#CaliforniansForAll College Corps

Program Description:

#CaliforniansForAll College Corps, a first-of-its-kind program, was launched in 2022 and is housed within the Governor’s Office of Service and Community Engagement, alongside other service corps initiatives. Partnering with California colleges and universities, College Corps provides fellows with opportunities to gain experience from serving with community-based non-profit organizations in three priority areas: K-12 education, climate action, and food insecurity. Fellows take on roles such as tutoring and mentoring in low-income schools, working in food banks or filling other basic community needs, and environmental work.  

This pre-apprenticeship experience addresses a student debt and college affordability crisis, while increasing civic engagement through service commitments. As its mission, the program engages college students in meaningful service opportunities that build leadership skills and civic responsibility; helps participants from diverse backgrounds graduate college on time and with less debt; and supports the work of local community-based organizations focused on the program priority areas or other local concerns. 

How It Works: 

Colleges and universities apply to be a part of the College Corps program, through a competitive application process. Accepted schools demonstrate a strong, campus-wide commitment to College Corps and represent a range of settings, with enough participants to form a strong cohort. The schools shape the program and organize the participant application process locally, within overall guidelines. The non-profit organizations the college selects must host at least two fellows, and provide them with effective training, mentoring, and supervision on-site.  

In addition to supervision by the school and non-profit organization, the program holds cohort trainings that build participants’ social capital and networks. These take place at the local, regional and state-wide levels, with, for example, mid-year leadership workshops, held regionally for cohort participants. The program is piloting a successful Corps to Career program, designed to connect the fellows and support their transition into careers after graduation.  

The program staff provide mentoring for the participants, the organizations, and the communities, a key component of the participant experience and successful outcomes. The program challenges participants, with high expectations for their accountability, while also providing strong support; the founder considers that the “secret sauce” and a key to its success. 

Impact:

In the short term, the campuses refer to the Corps as a high-impact practice that provides support that first-generation and low-income students sometimes do not have. As fellows, they are engaged on campus and in their local communities and have the support to graduate on time. Fellows overwhelmingly report clearer career goals, improved job readiness, and increased leadership skills.

In addition to being an earn and learn program, the Corps addresses research-identified needs among this age group, for a feeling of purpose and connection. The cohort aspect builds relationships among fellows, who share relatively intense experiences and a common purpose. Participants report back that they feel they are part of a community for the first time, meeting people they would not normally meet and who are different from them, through this shared experience. With diverse participants serving side by side, the program prepares learners to work across differences in their future work and lives.

The Corps creates a pipeline for professional roles sorely needed in California, in education and healthcare as examples. With a statewide teaching shortage, program participants may consider education as a career after spending some time as a tutor, mentor, or in the classroom. On the other side, employers find College Corps members come to their organizations with the durable skills so important to the current economy. Fellows are able to work in a team, be flexible, show up on time, and communicate well – skills honed through the College Corps experience.