The California Conservation Corps, or the CCC, is a department of the

government of California The government of California is the governmental structure of the U.S. state of California as established by the California Constitution. California uses the separation of powers system to structure its government. It is composed of three branche ...

, falling under the state

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

-level California Resources Agency. The CCC is a voluntary work development program specifically for men and women between the ages of 18 to 25 (up to 29 for veterans), offering work in environmental conservation, fire protection, land maintenance, and emergency response to natural disasters. Members of the CCC are referred to as "Corpsmembers", and are paid a monthly stipend; starting July 2022, the amount was $2,600.

History

The bill to create the California Conservation Corps was co-authored by

California State Senator The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature, the lower house being the California State Assembly. The State Senate convenes, along with the State Assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. D ...

Ruben Ayala. The legislation was signed into law by

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of S ...

on July 7, 1976, modeling the corps after the federal

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a ...

that started with Franklin D. Roosevelt and the

New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Con ...

in the 1930s. Brown envisioned a department marketed specifically to the state's young people as "a combination

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seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

kibbutz A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...

, and Marine Corps boot camp." Prominent amongst the early CCC administrators was war hero B. T. Collins. The CCC replaced the California Ecology Corps that was created by executive order of Governor

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

in 1971 as an "alternative service" option for

Conscientious Objectors A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to objecti ...

during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

California Conservation Corp members at work

Following the end of his governorship, Brown's successor, Governor

George Deukmejian Courken George Deukmejian Jr. (; June 6, 1928 – May 8, 2018) was an American politician who served as the 35th governor of California from 1983 to 1991. Of Armenian descent, Deukmejian was a member of the Republican Party and he also served ...

, signed legislation to eliminate the CCC's sunset clause by making it a permanent department under the California Resources Agency in 1983. The duties of operation falling to the CCC include trail maintenance, riparian zone restoration, tree planting and exotic plant species removal, construction, and emergency flood and wildfire response. Other organizations pay the CCC to do the work. Corpsmembers are offered the chance to complete their high school diploma through independent CCC schools and are trained in cooking, office work, chainsaw, and vehicle maintenance. The CCC also encourages corpsmembers to seek higher education or vocational training by offering scholarships. Corpsmembers in some centers across the state participate in CAB (Corpsmember Advisory Board), an employee/ resident board established to be the middle ground. The board is responsible for community check ups and upholding a strong morale among the center's population, as well as bringing up pressing concerns the community faces on a weekly basis. Since 1992, the

California Department of Finance The California Department of Finance is a state cabinet-level agency within the government of California. The Department of Finance is responsible for preparing, explaining, and administering the state's annual financial plan, which the Governor o ...

has allotted less funding to the CCC, forcing the closure of numerous residential centers throughout the state. The CCC has received presidential praise as well as numerous awards for its work.

Related organizations

There are Fourteen local conservation corps groups in California that are certified annually by the CCC to offer similar job training, education, and environmental projects in other areas of California. * Cesar Chavez Environmental Corps – Tehachapi, CA * Civicorps – Oakland, CA * Conservation Corps North Bay – San Rafael, CA * Conservation Corps of Long Beach – Long Beach, CA * Fresno Local Conservation Corps – Fresno, CA * Greater Valley Conservation Corps – Stockton, CA * Los Angeles Conservation Corps – Los Angeles, CA * Orange County Conservation Corps – Anaheim, CA * Sacramento Regional Conservation Corps – Sacramento, CA * San Francisco Conservation Corps – San Francisco, CA *

San Jose Conservation Corps The San Jose Conservation Corps is a youth job training and education program in San Jose, California. The program serves youth 17.5–27 years of age who desire job training and/or completion of their high school diploma. About Founded in 1987, t ...

– San Jose, CA * Sequoia Community Corps – Visalia, CA * Urban Conservation Corps of the Inland Empire – San Bernardino, CA * Urban Corps of San Diego County – San Diego, CA

Urban Corps of San Diego

The San Diego local corps was founded in 1989 with help from former Representative

Lynn Schenk Lynn Alice Schenk (born January 5, 1945) is an American politician and lawyer from California. A Democrat, she served one term in the United States House of Representatives from 1993 to 1995. Biography Schenk was born in 1945, in the Bronx, ...

and then-Mayor

Maureen O'Connor Maureen O'Connor (born August 7, 1951) is an American lawyer and judge serving as the chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court. She was elected to the court in 2002, becoming chief justice in 2010. Prior to this, O'Connor served as an associate ...

, with an initial budget of $125,000. They engage in a variety of community service and conservation projects, including stadium cleanup, trash pickup and graffiti removal. There are about 200 Corpsmembers employed at any given time.

In popular culture

Fire Country ''Fire Country'' is an American action drama television series created by Max Thieriot, Tony Phelan and Joan Rater and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer for CBS, starring Thieriot. It premiered on October 7, 2022. In January 2023, the series was r ...

'' is an American

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

television series in which a young convict volunteers for the Conservation Camp Program.

References

External links