Congress Should Create An Urban Civilian Conservation Corps Similar To The CCC's Of The 30/40's....

[global1]

This is a seed of an idea here that I've been thinking of. This would be in concert with many of the suggestions I read in another thread here on DU as to how to deal with the police brutality.

What I heard as I watched the riots last night was a frustration about unemployment and the lack of jobs leaving a lot of people in the communities idle and with no way to better themselves or their communities. This leads kids in the communities to turn to gangs, drugs and to fend for themselves forcing them into a life of crime to survive.

Back in the 30's and early 40's before the war and after the depression - FDR created the CCC's or the Civilian Conservation Corp.

It was part of the New Deal. It was a way of bringing aimless young men of the depression into contact with wasting American resources (the land) - in an attempt to save both. It was this Corp that built State & National Parks; replanted forests and reclaimed farmland from the dust bowl.

Jobless youth of the depression era created an American crisis that the then Congress could no longer afford to ignore and FDR along with Congress brought together two wasted resources - "...the young (unemployed) men and the land in an attempt to save both."

A program similar to the CCC's should be updated and considered now by President Obama and be named the Urban Civilian Conservation Corps.

I envision a program where dollars would be allocated to communities around the country to provide jobs and supplies for the people of the communities to rebuild their communities. This would provide jobs, skills and a pride in the rebuilt communities that could stimulate growth in both the people and the economy.

When people are involved with building things with their own hands there is less of the chance for those same people to destroy what they themselves built.

A program like this would provide jobs skills in the trades like construction, electrical, plumbing, painting, etc. Think of the skills that people could develop with such a program. It could provide skills for management of the project itself; management of the supplies; management of the financial implications of such a project; management in human resources to employ people in the same businesses that would be created in such a program. Communities would thrive. People would start to develop some self-respect to better themselves.

This is just a seed of an idea right now that I've been thinking of. This country has had experience with such a program that was really successful back in the days of FDR. We have a President that understands the plight of the youth in such communities and what a better way to cement his legacy if he was able to pull something like this off.

Of course we would need support by a Congress that so far has been uncooperative with him because of his color. But I think if he summons the support of the American People they could put pressure on Congress to create such a program. I think he could get support from city and state governments to help put pressure on Congress to pull this off as well because the Mayors and Governors are looking for some help out of the mounting problems that they have to face in dealing with their local problems.

We could enlist the support by the leaders and churches in such communities to help nurture such a program.

I'm putting this out as an idea here. I'm curious if others here think this is a possible way of solving many of the contemporary problems faced in urban communities and am looking for DU'ers here to add their comments and ideas to make such a program viable.

[Jackpine Radical]

1. I was hoping Obama would do something like that in 2008.

A new CCC & WPA.

Actually, I have a lot of stories from the old CCC camps in N. Wis. because my father was a foreman of a crew that built fire towers, put in power lines, re-planted trees in the vast logged -over regions, etc.

[bravenak]

2. I think this would be helpful.

[1939]

3. CCC was a big success

It got the troubled youth of the time out of the cities where they could cause trouble and into the boondocks where they performe hard manual labor. If I knew how to post an image, I would show you a rebuilt CCC building maintained as a CCC museum in Michigan.. I am not sure there wouldn't be an outcry about FEMA camps if we used such facilities to house homeless or urban youth now.

[global1]

5. I Not Proposing Building Camps Or Make The Youth Perform Hard Manual Labor....

These youths and maybe even the older unemployed now live in these communities. There's no need for military camp like facilities to house them.

What needs to be created is a situation in the community that mimics what happens outside the communities. A microcosm of the job market that right now keeps the people of the communities out of because of lack of education, skills and the color of their skin.

There is a need for organization. A place where the people of the community can come together to plan the construction and re-construction of their communities and apply for and qualify for positions in this process. Let people opt for the positions that they feel that they are most interested in and perhaps want to develop skills in as well.

It would be a way to develop skills (on-the-job training). It would be a way to make an income for work done. It would be a way for people to take pride in what they accomplish and to protect what they built.

[Downwinder]

9. Invest in infrastructure.

Skills learned at 600' MSL will be invaluable moving big cities away from the coast.

[HereSince1628]

19. It also took unemployed youth out of the impoverished country-side and into urban counties...

At the time Milwaukee Co leaned socialist. There was great support and constant dreaming/planning for public parks and public spaces.

Within days of the announcement that funds for civil projects were available from the federal government Milwaukee Co submitted it's 'shovel ready plans' and Milwaukee Co received some of the first money released to the CCCs.

Many of the improvements and much of infrastructure built by the CCC still exists...although the WI R's would now like to see the properties privatized.

[Cheese Sandwich]

4. This is a really good idea.

I don't think this is going to happen on any big scale, because it doesn't profit bankers in any way.

The program right now is to turn over public assets like schools and utilities to private companies. And I think the plan for the people who live in the urban areas is to clear them out and build condos and gastro-pubs for rich people. You can see how this plan is more likely to happen because bankers can profit in the development.

Your plan for a new CCC is exactly what we need. But politically things have not been going that way. We have no power to make that happen. To make it happen we would really need a well organized movement of the people, similar to the movements that existed in the 1930s leading up to the original CCC.

