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CCC enrollees throughout the country were credited with
renewing the nation's decimated forests by planting an
estimated three billion trees from 1933 to 1942. Today, the legacy
of the CCC is continued through the effort of thousands of young people
who work on the same ground first restored by the men of the CCC.
President
Roosevelt wastes no time
 The 1932 Presidential election was more a desperate cry
for help than it was an election.
Accepting the Presidential nomination on July 1, 1932, New York
Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt planned to fight against soil erosion and
declining timber resources by utilizing unemployed young men from large
urban areas.
In what would later be called “The Hundred Days,”
President Roosevelt revitalized the faith of the nation by setting
motion a “New Deal” for America.
One of these New Deal programs was the Emergency Conservation
Work (EWC) Act, more commonly known as the Civilian Conservation Corps.
With this action, he brought together two wasted resources: young
men and land.
The President wasted no time.
He called the 73rd Congress into Emergency Session on March 9,
1933, to hear and authorize the program.
He proposed to recruit thousands of unemployed young men, enroll
them in a peacetime army, and send them into battle against destruction
and erosion of our natural resources.
Before the CCC ended, over three million young men engaged in a
massive salvage operation described as
the most popular experiment of the New Deal.
The strongest reaction to the proposed CCC program came
from organized labor. Union
leaders feared a loss of jobs that could be filled with union members.
Also, they were alarmed at the involvement of the Army and
believed this might lead to regimentation of labor.
President Roosevelt promised if granted emergency powers
he would have 250,000 men in camps by the end of July, 1933.
The speed with which the plan moved through proposal,
authorization, implementation and operation was a miracle of cooperation
among all branches and agencies of the federal government.
It was a mobilization of men, material and transportation on a
scale never before known in time of peace.
From FDR’s inauguration on March 4, 1933, to the induction of
the first enrollee on April 7, only 37 days had elapsed.
Senate Bill S. 598 was introduced on March 27, passed both
houses of Congress and was on the President’s desk to be signed on
March 31, 1933
The administration of the CCC was unprecedented.
Executive Order 6101 dated April 5, 1933, authorized the program,
appointed Robert Fechner as director and established an Advisory
Council. Representatives of
the Secretaries of War, Labor, Agriculture and Interior served on the
Council for the duration of the program.
All four agencies performed minor miracles in coordination
with the national Director of ECW, Robert Fechner, a union
vice-president, personally picked and appointed by FDR.
There was no book of rules. There
were none. Never before had
there been an organization like the CCC.
It was an experiment in top level management designed to prevent
red tape from strangling the newborn effort.
Fechner, and later James J. McEntee, would have their differences
with the Council, but unquestionably, each contributed greatly to the
success of the CCC.
Logistics was an immediate problem.
The bulk of young unemployed youth was concentrated in the East
while most of the work projects were in the West.
The Army was the only department capable of merging the two and
they quickly developed new plans to meet the challenge of managing this
peacetime mission. The Army
mobilized the nation’s transportation system, and moved thousands of
enrollees from induction centers to working camps.
It used regular and reserve officers, together with regulars of
the Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Navy to temporarily command companies.
The Army was not the only organization to evoke
extraordinary efforts to meet the demands of this emergency.
The Departments of Agriculture and Interior were responsible for
planning and organizing work to be performed in every state of the
union. The Department of
Labor was responsible for the selection and enrollment through state and
local relief offices.
The
program had great public support
The program had great public support.
Young men flocked to enroll.
A poll of Republicans supported the program by 67 percent, and 95
percent of Californians approved.
Colonel McCormick, publisher of the Chicago Tribune, and an
adversary of Roosevelt, gave the CCC his support.
Even the socialist Soviet Union praised the program.
A Chicago judge thought the CCC was largely responsible for a 55
percent reduction in the crime statistics.
With a firm foundation by April, 1934, the Corps faced the
beginning of its second year with near universal approval and praise of
the country. This young,
inexperienced $30-a-month labor battalion had met and exceeded all
expectations. The impact of
mandatory monthly $25 allotment checks to families boosted the economy
across the nation. Allotments
were making life a little easier for the people at home.
In communities close to the camps, local purchases averaging
approximately $5,000 monthly staved off failure of many small
businesses. The man on the
radio could, for a change, say, “There’s good news tonight.”
News from the camps was welcome and good.
