At the direction of the Long Beach City Council on Tuesday night, the city manager will carry out a five-year contract with the Conservation Corps of Long Beach (CCLB) to provide public service conservation work for youth on City property.
“Thousands of young people have come through our doors to garner critical job training and support services, all while serving their community and improving the world we live in,” said Dan Knapp, CCLB’s executive director.
The vote comes just shy of the expiration date of a similar agreement made with the City in March 2012 for five years with a five-year renewal option that’s set to end on March 31, 2022.
The total annual amount of the contract will not exceed $4 million, according to the proposal document. There is an option to extend for another five-year period at the discretion of the city manager.
Established in 1987, CCLB provides job training for at-risk youth as well as on-the-job training and environmental education through conservation and capital improvement projects.
Since its inception, CCLB has hired more than 12,000 at-risk youth ages 18 to 25 to work on projects—consisting mainly of habitat and park restoration and recycling—for local cities, county agencies and nonprofits in the Long Beach area, the proposal document said.
One of the projects CCLB has been working on since the late ‘80s is the planting of trees in the Gateway Cities region, which includes Signal Hill, Cerritos and Long Beach, according to the organization’s website.
CCLB is also preparing to open a wood yard at Willow Springs Park to repurpose dying trees into furniture and lumber for the local community.
Other projects include building composting bins for community gardens, setting up irrigation systems, creating drought-tolerant landscapes, habitat restoration and more.
Through this work, CCLB’s mission is to “raise self-esteem, develop basic work skills, work ethic, education and promote teamwork,” their website states.
“Conservation Corps has been a tremendous partner along the LA River,” Vice Mayor Rex Richardson said, noting his excitement for their new headquarters slated to open at DeForest Park Environmental Education Center this summer.
According to a press release from the City, the new CCLB satellite office will serve as a base for the organization’s work along the Lower Los Angeles River as well as their environmental stewardship activities at DeForest Park and Wetlands.
“We’re extremely proud of our partnership with the City of Long Beach,” Knapp said. “We are excited and look forward to doing even more together in the coming years.”
