Donate Now News and Press Calendar Youth Highlights Become A Mentor

Email Newsletter icon, E-mail Newsletter icon, Email List icon, E-mail List icon Sign up for our Email Newsletter
Contact Us Twitter.com/lacorpsFacebookGoodSearch

Young Adult Corps


Young Adult Corps
To join the Young Adult Corps, click here.

The LA Conservation Corps was founded in 1986 to provide 18- to 24- year olds with a high school diploma program and paid on-the-job-training and support services through the Young Adult Corps. Today, our longest-running youth and workforce development program serves approximately 500 18- to 24-year-old corpsmembers each year. Approximately 80% of the corpsmembers enter the program without a high school diploma and participate in our school/work model alternating two-month blocks of high school classes at one of our charter school sites and paid on-the-job training on work projects throughout Los Angeles County.

The 18- to 24-year-old youth who come to us for a second chance at a high school diploma and applicable work experience that will make them competitive for living wage jobs have been unable to find a place where they can do both successfully. Our unique program model provides working age youth helps corpsmembers graduate from high school and connect to the working world. We integrate academic education with life skills training, job training, paid work experience and case management, including post-program transition services.

To date, the Young Adult Corps has prepared 5,189 young people for good-paying jobs, many of whom have participated in one or more of the following individual work programs as follows:

Recycling Across Los Angeles
For the past 18 years, LA Corps' Recycling Across Los Angeles (RACLA) program has provided a valuable and important service in the collection of recyclables in LA County. RACLA is a community collection program certified by the California Department of Conservation (SP#0315).

RACLA recycling operations are currently housed at our 3,000-square-foot facility located in South Los Angeles. We service 160 accounts, including LAUSD schools, businesses (Los Angeles Convention Center, CBS), entertainment venues (Rose Bowl and the Los Angeles Coliseum), multi-family housing facilities and public parks. In FY 08-09 alone, RACLA recycled more than 184 tons of cans and bottles which is approximately 2,759,072 beverage containers. Additionally, the program recycled over 134 tons of mixed paper and cardbord.

For more information about RACLA, please contact Bo Savage, Conservation Programs Division Director, at bsavage@lacorps.org or (213) 362-9000, ext. 238.

Community Garden Construction and Management
Funded by the City of LA’s Community Development Department, the Community Garden Program is dedicated to constructing and maintaining garden beds at schools, housing developments and public parks throughout the city. These gardens serve as educational resources for schoolchildren and local communities and increase access to healthy vegetables, herbs and other produce grown. For more information about Fresh Food Access, please contact Bo Savage, Division Director, Conservation Programs, at bsavage@lacorps.org or (213) 362-9000, ext. 238.

Urban Forestry Tree Planting Programs
The Corps’ two largest ongoing environmental projects include our tree planting work in partnership with the LA Department of Water and Power’s Trees for a Green LA and the City of LA’s/Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s Million Trees LA initiative. As the prime contractor for LADWP’s Trees for a Green LA program, we maintain the staging area at Griffith Park, which can accommodate up to 7,500 five-gallon trees at a time, for program stock and tree care.

  • To date, we have delivered over 46,000 trees to LADWP customers who have received education about how to strategically plant trees around their homes to maximize energy efficiency.

    The Corps is also one of the five (5) key tree planting partners for Mayor Villaraigosa’s ambitious Million Trees LA initiative to plant one million trees in the City of Los Angeles over the next 10 years.


  • The Corps has procured and distributed 45,886 trees and seedlings for MTLA to City of Los Angeles residents.

Click here to find out about our Million Trees LA Program.

For more information about either of our Tree Planting Programs, please contact Bo Savage, Division Director, Conservation Programs at bsavage@lacorps.org or (213) 362-9000, ext. 238.

Community Enhancement Team
The Community Enhancement Team is a new division of our Northeast Los Angele Center, which is dedicated to street maintenance and trash abatement. The Team responds to daily service and clean-up requests from two Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), including Chinatown in Northeast LA and South Park in downtown LA. Also, we perform similar work on two redevelopment corridors: Chavez Avenue-Adalante Boyle Heights Redevelopment Project and the Pico Union 1 and 2 Development Projects for the City of LA’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA). The goals of these redevelopment projects are to encourage historic preservation, expand recreational and institutional uses, enhance the respective image of each area and promote economic development.

For more information about any the work of the Community Enhancement Team, please contact Irene Lopez, Senior Director at ilopez@lacorps.org or (323) 224-2550, ext. 500.

LA River Corps
In partnership with the City of LA's Community Development Department and the Board of Public Works' Bureau of Sanitization, the LA River Corps is working to restore and revitalize sections of the LA River. Youth working on this project are providing clean up service Tuesday through Saturday at various project sites along the LA River from Cypress Park to East Los Angeles. The services include litter abatement, graffiti removal and vegetation management. This project combines classroom education with outdoor experience for our corpsmembers. They participate in education and training sessions covering topics such as watershed habitat, native landscaping, river hydrology, ecology, water quality management efforts for the River.

