Los Angeles Conservation Corps

Our youth/workforce development goals:
* Enable program participants (called Corpsmembers) to earn their high school diploma, if they enter the program without one
* Train Corpsmembers trained for employability in green industries or better preparation for post-secondary education

Our environmental conservation goals:
* Promote sustainable recreation
* Restore the urban tree canopy
* Increase greenspace in greenspace-poor urban areas
* Restore natural habitat in parks and nature preserves in and around Los Angeles County
* Protect the coastal ecosystem
* Promote recycling and reduce consumer waste
* Promote energy efficiency and water conservation

First-phase Corpsmembers alternate between work and school, as well as receiving supportive services and job/life skills training. Second-phase Corpsmembers select a Green Career Pathway—natural land management, zero waste, construction, energy, or manufacturing—and receive specialized job training and industry-recognized certifications. After successful program completion, Corpsmembers will have the qualifications of a competitive entry-level employee in their chose field or be prepared for college or vocational school leading to greater career opportunities.

Corpsmembers receive paid work experience and on-the-job training while performing environmental conservation work projects and service learning projects intended to make Los Angeles a cleaner and greener place:
* Building and maintaining hiking trails and walking paths, which facilitate sustainable recreation
* Planting trees in disadvantaged communities, which help restore the urban tree canopy
* Building parks and community gardens, which increase greenspace in greenspace-poor urban areas
* Invasive species removal and native species replanting in parks and nature preserves in and around Los Angeles County
* Reducing fire fuel to protect people and property from wild fires
* Restoring habitat to improve the survivability of vulnerable species
* Leading clean-up activities and environmental education, which help to protect the coastal ecosystem
* Recycling beverage containers, used tires, used oil, and e-waste
* Rescuing food waste to reduce impact on landfills and edible foodstuffs help to feed people in need

Young Adult Corps is the foundational youth/workforce development program, and for 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. A robust 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 work sites—Northeast LA, South LA, East LA, Compton, northeast San Fernando Valley, and central San Fernando Valley—enable Corpsmembers to gain a variety of experiences working on conservation and community service projects all over Los Angeles County. Over the years, Los Angeles Conservation Corps has developed relationships with city, county, state, and federal governments, as well as many allied community-based organizations, implementing over 100 projects, totaling $18 million, which provide Corpsmembers with more than 200,000 hours of work (aggregate) every year.

Los Angeles Conservation Corps is proud to have transformed the lives of more than 20,000 young people since 1986. Young Adult Corps serves more than 400 young adults per year, completing over 300,000 hours of work experience and job training. In 2016, we adopted Green Career Pathways as a framework for organizing work, education, training, supportive services, and transition assistance into employer-advised curriculum tracks leading to job opportunities in growing green sectors.

The Corps has been advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for 35 years, because we have always served BIPOC youth. Recent efforts have been more intentional and focused on combating systemic racism. Precipitated by the Ferguson unrest in 2016, we hosted town halls with staff and Corpsmembers, and these frank discussions illuminated pressure points for our community. Following the murder of George Floyd and subsequent protests in 2020, we formed an Equity Team to take programmatic and material steps to turn abstract ideas into action. The goals are to improve how people in the organization work with each other to work better for the benefit of our Corpsmembers and to give our Corpsmembers the tools to deal with interpersonal and system racism in the workplace and the structures they will have to navigate out in the world. The outcomes will include social equity increased by increasing economic mobility through the lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The Corps’ first principle is ensuring that the board and the staff reflect the community we serve, and this has been true since 1985. The staff is 88% BIPOC and the board 50%, because our Corpsmembers are at least 97% BIPOC. We have been increasing representation on the Board of Directors, and with the current DEI initiative, we have an intentional initiative to achieve increased diversity throughout our leadership.

The Corps’ second principle is putting Corpsmembers first and centering care on Corpsmember voice. It is crucial for frontline staff to be culturally sensitive to the program participants they serve face to face, and everyone is trained in Trauma-Informed Care and culturally sensitive interventions. Leadership Councils composed of Corpsmembers at each work center are intended to give Corpsmembers agency regarding their care.

Throughout 2020 and 2021, specific efforts included:
• Equity team formation
• Anti-racism training
• Anti-racist book club
• Data analysis
• Staff and Corpsmember survey
• Engaging pro bono consulting for systems change
• Joining state and national initiatives for public policy and issues awareness

Future plans:
• Drafting equity-based values statement to drive activities
• Identifying quantifiable outcomes of applying equity-based values
• Training for staff and Corpsmembers
• Hiring DEI Director
• Expanding from race to include gender and LGBTQIA+ issues