Spare the One Jobs Program That Works : Budget cuts: The California Conservation Corps gives urban youth experience on projects that benefit all of us.

If the violent events in the wake of the verdict in the Rodney King beating case demonstrate anything, it is the depth of the anger and alienation among the youth of our inner city. The predicament of these young people, and our indifference, threaten to undo the social contract that binds our diverse society.

At this most inauspicious time, the governor and the Legislature are debating whether to dismantle one of the scandalously few state agencies that provide positive programs to integrate these young people into the mainstream of our society. The nearly 50% reduction in the budget of the California Conservation Corps proposed by Gov. Pete Wilson warrants reconsideration.

The CCC, which has been the model for scores of similar programs across the country, is a no-lose proposition for the young people who participate, state taxpayers and the environment. No other state program addresses so many needs for a single and relatively small investment.

Throughout its 16-year history, the CCC has helped the diverse youth of our state get their lives together. At the same time, the work accomplished by these young people provides major assistance in tackling California’s environmental needs. The proposed budget cut would thus do double damage, affecting the CCC’s efforts to help youth and to improve the state’s natural resources.

As efforts focus on the many ways to rebuild Los Angeles, here is one existing program that deserves continued support and commendation. Why slash the dollars for the very type of program we badly need, and in fact are moving to create on the federal level?

The CCC takes young people from California’s urban areas and gives them a chance to grow and mature in a new and different environment, in a residential setting that may be several hundred miles away. The corps also has opportunities for youth to live at home and work at a local CCC facility. Here in Los Angeles, young people are commuting daily to the corps’ Vernon and Main facility, or to its Watts satellite based at Southwest College.

This is not a make-work program. The environmental achievements are without peer. The CCC offers a valuable labor force to cities and counties, as well as state and federal agencies. And while its young people are landscaping school playgrounds, building visitor trails at a regional park or fighting wilderness fires, they are developing solid skills. Equally important, they are developing self-esteem, along with restored hope and faith.

Recent census data show that almost a third of all black teen-agers in California were unemployed in 1990, double the rate for white teen-agers. Latino youth fall somewhere in between. The CCC program targets 18- to 23-year-olds, an age group that is often desperately lacking in motivation, direction and diplomas.

So what does the CCC offer? It offers jobs year-round, with the largest proportion going to young men and women from Los Angeles County. It is a source of pride for the CCC that its crews reflect California’s ethnically diverse population. In addition, the corps is believed to be the nation’s largest employer of minority youth involved in environmental efforts. The CCC strives to instill not only the work ethic, but also the conservation ethic, in these young people. Each year, corps members log upward of 3 million hours in natural-resource work for the benefit of the state and Californians.

But there is much more to the corps than environmental work. It also stresses education, recognizing the absolute necessity of literate employees in today’s workplace. Corps members without high school diplomas work toward general equivalency diplomas; others are enrolled in community college, and all receive practical job-seeking skills through career classes required by the corps.

Is the program paying excessive wages to interest young people in joining? In fact, it pays minimum wage, advertising “hard work, low pay and miserable conditions.” Nevertheless, throughout the year, there is a waiting list of applicants eager to join.

As the state budget decisions come down to the wire, no one quarrels with the fact that these are tough times and state dollars have never been in greater demand. But the CCC is a “lean and mean” agency that delivers: to urban youth, to the environment and to the state. It would be a terrible error in judgment to cut back the California Conservation Corps when we need it most.