Gov. Gavin Newsom launches drive to add 10,000 to California Service Corps

Governor Gavin Newsom announced a statewide push to recruit 10,000 young Californians into the California Service Corps, a paid program that provides job training and education benefits while placing members on disaster response and climate-action teams.

Newsom, speaking in Sacramento alongside AmeriCorps and College Corps members, described the expansion as a bid to bring more young people into public service and to "put members to work on issues like disaster response and climate action." He said the effort will add 10,000 members to the California Service Corps and that interested applicants can apply on the California Service Corps website.

"Here's the message from the state of California, and it's quite simple, and it's quite clear, and it's quite powerful," Newsom said. "We need you." He also announced a new "men's service challenge," an outreach effort intended to encourage more young men to join the program.

Speaking about the program's impact, Newsom grew emotional and paused, addressing an individual named Sharon before composing himself: "Sharon, I'm I'm you know, it's um forgive me, you know, this is embarrassing." The moment underscored his characterizations of the program's personal effects on participants.

Program officials, as described in the announcement, said the California Service Corps will be a paid opportunity combining workforce training and education benefits with service assignments. The state framed the expansion as both a workforce and civic-engagement initiative; details about funding sources, implementation timeline and enrollment deadlines were not specified during the remarks.

The announcement did not include a vote or formal action by a legislative body; Newsom said applications are open and directed interested individuals to the California Service Corps website for enrollment information.