Workforce Development & the 4Rs Wraps Up Site Visits in Los Angeles with the DataCorps
The city of Los Angeles in southern California is well known for its glamour and beautiful scenery, but also for its dangerous wildfires. The Workforce Development & the 4Rs research team along with the DataCorps Fellows visited the third and final site of the summer in the city of Los Angeles. Here, they met with corpsmembers from the Los Angeles Conservation Corps (LACC) and had the chance to tour two of their project sites. The LACC educates and trains young people to build resilience in communities across LA county.
The LACC has a number of conservation projects at sites throughout the city that provide opportunities for every member. LACC offers skills training and certificate programs, as well as the option for young workers to earn their high school diploma. This means that members join LACC at various points in their lives: after college, after high school, and even during high school. When asked about their work at LACC, the young workers expressed that they enjoy the challenge of working outdoors on different types of conservation projects across the Los Angeles County area.
Our research team conducted a survey and a focus group to garner further insights on the corps members. The focus group provided insights to the work that the LACC does in the community and their experience within the workforce. Corpsmembers shared their experiences struggling to find jobs after college and told the research team how grateful they were to find security and meaningful work through the LACC. Working within a team and building strong connections with one another and the surrounding communities has inspired team members to pursue future careers in civic engagement-oriented fields like teaching or firefighting. Other workers see themselves moving up the career ladder at the LACC, or working with the California Conservation Corps (CCC) and other conservation organizations.
On our second day, the research team split into groups to observe two different project sites: a Trail Maintenance site at Elephant Mountain, and a River Rangers site. At Elephant Mountain, several members of the CECE team were given a tour of a current project and learned how the LACC Trail Management and Maintenance team works. The Trail Manager explained how the team is creating a walking trail through the park, cleaning up the areas around the trails, and creating ways to help mitigate the spread of wildfire. Two corpsmembers that participated in our focus group were at work setting up railroad ties to be used as stairs in a steep area of the trail Corps members also work to clear pathways within trails, which also helps prevent the spread of wildfires.
The final stop for the research team was a tour at a River Rangers project site along the Los Angeles River. The River Rangers steward the Los Angeles River bike path by picking up trash and taking it to the local dump, as well as maintaining the surrounding ecosystem. The program consists of a variety of training and education that includes learning to identify tree and plant types, learning to use chainsaws and forklifts, and weeding invasive plants that threaten the native species. When asked more about the projects and experiences that come with working in the River Rangers, the supervisor and crew discussed how the training and education they receive is beneficial for future work, not only with the LACC, but also with other industries such as construction, logistics, and firefighting. Overall, the Los Angeles Conversation Corps is working to maintain and improve the local environment, as well as providing avenues for young corps members to gain new skills that will facilitate their transition to professional roles following their time with the corps.