The enrollees were working hard, eating heartily and gaining
weight, while they improved millions of acres of federal, state and some
private land. New roads were
built, telephone lines strung and the first of millions of trees were
planted. Glowing reports of
the accomplishments of the Corps were printed in major newspapers,
including some that had bitterly opposed other phases of the New Deal.
Positive response prompted the President to announce his
intention to extend the Corps for at least another year.
In 1935, the Civilian Conservation Corps began the best
years of its life. The
early days of drafty tents, poor fitting uniforms and hazardous
operations were gone. Individual
congressmen and senators were quick to realize the importance of the
camps to their constituencies and political futures.
Letters, telegrams, and messages soon flooded the Director’s
office most of them demanding the building of new camps in their states.
Eventually there would be camps in all 48 states and in Hawaii,
Alaska, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
By the end of 1935, there were over 2,650 camps operating in all
states, California had more than 150.
Delaware had three. CCC
enrollees were performing more than 100 kinds of work.
Enrollees numbering 505,782 occupied these camps.
Other categories, such as officers, supervisors, education
advisors and administrators swelled the total to more than 600,000
persons.
Program
modifications ensure success
The Emergency Conservation Work Act made no mention of
either education or training.
They were not officially introduced until 1937 by the Act that
formally created a Civilian Conservation Corps.
Late in 1933, Clarence S. Marsh was appointed the first Director
of Education based on a number of recommendations.
By 1934, a formal program had begun.
Varying opinions on educational methodology caused controversy
and criticism throughout its existence.
Even Fechner was never too enthusiastic about the program and
suspected that at camp level it might interfere with the work program.
This did not materialize and only in the latter years of the CCC
was training authorized during normal working hours.
Ultimately, the quality of the educational program was
determined by the initiative and qualifications of the Camp Education
Advisor (CEA). Also, the
attitude and cooperation of the Camp Commanders was important.
Both in efficiency and results the education programs varied
considerably from camp to camp.
However, throughout the Corps, more than 40,000 illiterate young
men were taught to read and write. Education
was a volunteer activity undertaken during non-working hours.
The benefits received from the education program were directly
related to the amount of effort whether it be a high school diploma,
learning to type, or wood carving.
Although relief of unemployed youth had been the original
objective of the ECW, two important modifications became necessary early
in 1933. The first extended
enlistment coverage to about 14,000 American Indians whose economic
conditions were deplorable and had been largely ignored.
Before the CCC was terminated, more than 80,000 Native Americans
were paid to help reclaim a land that had once been their exclusive
domain.
The second modification authorized the enrollment of about
25,000 locally employed men (LEM). Their
experience and special skills were vital to train and protect the
unskilled enrollees as they transitioned from city dwellers
to expert handlers of axes and shovels.
Demands of nearby communities that their own unemployed be
eligible for hire were also satisfied.
Some complaints of “political patronage” emerged, but no
serious scandals ever developed.
The appearance of a second Bonus Army in Washington, DC in
May, 1933, brought about another unplanned modification when the
President issued Executive Order 6129, dated May 11, 1933, authorizing
the immediate enrollment of about 25,000 veterans of the Spanish
American War and World War I, with no age or marital restrictions.
These men were first housed in separate camps and performed
duties in conservation suited to their age and physical condition.
While not exactly what the veterans had in mind when they marched
on Washington, it was an offer that most accepted.
A total of nearly 250,000 got a belated opportunity to rebuild
lives disrupted by earlier service to their country.
The years 1935-36 witnessed a peak in the size and
popularity of the Corps. However,
this time period also revealed the first major attempt to change a
system which had proven to be workable and successful since early 1933.
Before this challenge developed, Congress authorized, funded and
extended the existence of the CCC until March, 1935, with a new target
of 600,000 enrollees. This action signified the satisfaction of the
“grass roots” and their congressional representatives with the work
of the CCC.
At first, it appeared there would be no problem in
reaching the 600,000 man target. However, a new name had appeared among
Roosevelt’s advisors. Harry
Hopkins established new and uncoordinated ground rules for the selection
of enrollees. Hopkins’
procedures were based on relief rolls and effectively ruined the quota
system in use by all the states. Fechner
protested violently, and the developing hassle slowed down recruiting
efforts and created much confusion.
