WHEREAS, Modeled after the original federal Civilian Conservation Corps, which was created in 1933 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to put men to work during the Great Depression, and through which most of California’s state parks were built, the California Conservation Corps was established by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. in 1976 as a government agency within the Natural Resources Agency and today holds a place of pride as the oldest and largest conservation corps in the nation; and

WHEREAS, The only state program with year-round residential centers, the California Conservation Corps has more than two dozen residential and nonresidential locations throughout the state, where young adults 18 to 25 years of age, inclusive, are provided with the opportunity to participate in a year of paid service to the state, through which they work on environmental projects and respond to natural and manmade disasters, while gaining skills and experience to help them attain meaningful careers; and

WHEREAS, Since its creation, the California Conservation Corps has both served and benefited more than 120,000 young people, who have provided 74.1 million hours of natural resources work throughout the state, tackling more than 900 projects annually; among their many accomplishments, members of the California Conservation Corps have planted more than 24.6 million trees, provided 1.6 million hours of fish habitat improvement work, built or maintained more than 11,621 miles of backcountry trails in California’s national parks and forests, and dedicated more than 11 million hours of work to improving rural and urban parks and recreation areas; and

WHEREAS, In addition, members of the California Conservation Corps have provided 11.3 million hours of emergency response work, having responded to nearly every California natural disaster over the last four decades, including floods, fires, earthquakes, and more; and

WHEREAS, Along with their natural resources work, members of the California Conservation Corps are encouraged to advance their education while serving in the California Conservation Corps, and in the last three years alone, more than 4,000 members of the California Conservation Corps have completed the work necessary to receive their high school diplomas; furthermore, the California Conservation Corps offers two different scholarships for its members to use upon the conclusion of their one year of service; and

WHEREAS, Community conservation corps are individual, regional organizations that operate throughout the state and are either nonprofit organizations or entities operated under a local county agency; and

WHEREAS, To become a community conservation corps, an organization must receive official certification from the California Conservation Corps pursuant to Section 14507.5 of the Public Resources Code to demonstrate adherence to certain criteria, including minimum corpsmember enrollment, inclusion of both a workforce development program and an educational program, paid job training for corpsmembers, work on public projects such as recycling and natural resources, and positive financial standing; and

WHEREAS, The community conservation corps advance projects that support and address critical state needs, including building parks, planting trees in urban neighborhoods, restoring wildlife habitat, diverting toxic waste and debris from waterways and California’s most pristine beaches, improving water quality and availability, building trails and active transportation opportunities, improving energy efficiency and decreasing residents’ energy costs, providing emergency response and disaster relief, and recycling and diverting solid waste from landfills; and

WHEREAS, Community conservation corps provide California with beverage container recycling and litter abatement programs in accordance with the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act (Division 12.1 (commencing with Section 14500) of the Public Resources Code), as well as programs relating to the collection and recovery of used oil and electronic waste and the cleanup and abatement of waste tires, which, during the 2016–17 fiscal year, resulted in 4,797,433 pounds of beverage containers collected, 192 tire amnesty events, 83,586 tires collected, 2,765,966 pounds of electronic waste collected, the review of 100 percent of used oil certified collection centers to ensure that the public is able to locate a center to deposit oil for recycling, and 2,776 recycling education and outreach events attended by approximately 2,432,371 people; and

WHEREAS, Every community conservation corps provides enrolled youth with the opportunity to receive their high school diplomas and participate in advanced education opportunities, which has helped over 600 young people graduate from high school annually; and

WHEREAS, Young men and women enrolled in the community conservation corps are provided with opportunities to transform their lives, such as targeted job skills training, career planning, educational advancement, leadership development, counseling, soft skills training, and wraparound services; and

WHEREAS, Community conservation corps and the California Conservation Corps work collaboratively in many areas and share the same mission of providing job training and educational opportunities to California’s most disenfranchised youth; and

WHEREAS, While community conservation corps predominantly serve urban areas, the California Conservation Corps additionally provides services in rural areas through its residential and backcountry trails program; and

WHEREAS, In their commitment to teach and prepare young people to become strong environmental leaders, develop an ethic of service, and create strong, sustainable communities, the California Conservation Corps and community conservation corps have provided California youth with unique opportunities to protect and restore the state’s environment; now, therefore, be it