CONSERVATION CORPS OF LONG BEACH

Our youth/workforce development goals:
* Enable program participants (Corpsmembers) to earn their high school diploma, if they enter the program without one
* Train Corpsmembers for employability in all market sectors with a specific vocational training emphasis on conservation,
environmental and green industries
* Prepare our Corpsmembers for post-secondary education including community college, university, industry-recognized
vocational training, and apprenticeship programs
Our conservation goals:
* Develop and maintain parkland in underserved communities
* Restore the urban tree canopy
* Increase greenspace in greenspace-poor communities
* Restore natural habitat in parks and nature preserves in the Greater Gateway Cities region of Los Angeles County
* Protect the coastal and estuarine ecosystems
* Promote recycling and reduce consumer waste
* Promote energy efficiency and water conservation

To achieve CCLB’s mission and objectives Conservation Corps of Long Beach provides the following programs and services:

● Conservation and Community Services: Paid job-training and work experience, environmental and community service projects, recycling services and community education. CCLB work programs and projects are grouped into the following areas: Urban Greening; Energy Efficiency; Water Conservations; Construction and Urban Conservation; Environmental Education/Interpretation; and, Resource Conservation. CCLB corpsmembers rotate through the various programs to develop a variety of job skills and work experiences while at the same time improving their communities by building new parks, maintaining green and public spaces, and addressing climate change and promoting environmental resiliency. CCLB also provides educational presentations focusing on the environment, and environmental justice to local school-age children, their families and local communities in the Greater Long Beach region and beyond.
● Education: CCLB partners with the Education Corps, a Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) accredited alternative high school that serves 18-26-year-olds in need of earning a high school diploma to further their individual educational and career goals. The academic schedule and educational program is designed to support those young adults who need to work while going to school to earn their high school diploma. Its approach to learning encourages students who were previously unsuccessful, dropped out or were forced out of their local high school for a variety of reasons to complete their high school education. It gives corpsmembers a second chance to achieve their secondary and post-secondary educational goals and move forward to the next phase of their personal/career paths.
● Corpsmember Development/Training: CCLB staff provide the support corpsmembers need to successfully earn their high school diploma and complete CCLB’s work experience, job-training programs. Support Staff attend to the social-emotional issues our corpsmembers have and provide the mentoring, case management and referrals to community resources our corpsmembers need. These resources help our corpsmembers address and overcome the various issues that caused them to drop out of high school, not enter/remain in the workforce and be unable to further their educational and career goals. Staff also provides the career guidance and support needed to transition into post-CCLB secondary education/advanced training and/or to enter the workforce.
● CCLB Scholarships: The CCLB Board of Directors hosts a fund-raising event each year to provide scholarships for current and former corpsmembers to continue their post-CCLB training and educational goals. CCLB also provides AmeriCorps Educational Awards where corpsmembers earn education awards based on hours served while working on community service projects with CCLB.

CCLB’s Young Adult Corps is the foundational youth/workforce development program, and for over three decades, it has successfully served as a platform for job training and personal development to transform the lives of at-risk youth from disadvantaged communities. Our Corpsmember Development team delivers supportive services (case management, barrier removal, housing/transportation/childcare assistance, and medical/legal referrals) and transition assistance (job hunting, college applications). Our sites—Bixby Knolls Community of Long Beach, Signal Hill, East Long Beach, and soon to open Lower LA River (LLAR) site in North Long Beach enable Corpsmembers to gain a variety of experiences working on conservation and community service projects all over the Greater Long Beach region. CCLB performs projects throughout Southern California including; Catalina Island, the Santa Ana Mountains, the San Bernardino National Forest, various State Parks & Recreational Areas, the City of Long Beach, and across Los Angeles County. Our Conservation, Education, and Supportive Services staff expertise are as diverse as the communities and people we serve. Staff proficiencies include business management, equipment operation, horticulture, forestry, biology, construction as well as credentialed teaching, licensed social work, vocational education, and post Corps job placement. Over the years, Conservation Corps of Long Beach has developed relationships with city, county, state, and federal governments, as well as many partner community-based organizations and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), implementing over 30 projects annually, totaling $8 million, which provide Corpsmembers with over 110,000 hours of work every year.

The Conservation Corps of Long Beach is honored and proud to have transformed the lives of more than 10,000 young people since 1987. Young Adult Corps serves more than 200 young adults per year, completing over 110,000 hours of work experience and job training. As a leader in youth and workforce development, the CCLB has received national recognition from the National Youth Employment Coalition (NYEC) as a PEPNet Awardee for demonstrating best practices in the field of youth and workforce development. The Corps has been recognized and Accredited by The Corps Network, as an Excellence in Corps Operations (ECO) Corps for high standards in program operations and outcomes. The CCLB is also a long-standing State of California Certified Local/Community Corps program and has received numerous awards from local government and private industry. Most recently the CCLB has been named as one of the inaugural members of the US Department of Interior’s 21st Century Conservation Service Corps Program.