By September, 1935, there were only about 500,000 men located in
2,600 camps. Never again,
during the remainder of the life of the Corps would those numbers be
reached.
While Fechner was still struggling with the changes
required by the failure to meet the 600,000 strength figure, he was
struck by another change in strategy that spelled disaster.
Roosevelt quietly informed him to expect a drastic reduction in
the number of camps and enrollees in an effort to balance the federal
budget in an election year. Roosevelt,
a master politician, was aware that a major cut in government spending
would be an important selling point in this campaign for re-election.
However, in 1936 there were other factors that Roosevelt either
ignored or had underestimated. Election
year or not, Roosevelt’s proposed budget reform invited trouble.
As soon as the proposed reduction was announced the flood
gates burst, and Congress was besieged with protests.
The Corps was at the height of it popularity.
No one wanted camps closed. Republicans
and Democrats alike frantically sought a reversal of Roosevelt’s
policy. The President was
adamant and insisted that the plan would begin in January, 1936.
By June, he wanted approximately 300,000 men in about 1,400
camps. Coincidentally a few
camps previously scheduled to close did so about this time.
This action brought another deluge of mail.
House Democrats sparked an open revolt and Congress was
determined to take joint action to maintain the Corps at its current
strength. Roosevelt and his
advisors finally recognized the threat to their own legislative program
and wisely called a retreat. He
advised Fechner that the proposal had been dropped and that all existing
camps and personnel would remain. Roosevelt’s
own political party had refused to let him economize in an election year
at the expense of the Civilian Conservation Corps.
Despite a few problems, the year 1936 was a success for
the CCC. The projects
reached high levels and were faithfully recorded and reported.
This proud record increased each year and by 1942 all states
could boast of permanent projects attributed to the CCC.
Some of the specific accomplishments of the Corps included
3,470 fire towers erected, 97,000 miles of fire roads built,
4,235,000 man-days devoted to fighting fires, and more than three
billion trees planted. Five
hundred camps were under the direction of the Soil Conservation Service,
performing erosion control. Erosion was ultimately arrested on more than
twenty million acres. The
CCC made outstanding contributions in the development of recreational
facilities in national, state, county and metropolitan parks.
There were 7,153,000 enrollee man-days expended on other
related conservation activities. These
included protection of range for the Grazing Service, protecting the
natural habitats of wildlife, stream improvement, restocking of fish and
building small dams for water conservation.
Eighty-three camps in 15 western states were assigned 45 projects
of this nature.
Drainage was another important phase of land conservation
and management. There were
84,400,000 acres of good agriculture land dependent on man-made drainage
systems. This is an area
equal to the combined states of Ohio, Indiana and Iowa.
Forty-six camps were assigned to this work under the direction of
the U.S. Bureau of Agriculture Engineering.
Native American enrollees did much to this work.
Residents of southern Indiana will never forget the
emergency work of the CCC during the flooding of the Ohio River in 1937.
The combined strength of camps in the area saved countless lives
and much property in danger of being swept away.
They contributed 1,240,000 man-days of emergency work in floods
of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys.
Other disasters in which the CCC participated were the floods of
Vermont and New York in 1937 and the New England hurricane of 1938.
In Utah from 1936-37, 1,000,000 sheep were stranded in blizzards
and were in danger of starvation. CCC
enrollees braved the drifts
and saved the flocks.
The greatest tragedy to members of the Civilian
Conservation Corps occurred during the Labor Day hurricane of 1935, one
of the most violent storms on record.
Three CCC camps on the Florida Keys had a complement of 684
veterans. Less than
one-third were on holiday leave when winds of 150 to 200 miles per hour
struck the area, knocking out connecting bridges and rail lines.
A rescue train sent from Miami was derailed before reaching its
destination. The official
report listed 44 identified dead, 238 missing or unidentified dead, and
106 injured. Many were
literally sandblasted to death, with clothing and skin heavily scraped
from their bodies.
Few records were kept of the sociological impact of the
1930s on the nation’s young men. Many
had never been beyond the borders of their state, and others had never
left home. Yet, many would
never return. They would
choose to remain in towns and villages near their camps.
They married, reared families and put down new roots, such as
others had done during other migratory movements in America.
Those who did return, many with brides, came back as successful
products of an experiment in living that had renewed and restored self
confidence in themselves and in their country.
