California Work Program for Young Is Threatened

The California Conservation Corps is threatend due to the budget deficit facing the state of California.  Read this article from The New York Times to see why this inspirational program in California may soon be history… 

A California Conservation Corps crew repaired trails in Mount Tamalpais State Park. The corps employs 1,300 young adults. More Photos >

MOUNT TAMALPAIS STATE PARK, Calif. – An hour before sunrise, Jason Prue, a shaggy-haired member of a California Conservation Corps work crew, stood scrubbing a breakfast dish in the rain, shaking off a night of sleeping in a wet tent and loving every minute of it.

"I like working in the rain," Mr. Prue, 21, said on Thursday. "It's beautiful. And it's a free shower."

But Mr. Prue, who joined the corps after living in his car for a stint, and hundreds like him could soon be jobless. A budget crisis has put the California Conservation Corps, the country's largest and oldest work program for mostly hard-luck teenagers and young adults, on the chopping block.

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