[global1]

6. I Agree With You - We Really Would Need A Well Organized Movement Of And By The People...

but given the spotlight that has shone on this problem lately - there is a desire by and of the people to want something like this to happen. This problem will not go away if we don't come up with ways to solve this problem.

I hear what you are saying about the profit motivation by the banksters - but in my mind they are resourceful and will figure out a way to make money off of such a program in the long run.

Bottom line clearing out these communities to make way for condos and gastro-pubs for rich people is just burying their heads in the sand. The displaced people of those cleared out communities still need places to live and this would only move the problem not solve the problem.

Giving people skills and providing them with an income will lift them out of the urban problems we and they now face. It will help them in the self-respect area and make them contributing members of the economy that could then in turn pay dividends to the banksters.

We need to be really creative here people. This will not go away or get swept under the rug this time or what we saw happen in Baltimore last night will just be the forerunner for riots that will occur all over this country as people become more alienated and frustrated.

[Downwinder]

7. Not just Urban, we are hurting in the Rural areas too.

It has been a depression here since 2001. Youth can't find decent jobs so they go to the city. Older unemployed factory workers are driving para-transport buses.

[global1]

8. So Kick And Recommend This Post So That More And More People Like Yourself Can Illustrate The.....

problems that we face today in both rural and urban America. What seems to be the thread that runs through both is unemployment and lack of an income that can elevate people out of the situation that they find themselves in.

[Downwinder]

16. This County has been surviving on minimum wage,

Medicare and Social Security.

Rural areas need the high speed internet they have been promised since 1997. Communications are still traveling on WW II copper.

With the help of GM and GoodYear Public Transportation was demolished in 1948. Rail speeds are down to 5 mph due to inadequate track maintenance.

When the sea level rises, where are people going to go? Where will there be infrastructure to support them?

Ican only do one rec. That enough kick for you?

[global1]

18. Thank You For The Kick And Rec.....

hopefully it will expose other people to read this post and contribute their comments and ideas. You are absolutely correct with respect to the infrastructure problems that this nation has. Sounds like an Urban CCC needs to be expanded beyond these communities that I'm advocating such a program for. We need to start somewhere though. Again thanks for your comments - they resonate.

[Thinkingabout]

10. In the time of the CCC and WPA, there wasn't a lot of social nets and men was very ready to do

Hard work and they did. My father was very happy to get into the CCC, paid $30 a month, $25 went home to the families and he had $5 a month to furnish his personal needs. He was raised on a truck farm so he knew and was able to work hard.


I would like to see the community technical schools revitalized. Not everyone is college material but needs a talent and skill to get a career in order to support a family.

[global1]

12. The Community Itself In An Urban Civilian Conservation Corps Would Become The Technical School.....

and the jobs I'm talking about to re-build a community are trades and administrative jobs. This would be a hands-on learning experience like an apprenticeship.

You're right - not everyone is college material - so such a program would speak to that and provide skills to those that aren't college material to provide them ultimately with a career that would take them out of their community and put into the community of the whole with their newly learned job skills. They would get a career. They would earn a living. They would be able to support their own needs and those of a family as well.

For those people in the community that are college material but don't have the resources to put themselves through college - the administrative behind the scenes jobs that are needed to re-build a community would provide them on-the-job training as well. Perhaps we could even enlist the community colleges to grant academic credit for this on-the-job training.

President Obama already made a proposal to provide free community college education. This Urban CCC could fold into that and we can accomplish two goals for the price of one.

We just need to think out of the box people. There really is a seed of an idea here in this Urban CCC program to solve a lot of problems. If we put the muscle behind such a program like we did to put a man on the moon - we can do this.

The timing is right for such a program. Through the police brutality that has made the news in the last few years to the riots of last night that has put more light on this problem - things are coming together to make such a program viable.

Now it's a matter of getting the American People behind such an effort - starting with the People of the Communities and ending up in Congress. This is not a time to be thinking of how we can financially profit off such a program. It is a matter of saving this country from imploding upon itself.

Please kick and recommend my Original Post so that more people here on DU can be exposed to the ideas presented here and we can generate more ideas that could perhaps make such a program gel into reality.

[Thinkingabout]

14. A working individual will be busy and providing for their needs, a win-win result.

[Javaman]

11. My dad was in the CCC's. :)

he loved it.

[ck4829]

13. We need the CCC, and it's not a matter of 'should', but we must have a CCC

There is a high degree of alienation in urban communities, and I think we need a very strong effort to combat it.

[Thinkingabout]

15. K & R

[djean111]

17. If our government ever did this, the jobs would be out-sourced, and the work would be

privatized. Anyway, fantastic idea, but I believe the TTP and TTIP specify that any government contracts over a certain amount must be submitted to all signatory countries for bids, so this proposal would have to be worded very carefully.

[global1]

20. Come On Now Don't Take This To A Discussion On TPP....

this is an American problem that we need to address. Let's not be so cynical. That's not how we solve problems.

[global1]

21. Can Somebody Twitterize This Post Please.....

thanks.

[global1]

22. I Thought This Link To A Description Of The Original Civilian Conservation Corps Would Be Helpful...

Here's the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_Conservation_Corps