The Civilian Conservation Corps approached maturity in
1937. Hundreds of enrollees
had passed through the system and returned home to boast of their
experiences. Hundreds more
demonstrated their satisfaction by extending their enlistments.
Life in the camps had settled down to a routine of working
everyday except Sunday. After
the evening meal, camps came to life as men relaxed and had fun.
One building in every camp was a combined dayroom, recreation
center and canteen, or PX. In
this building, many friendships were fostered amongst the noise of
ping-pong, poker, innumerable bottles of “coke”, and occasional
beers, many lasting friendships were fostered.
There were many valid reasons why Congress chose not to
establish the Corps as a permanent agency.
However, disenchantment and failure to recognize the success of
the organization was never a topic of debate.
To the contrary, in a vote of confidence, Congress extended its
life as an independently funded agency for an additional two years.
Speculation suggests, Congress still regarded the CCC as a
temporary relief organization with an uncertain future, rather than as a
bold, progressive solution to the continuing problem of our vanishing
national resources.
Since Fechner’s appointment during the hectic days of
1933, he had been able to control the operation of the CCC with
relatively minor challenges to his authority.
However, 1939 would bring about a major challenge at the time
when he was struggling with internal problems brought about by changing
conditions both in the United States and Europe.
The European military controversy and its pending negative affect
on England and France had already begun to impact the U.S. economy.
In the effort to provide them with supplies to combat invasion,
jobs were created and applications for the CCC declined.
Again, it was a sudden change in administration policy that
generated the most heat for Fechner and the Civilian Conservation Corps.
One of Roosevelt's long range plans was the reorganization
of the administrative functions of some federal agencies.
Congress had been reluctant to approve such a move until early in
1939. They finally
authorized a modified proposal after much debate.
The Federal Security Agency (FSA) was created to consolidate
several offices, services and boards under one Director.
The CCC lost its status as an independent organization and was
brought into the new organization. Fechner
was furious when he learned the Director of FSA would have authority
over him. Appeals to the
President were futile as FDR believed the consolidation was important.
In an angry protest, Fechner submitted his resignation, but later
withdrew it. Some
felt that withdrawing his resignation was a mistake for it was common
knowledge that Fechner was in poor health.
Early in December, he had a massive heart attack and died a few
weeks later on New Year’s Eve.
Fechner was the CCC. His
honest, day by day attention to all facets of the program sustained high
levels of accomplishment and shaped an impressive public image of the
CCC. He was a common man,
neither impressed nor intimidated by his contemporaries in Washington.
Fechner was considered deficient and lacking vision in some areas
but his dedication was second to none.
His lengthy and detailed progress reports to FDR were valuable
information. He was a good and faithful servant who was spared from
witnessing the end of the CCC program.
In 1940 the Civilian Conservation Corps began a year of
change. The death of Fechner
was a severe blow and the emerging war in Europe was the greatest
concern to Roosevelt and Congress. John
J. McEntee was appointed by
the Congress to be Director. He
was as knowledgeable as Fechner as he had been the assistant since the
beginning. McEntee was an
entirely different personality without the appeasing talents of his
predecessor, and none of his patience.
Harold Ickes, another short-tempered individual, strongly opposed
his appointment. This
increased the friction between the Department of Interior and
Director’s office and was typical of the problems McEntee inherited.
He served in a different, uncertain atmosphere and received
little praise for his efforts.
The Corps itself continued to be popular.
Another election year attempt by the President to reduce its
strength precipitated a reaction reminiscent
of the congressional revolt of 1936.
Despite a well-meaning attempt at economy, Congress, with an eye
to the folks back home, added $50 million to the CCC’s 1940-41
appropriation. Also, the
Corps remained at the current strength of about 300,000 enrollees,
Congress would never again be as generous.
Other problems were developing within the Congress related to the
defense of the country. Inevitably, the priority and prestige of the CCC
suffered with each crisis. Those
congressmen who had opposed FDR’s “New Deal” gained strength some
calling for termination of the Corps.
By late summer, 1941, it was obvious the Corps was in
serious trouble. Lack of
applicants, desertion and the number of enrollees leaving for jobs
had reduced the Corps to fewer than 200,000 men in about 900
camps. There were also
disturbing signs that public opinion was slowly changing.
Major newspapers that had long defended and supported the Corps,
were now questioning the necessity of retaining the CCC when
unemployment had practically disappeared.
