostly from the old Prop 84 Bottle Bill funding out
of the Department of Conservation through the Recycling Division has specific
restrictions on its areas of operation and would take a sea change of legislation to
accomplish what is already being done by the California Conservation Corps.
The governor’s plan to eliminate the CCC through budget cuts carries implications
beyond just the abolishment of an agency. The cost is greater in terms of the dashed
hopes and dreams of the thousands of young men and women who are a part of this
iconic agency as well as the communities that they serve.
California Conservation Corps: The stuff that dreams
are made of
By John Berge (published Thursday, January 15, 2009)
Has the bell tolled for the iconic California Conservation Corps? Is the agency that
provides training opportunities to some 1300 young men and women to become
history, ground up like so much granite dust in the 2009-10 budget proposal released
by governor Schwarzenegger the first week of January?
Modeled after the original federal Civilian Conservation Corps created in 1933 by
President Franklin Roosevelt, today’s California program was signed into law by
Governor Jerry Brown on July 7, 1976.
Since its inception, the CCC or “The C’s” as it is commonly known has racked up
some impressive statistics over the years; More than 100,000 corps members since
1976, now with some “second-generation” corps members whose parents were in
the CCC. More than 3,000 young men and women hired annually. 9 million hours of
emergency response. More than 11 million hours of work improving rural and urban
parks and recreation areas. Three decades of energy conservation work. These are
just a fraction of the C’s accomplishments over the years
The California Conservation Corps currently has 15 non-residential centers, from
Escondido to Yreka; there are seven residential centers from Camarillo north to South
Lake Tahoe where corps members live on site. The cost for retaining the 1300 corps
members currently enrolled in the program is negligible compared to the cost of
retaining a young person in a Division of Juvenile Justice facility at around $225,000
per year.
There is also a cost-saving compared to housing a similarly aged person in the
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation at approximately $75,000 per
year.
What do Californians get for their investment in these young people? We get young
people who learn the discipline of hard work, along with the sense that they are
contributing to the quality of life in the communities that they serve. We get young
people who may have failed in school but are now given a chance to earn a high
school diploma through partnerships with contract education entities. We get young
people who learn transferable work skills, prepared to enter the job market with a
willingness to work hard toward shared goals.
There are twelve so-called Local Conservation Corps in California. These range from
the San Diego County Urban Corps to the San Francisco Conservation Corps. These
corps have programs of education and training similar to the California Conservation
Corps, however, to expect that these twelve Public/Private entities can respond during
state emergencies is a stretch. Although most of the Local Corps programs
occasionally work together with CCC sites on urban projects, the focus of the two
groups are different by virtue of their individual legislative mandates. Since 1976, the
CCC has assembled and sent out armies of young men and women to assist in
everything from Wildfire support to Fruit Fly eradication, and Newcastle Disease
mitigation. The local corps, funded mostly from the old Prop 84 Bottle Bill funding out
of the Department of Conservation through the Recycling Division has specific
restrictions on its areas of operation and would take a sea change of legislation to
accomplish what is already being done by the California Conservation Corps.
The governor’s plan to eliminate the CCC through budget cuts carries implications
beyond just the abolishment of an agency. The cost is greater in terms of the dashed
hopes and dreams of the thousands of young men and women who are a part of this
iconic agency as well as the communities that they serve.
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Friends of the
Save-the-CCC
Campaign
-- Partial List --
Save-the-CCC
Campaign
-- Partial List --
- Paul Carrillo - Chair, Friends of
CCC - John Van de Kamp, Former
Attorney General, State of CA - Herb Perry -Professor Emeritus
Economics,CSUS & member of
Civilian Conservation Corps - Bruce Saito -Executive Director
Los Angeles Conservation Corps
& President o California
Association of Local Corps - Ian Kim, Director Green Collar
Campaign of Ella Baker Center
for Human Rights - Brian Stark - Director, Land
Conservancy of San Luis Obispo - Barbara O'connor, Ph.D., Dir. of
Institute of Study of Politics &
Media, CSUS - Bud Sheble - Former Director of
the California Conservation
Corps Gov. Dukemejian - Tom Mertens, Board of Directors,
League to Save Lake Tahoe - Susie Lange, Deputy
Superintendent Department of
Education - Rick Hawley, Executive Director
– Green Space Cambria Land
Trust - Bill Wilson, Former Chairman of
the Board, Tahoe-Baikal Institute - Robert L. (Griff) Griffiths, Co-
Founder, National Association of
Civilian Conservation Corps
Alumni - Robert Burkhardt - Head of
School, Eagle Rock School &
former Chief Deputy CCC