California’s Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger announced last week that the state was creating a California Green Corps that will work to protect the state’s ecology, and provide valuable experience and training to the young people who go through the program, to help them prepare for employment in the emerging green economy. The program will provide at least 1,000 young people between the ages of 16 and 24 with jobs and training.  The governor stressed that the program is targeted toward youth considered “at-risk” of failing academically, foundering in the workplace or getting into trouble with the law, and will consist of a minimum of 10 regional Green Corps throughout California.

All programs in this initiative will be public-private partnerships and include green job training, a stipend for the students in the program, an educational requirement, and community service.  They will be funded by at least 10 million dollars in federal economic stimulus funding from the U.S. Department of Labor, paired with an additional 10 million from public-private partnerships.

The “Green Corps” will help underprivileged young people learn job skills,  while we create a well-trained workforce for clean technology and for the green economy,” said Governor Schwarzenegger.  “I’ve been pushing for this program for a long time, because it kind of combines my passion for the environment, for protecting the economy, creating jobs, career-tech education and helping underprivileged kids and of course, service.”

Schwarzenegger also stressed how he shares similar priorities with President Obama when it comes to helping the economy rebound and creating a greener California and America.

The Green Corps program fits into a larger strategy intended to promote California as a driving engine of future growth in the emerging green economy, furthering the goals of California’s Green Collar Jobs Council, created by Assembly Bill 3018.  The Council is charged with developing a comprehensive approach to address the workforce needs associated with California’s emerging green economy.  This program is designed to help bring at risk youth into promising green collar jobs.

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Author: Chris de Morsella (146 Articles)

After a decade performing as a lead guitarist for rock bands, Chris de Morsella decided to return to the career his uncle mentored him in as a youth....Software Engineering. Since that time he has thrown himself into his work. He has designed a compound document publishing architecture for regulatory submissions capable of handling very large multi-document FDA regulatory drug approval submissions, for Liquent, a division of Thompson Publishing. At the Associated Press, Chris worked with senior editors at facilities around the world, to develop a solution for replacing existing editorial systems with an integrated international content management solution. He lead the design effort at Microsoft for a help system for mobile devices designed to provide contextual help for users. Chris also helped to develop the web assisted installer for LifeCam2.0, the software for Microsoft’s web cam and developed late breaking features for the product He also served with the Rhapsody client team to redesign and build a major new release of Real Networks Rhapsody client product. His most recent assignment has been Working with the Outlook Mobile Time Management team for the next release of Outlook Mobile for the SmartPhone. Chris' interests are in green building and architecture, smart grid, the cloud, geo-thermal energy, solar energy, smart growth, organic farming and permaculture. Follow Chris on Twitter.