Most agreed there was still work to be done, but they insisted
defense came first.
The bombing of Pearl Harbor had shaken the country to its
very core. It soon became obvious that, in a nation dedicated to war,
any federal project not directly associated with the war effort was not
a priority. The joint
committee of Congress authorized by the 1941-42 appropriations bill was
investigating all federal agencies to determine which ones, if any, were
essential to the war effort. The
CCC was no exception and came under review late in 1941.
It was not a surprise that the committee recommended the Civilian
Conservation Corps be abolished by July 1, 1942.
The CCC lived on for a few more months, but the end was
inevitable. Technically, the
Corps was never abolished. In
June 1942 by a narrow vote of 158 to 151, the House of Representatives
curtailed funding. The
Senate reached a tie vote twice. Finally,
Vice-President Harry Wallace broke the tie voting to fund the CCC.
It was a valiant effort, but it didn’t work.
The Senate-House committee compromise finished it with the Senate
concurring in return for a House action authorizing $8 million to
liquidate the agency. The
full Senate confirmed the action by voice vote and the Civilian
Conservation Corps moved into the pages of history.
(Back
to the top)
Roots
of the Conservation Corps Concept
In 1850, the Scottish essayist Thomas
Carlyle wrote that unemployed men should be organized into regiments to
drain bogs and work in wilderness areas for the betterment of society.
In 1910, Harvard philosopher, William James published an essay:
“The Moral Equivalent of War” where he proposed conscription of
youth “enlisted against nature”.
In 1915, conservationist George H. Maxwell
proposed that young men be enrolled into a national conservation corps.
Their duties would include forest and plains conservation work,
to fight forest fires, flood control, and the reclamation of swamp and
desert lands.
In 1928, Franklin Roosevelt was elected
Governor of New York and in 1930 the New York legislature passed a law
to purchase abandoned or sub-marginal farmlands for reforestation. In
1931, the state government set up a temporary emergency relief
administration. The
unemployed were hired to work in reforestation projects, clearing
underbrush, fighting fires, controlling insects, constructing roads and
trails, and developing recreation facilities.
At the same time New York State was
developing their conservation and reforestation program, other states
including California, Washington, Virginia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania,
Michigan and Indiana, were hiring or planning for the unemployed to do
conservation work. The
states of California and Washington, in cooperation with the U.S. Forest
Service developed work camps for the unemployed.
By 1932, California had established 25 camps of 200 men each.
By 1932, the governments of Bulgaria, the
Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Austria and Germany had developed
youth corps.
The need for a national conservation corps
became evident in the early 1930’s.
In 1931, about 2 million people were “on the road” including
an estimated 250,000 teenagers. Approximately
54% of young men between the ages of 17 and 25 were either out of work
or working unsteadily in meager jobs.
By 1933, an estimated 12-15 million people were out of work.
Farms were being abandoned, more than 100,000 businesses went
bankrupt and more than 2,000 banks had shut their doors.
From an environmental perspective, only 100 million acres of an
original 800 million acres of virgin forests were left and 6 billion
tons of top soil were lost to wind and erosion each year.
The
Post War Years
In the years following the end of World War
II and the Korean Conflict, several attempts were made by conservation
groups to re-establish the program.
In 1957, the National Park Service placed
summer volunteers in the Grand Teton and Olympic National Parks in a new
program called the Student Conservation Program (SCP).
The concept of engaging young people as park volunteers was
suggested by Elizabeth Cushman in her 1955 senior thesis,
"A Proposed Student Conservation Corps".
Her idea, similar in many ways to the Civilian Conservation Corps
of the 1930’s, was to take the burden of labor-intensive jobs such as
entrance fee collecting or trail work from National Park Service
employees and shift those tasks to the student program.
1964 saw the Student Conservation Program
transition from the National Park Service to a new organization known as
the Student Conservation Association, Inc. (SCA).
Conrad Wirth, former NPS Director, would become the new
association’s chair and Elizabeth Cushman Titus would be named as
SCA’s president.
A Youth Conservation Corps was proposed by
Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota in 1959 in an attempt to save
trees, land, and youth. This
bill passed the Senate by a vote of 47-45, but due to opposition by the
Eisenhower Administration, the House refused to consider it.
