‘Now I Have Some Direction’ : Conservation Corps Member Jerome Green Made Good on His Vow to Turn His Life Around

Jerome Green, 21, was born on the Eastside of Los Angeles and grew up there and in Texas. His involvement with gangs led him to crime and a stretch in prison for robbery. Since his release he has joined the Los Angeles Conservation Corps and become a model member of the organization. He recently spent 10 weeks in Australia doing conservation work through an exchange program sponsored by the California Conservation Corps and the Australian Trust for Conservation Volunteers. Green was one of only 12 corps members chosen for the trip out of thousands who applied statewide. Corps Director Martin Ludlow describes Green as extraordinarily determined to change the circumstances of his life. “He’s had to overcome incredible hurdles in a short period of time,” Ludlow said. “He doesn’t seem to have been discouraged in any way. . . . His experiences here have tapped into leadership abilities he didn’t know he had. He’s really taking control.” Green was interviewed by Erin J. Aubry.

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I joined the corps this past January. I liked the work. I had done firefighting work for 18 months before in fire camps, which I did while I was incarcerated for two years.

Growing up, I went to a lot of different schools, but I never went to class. I liked school, but I wanted to be doing other things. I knew school was important, but being the age I was, I wanted to run around in the streets, like everybody else was doing. I was having fun.

I was in prison for robbing a jewelry store. I was young, running with gangs, I felt that peer pressure. I wanted to do it. I didn’t necessarily need that money, it was more for the thrill. I wasn’t thinking about the bad consequences at first, just the good ones. I wasn’t thinking about the fact that I could’ve gotten killed.

But when I was incarcerated, I had a lot of time to think about things. I had a little daughter. I thought about her, and that changed my life around. When I got out and came home, I thought, “This is what I want to do. I want to leave that (bad) stuff alone.”

When I got out, I started working in a restaurant in Hollywood, but that didn’t work out. Then I came here to the corps, which was right on time because the other job wasn’t going well. Right now, we’re moving people out of earthquake-damaged buildings. It’s been almost a year since the earthquake, but that’s still going on.

The first two months, I took a lot of the classes here, like personal development, driver’s training, and I took classes toward my GED. I really wanted to get that, so I really worked hard.

Australia was real fun. The most exciting thing was the plane ride; it was 22 hours. We stopped in New Zealand for an hour. I had been in a plane before, but not that long. The first few weeks, I wasn’t on track because of the time difference. I really didn’t realize I was there for a few weeks; I was dragging. But then I started having fun and started meeting a lot of people, going to clubs.

The part I really liked was when we first got there. We went to this little deli and asked for some French fries. We’re standing there waiting. The guy didn’t give them to us. Then, he said, ‘Oh, you mean hot chips.’ That’s what they call them there.

The people were real friendly, the whole country. We traveled around a lot. Once we even stayed in an old governor’s mansion.

I worked mostly in the outback and the bush. We planted a lot of trees. We also did an animal survey; we set traps to see what kind of animals lived where. We saw wombats, wallabies and plenty of kangaroos.

I’d like to be a firefighter with the Forestry Service eventually. The work is kind of dangerous, but I still like it. It’s exciting, but fun, like being on a roller coaster. It’s cool.

We (the LACC) got commended by the California Department of Forestry. It makes you feel good, like you’re doing something. The danger makes it more adventurous to me. Sitting in an office with papers all day would drive me crazy.

I’ve been out of prison for a year now. I don’t feel any more of that peer pressure. I don’t have to worry about looking over my shoulder now, the way I did when I was out there not caring about nothing. Now I have some direction.

In our communities, there aren’t too many leadership programs, at parks and places like that. Kids have parents who are alcoholic, take drugs or fight . . . so the kids don’t care no more. There needs to be people who’ll take the time out for you.