Urban Corps is a certified local conservation corps. Corps members receive a paycheck on job training projects including fire fuel reduction, habitat restoration and tree planting, work four days a week and attend an accredited charter high school the fifth, working toward a diploma.
It already runs a Fire Fuel Reduction Program creating buffer space between homes and densely vegetated open space, funded by more than $673,000 from the State Coastal Conservancy for work in Chula Vista and seven county preserves, and $83,055 from the California Fire Safe Council.
This is the hinge that makes one grant serve both Board goals. Proposition 4 directs that projects using the California Conservation Corps or a certified community conservation corps be given preference, and the CAL FIRE guidelines turn that into a scored factor with a required letter of commitment. So a fuels grant delivered by corps crews produces acres treated, local employment and paid training on a single application, and scores better than the same project delivered by a commercial contractor.
Pair with card 20 or card 21. Secure the commitment letter before writing, not after.