Youth Corps to help keep California green

Yahoo News 17 Mar 09;

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday announced the creation of a youth environmental corps tasked with protecting California's verdant ecology, while training for future employment in the emerging "green economy."

At least 1,000 young Californians in the program, aged 16 to 24, will be paid with funds from President Barack Obama's recently-approved federal stimulus plan, Schwarzenegger said in a statement.

"President Obama and I share similar priorities right now when it comes to helping the economy rebound and creating a greener California and America," Schwarzenegger said in a statement.

"In California we will utilize federal economic stimulus funds and public-private partnerships to help stimulate our economy while initiating actions to improve our environment," said Schwarzenegger, who stressed that the jobs are targeted toward youth considered "at-risk" of failing academically, foundering in the work place or getting into trouble with the law.

"Green jobs are exactly what our economy and environment need right now -- and the California Green Corps targets that need, while helping at-risk young adults realize a brighter future," the governor said.

The program will consist of a minimum of 10 regional Green Corps throughout California -- at least one regional in each of California's nine economic regions.

The program, which gets off the ground as a 20-month pilot program, makes use of at least 10 million dollars in federal economic stimulus funds from the US Department of Labor and an additional 10 million from public-private partnerships, the governor said.