While running for office in 1960, John
Kennedy proposed a corps of 100,000 youth between ages 18 and 25 to work
to preserve forests, stock lakes and rivers, clear streams, and protect
America’s abundance of natural resources.
In 1963 the President’s Committee on Youth Employment pointed
out that over a half million young people between ages 16 and 21 were
out of school and out of work, and that number could very well double by
1970. Several attempts to
establish a youth conservation corps during the Kennedy Administration
failed.
Once again, Congress failed to act on a
federal youth conservation corps program that offered no formal training
and thought that a simple work relief program like the CCC did not meet
the needs of the 1960’s.
Rebirth
of Conservation Corps Programs
It was in 1965 that a youth conservation
corps program would finally develop.
One of the major concerns of President Johnson’s war on poverty
was how to help the rising number of teenage drop-outs and draft
rejectees break the “cycle of poverty.”
Sargent Shriver, the President’s General in the War on Poverty,
incorporated a youth conservation element into a new training program to
be known as the “Job Corps.”
Through this effort, the Job Corps Civilian
Conservation Centers (JCCCC), like the CCC camps of the 1930’s were
administered by Federal land managing agencies like the National Park
Service and the U.S. Forest Service.
These conservation centers would be just one of several types of
Job Corps Centers that also included male or female urban centers.
At first, the Job Corps specifically
designed the conservation centers for enrollees with less than a 5th
grade reading level. Enrollees
stayed at conservation centers until their reading level improved and
then were transferred to urban centers for vocational training.
Critics claimed the conservation centers were disguised “labor
camps” since they managed the least educated youth and more than half
the enrollee’s time was spent on conservation work.
As a result of this criticism, the policy of separating youth by
educational level was which gave the conservation centers equal status
with other types of Job Corps centers.
Conservation centers still differed from other centers in size
with only 160-220 students versus up to 2,000 students in the larger
urban centers. Also,
training at the conservation centers had a tendency to parallel the
types of conservation work needed near the centers.
While the primary focus of Job Corps is to provide young adults
with vocational training, many of the training projects conducted by the
Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers help meet the conservation and
community service objectives of nearby local and federal agencies.
The U.S. Forest Service operates 28 Civilian Conservation Centers
nation-wide.
In 1964, Lloyd Meeds, a candidate for
Congress, from the state of Washington used the creation of a Federal
Youth Conservation Corps as a campaign issue.
Congressman Meeds and Senator Henry Jackson had been impressed
with the state of Washington’s own Youth Development and Conservation
Corps which had begun in 1960. It
was the effort of these two legislators that began the process that
would result in the passage of a Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) bill.
Legislative aides working with staff from
the U.S. Forest Service and the Department of Interior worked together
to create the YCC. Senator
Jackson introduced W.1076 in the Senate on February 18, 1969 and
stressed the educational impacts of his proposal.
Young people, he said, “would acquire an appreciation for our
natural resources which cannot be taught in schools. In addition, they
would develop good work habits and attitudes which would persist for the
remainder of their lives.”
Despite opposition from the Nixon Administration, the
Youth Conservation Corps began as a small pilot program in the summer of
1971. After three summers of
operation as a pilot program, and with strong Congressional support, the
YCC became a permanent institution in 1974.
Program participation jumped from 3,510 in 1973, to 9,813 youth
in 1974, and continued to grow until it peaked at 46,000 enrollees in
1978. In the first ten years
of operation, the Youth Conservation Corps provided an opportunity for
over 213,300 young people to “earn while they learn.”
Between the years of 1974 and 1980, the YCC flourished and youth
could be found nationwide each summer accomplishing needed conservation
projects while gaining valuable insights into their environment.
In addition to being operated on National Forest Service and
Department of Interior lands, YCC programs were conducted throughout
fifty states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico,
the Virgin Islands, Guam, the trust territory of the Pacific Islands,
and American Samoa. In 1980
the YCC was dealt an almost fatal blow when funding was halted by the
Reagan Administration. Both
the Departments of Interior and Agriculture felt so strongly about the
Youth Conservation Corps that they have continued the program on a much
reduced level with funds coming directly from each agency’s existing
budget.
Late in the 1970s, an even larger
federal program was launched, the Young Adult Conservation Corps (YACC),
which provided young people with year-round conservation-related
employment and education opportunities. With an annual appropriation of
$260 million and employing approximately 25,000 individuals, the YACC
operated at both the federal and state levels.