The Los Angeles River Corps' Program's vision lies in the premise that the Los Angeles River environment is an excellent location for training, education and job skill development through classroom and outdoor environmental restoration projects. Our youth development program proposes to combine outdoor classroom education with hands on work experience.

The LA River Corps' Teams provide the following environmental services:

  • Watershed Education: river hydrology, ecology and water quality best management practices, education outreach programs to youth from nearby schools and youth organizations.

  • Native Plant Landscaping: gardening, landscape design, maintenance, construction of pocket parks, water conservation and recycling conservation projects and flood management service projects.

  • Weekly Restoration Work: 5 day, and periodic Saturday and Sunday maintenance of the River, including but not limited to removal of debris and illegal dumping, removal of graffiti, recycling, fire hazard and fuel reduction service projects.

For more information about the LA River Corps, please contact Irene Lopez, Senior Director at ilopez@lacorps.org or (323) 224-2550, ext. 500.

Urban Park Construction/Landscaping/Irrigation
Los Angeles Conservation Corps crews have the ability and skill to build small urban pocket parks on unique and uninhabited lots just about anywhere. Corpsmembers learn from the ground up everything from land surveying, demolition, grading, and all aspects of landscaping including hardscape and softscape. Corps crews build from design bio swales to capture rain water, solar powered irrigation systems, and form/pour unique concrete structures to enhance the park setting. Through this process, Corpsmembers learn many aspects of construction including the use of heavy equipment such as bobcats and skip loaders. Contact Bo Savage, Division Director at bsavage@lacorps.org or (213) 362-9000, ext. 238.

Vocational Training Program - Brownfields Job Training Program
Similar to Youthbuild, we operate our Brownfields Job Training Program within the larger Young Adult Corps, as part of that program’s offerings for specialized vocational training in high-demand career fields such as the emerging green sector and environmental remediation. In partnership with both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Center to Protect Workers’ Rights, we have offered a Brownfields program since 2001. Corpsmembers develop marketable job skills to secure employment in green career and/or construction industries while they improve the overall health and safety of local communities by completing environmental assessments and remediation work on vacant lots and blighted buildings throughout Los Angeles. Since the program's conception in 2005, a total of 245 disenfranchised workers were certified in lead, asbestos and hazardous waste removal through the Brownfields Job Training Program; 80% of participants were placed in jobs in environmental remediation or construction fields. For more information, contact Alex Lopez, Senior Manager at at alopez@lacorps.org or (323) 526-1460, ext. 218.

Vocational Training Program - Youthbuild
We operate our Youthbuild program within the larger Young Adult Corps, as part of that program’s offerings for specialized vocational training in high-demand career fields such as construction. Since we began offering Youthbuild in 2005 in partnership with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), a total of 30 corpsmembers have complete the program. Corpsmembers typically remain in Youthbuild for a minimum of six (6) months and those in need of a high school diploma or GED are encouraged to remain in the program for up to two (2) years to achieve their educational and/or career goals. Youthbuild corpsmembers benefit from applying classroom-based construction training modules to on-site projects, paid construction trade experiences, and from working alongside skilled construction workers. Our Youthbuild program curriculum follows standards created by the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER), which are recognized nationally by employers and trade unions in the construction industry. For more information on our Youthbuild program, please contact Alex Lopez, Senior Manager at at alopez@lacorps.org or (323) 526-1460, ext. 218.

Vocational Training Program - Green Jobs Training

Oxnard Solar Panel Installation- January 2010

Created with flickr slideshow.

The L.A. Corps operates both Weatherization and Solar Panel installation with a few partners from both local Community Colleges and Community Based Organizations. Young Adult Corpsmembers can get hands on training in the following aspects of weatherization including:
  • Green Energy Education: Young Adult Corps participants willl get an overview of the green energy industries and education on the importance of energy efficiency and renewable energy. They will also understand the available and emerging green/clean technology career paths.

  • Energy Efficiency: The training will include components on residential energy assessments and energy efficiency retrofits. The LA Corps will prepare corpsmembers to be hired by community action agencies and other contractors that provide low-income housing energy efficiency program implementation. Corpsmembers will be trained to be hire ready and capable in both the California Public Utilities Commission Low-Income Energy Efficiency Program and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Weatherization Assistance Program.

  • Solar Photovoltaic: Young Adult Corps corpsmembers will receive a certificate, and will be ready for entry-level positions as junior solar installers. Corpsmembers will also receive training in solar assessment and sizing as well as OSHA safety certification and NEC electrical basics.


Contact Alex Lopez, Senior Manager at alopez@lacorps.org or (323) 526-1460 x.218 for more information regarding upcoming trainings.



Young Adult Corps

Young Adult Corps

Young Adult Corps