The corps will be a two-year pilot initiative with the state and be a collaboration with 45 state colleges and universities. In exchange for a year of volunteer service, the corps would subsidize tuition for students participating.
"We must call on young people to serve their community and then give them the opportunities to actually do so in a meaningful way. And we must do this while keeping them on track to graduate, building their skills, and helping make college more affordable," said California Chief Service Officer Josh Fryday.
Fryday says students will get to work with a local non-profit or government agency and receive $10,000 for 450 hours of service. "Now this amount is significant because it will cover the amount that pell grant recipients are expected to come up with by either taking out a loan or and going in debt, or working long hours at a job while they're in school," said Fryday.
The program would serve up to 6,500 students over the two years, with DACA recipients being eligible to participate.
"This program is perfectly aligned with the CSU's own mission of public service and our decades-long commitment to providing opportunities for impactful community engagement for our students, particularly those from historically underserved communities," said California State University Chancellor Joseph Castro.
Six Inland Empire schools will participate in the program; Cal State San Bernardino, Cal Poly Pomona, UC Riverside, Riverside City College, Crafton Hills College, and San Bernardino Valley College. Applications are expected to be available by March.
