State budget crisis threatens youth Green Jobs program; CA; 2/7/09

California Work Program for Young Is Threatened New York Times - New York,NY,USA
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to eliminate the program as the state struggles with a $42 billion budget deficit. Under the governor’s proposed budget, the state would take back the $34 million in general funds it spends on the corps each year, though some money would be funneled into work corps programs run by local governments and nonprofit groups.
California’s program is modeled on the Civilian Conservation Corps, which put three million young, unemployed men to work from 1933 to 1942. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “tree army” or “soil soldiers” planted more than two billion trees, restored eroding soil in the Dust Bowl states, developed 800 new state parks, erected one million miles of fences, and built bridges, roads and 13,000 miles of hiking trails in places like Yosemite and Grand Canyon National Parks.