Like the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s, the Young
Adult Conservation Corps provided federal, tribal and state agencies the
opportunity to complete valuable conservation and community service
projects while providing opportunities for young Americans. As a result
of the 1980 federal elections, funding for the YACC ended but the
program would provide a working model that many future state and local
conservation corps would utilize.
State,
Local and Urban Conservation Corps
The value of Youth Conservation Corps
and the Young Adult Conservation Corps had been proven and many states
had already begun to support these programs directly. California became
the first when former-Governor Jerry Brown launched the California
Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1976. By
the end of the decade, conservation corps were operating in Iowa and
Ohio, and during the first half of the 1980s in several other states,
including Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont,
Washington and Wisconsin.
In 1983, the emerging Youth Corps
movement took a new twist with the birth of the first urban conservation
corps programs. Once again,
California took the lead with the start-up of urban conservation corps
in Marin County, San Francisco and Oakland (East Bay), plus eight more
in subsequent years. The California local corps were strengthened by
passage of the California Bottle Act in 1985, which earmarked funding
for local corps’ recycling projects.
Just a year later, New York City
established the City Volunteer Corps (CVC) and added a new dimension to
the corps field by engaging young people in the delivery of human
services as well as conservation work.
During the mid-1980s, new state and local corps continued to
spring up across the country despite the absence of federal support.
Many of the early local conservation corps began to add human
services projects to their portfolios.
Late in the 1980s, with support from
several large foundations (Ford, Kellogg, Hewlett, Mott, Rockefeller,
and the DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, among others), The Corps
Network (formerly known as NASCC) and Public/Private Ventures (P/PV)
sponsored a national demonstration to create and evaluate urban corps in
10 cities across the country. The
best practices gleaned from the established corps programs and the first
of these new corps became operational in the fall of 1990.
In
1992, the youth corps movement saw the first targeted federal funding in
more than a decade, when the Commission on National and Community
Service awarded approximately $22.5 million in grants to 23 states, the
District of Columbia, the Los Angeles Conservation Corps (LACC)
(for disaster relief projects) and five Indian tribes.
These funds became available under the American Conservation and
Youth Service Corps Act or Subtitle C of the National and Community
Service Act of 1990. While
only half of the established corps benefited directly from these funds,
the number of corps programs almost doubled to just over 100 as a result
of the new Federal "seed" money.
In 1993, the Congress enacted and
President Clinton signed The National and Community Service Trust Act,
which amended Subtitle C of the 1990 legislation to provide federal
support to many kinds of community service programs in addition to the
traditional youth corps. Within
this new legislation would be authorized a new program, the AmeriCorps
National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC), a team based residential
program for young men and women age 16-24.
NCCC members serve in teams of ten to twelve and are assigned to
projects throughout the nation addressing critical needs in education,
public safety and the environment. The
new law also established post-service educational benefits for
participants through the AmeriCorps Program.
During the first full year of AmeriCorps, beginning in September
1994, 53 youth corps received AmeriCorps grants through state-wide
population-based and competitive processes as well as through a national
direct application process and collaborations with Federal agencies.
In recent years, there has been an
increase in funding along with a corresponding growth of the
conservation corps community. However,
much more is needed to address today’s youth employment, social and
environmental issues.
Many of today’s corps have benefited
from the support of Civilian Conservation Corps veterans.
Over the past 40 years CCC alumni have assisted with developing
new corps programs, providing program guidance as Board members.
Furthermore, they are strong advocates for youth and the
environment.
Today, members of CCC Legacy, young and
old, continue to support the idea that corps programs efficiently
develop this nation’s most precious human and natural resources.
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Document Contents
CCC
History
President
Roosevelt wastes no time
Emergency
Conservation Work Legislation passes on March 31, 1933
Administration
of the CCC unprecedented
The
Program had great public support
In
1935 the CCC began the best years of its life
Program
modifications ensure success
1935
- Administrative changes influence enrollment
Corps
Accomplishment
Congress
never establishes Corps as a permanent agency
1940
- CCC begins a year that signals change
Continuing Legacy to Modern
Corps
Roots
of the Conservation Crops Concept
The
Post War Years
Rebirth
of Conservation Corps Programs
State,
Local, and Urban Conservation Corps
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