PRESS EDITORIAL: In a new crisis, America needs a new service corps

The Civilian Conservation Corps helped America survive one of the worst crises in its history. It should be revived to help the country survive an even more dire threat to the well-being of its people.

Historians say the CCC was the most popular and effective American government program of all time. Established in 1933 by an executive order signed by President Franklin Roosevelt, the agency put millions of young men to work in the darkest days of the Great Depression. Their efforts helped the economy and the nation’s spirit recover, and left a legacy of achievement that endures 87 years later.

Recreating the CCC was a barely noticed proposal by Joe Biden before it became an obscure footnote to the presidential campaign. Now, whoever is president, it is an idea that should be pursued. America needs a new CCC.

The original program provided meaningful jobs as an antidote to the Depression’s crushing unemployment. With a massive mobilization accomplished in a few months, the agency sent  battalions of corps members across the country to do needed work. Loosely defined as conservation, the work included reforestation, fighting forest fires, building parks and repairing, constructing and maintaining roads and bridges and other critical infrastructure.

CCC enlistees were given room and board at work camps and were paid $30 a month, three-fourths of which they were required to send home to their families.

Today, the U.S. is in throes of the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression. Unemployment is near Depression levels and the population shows signs of a depression of the spirit brought on by the physical and financial survival threats of an unrelenting pandemic. It is, by all definitions, a national crisis, and it calls for a new CCC.

Paychecks from the federal government to corps volunteers, however modest, would be a direct economic stimulus. But they would be far from welfare; those volunteers would earn their pay doing hard, necessary work.

Defending against the accelerating assault of climate change demands attention. The crucial tasks include fighting wildfires and clearing forests of combustible debris on the West Coast and rebuilding Atlantic and Gulf Coast communities devastated by hurricanes. Environment sustaining projects such as tree planting, erosion control and wetland restoration is needed in all regions of the country.

The pandemic itself has created essential work for a corps of motivated volunteers in virus testing, sanitizing public buildings and, when a vaccine is available, assisting in the daunting logistical challenge of distributing it.

Beyond its practical benefits, a 21st century version of the CCC would help restore a quality that sustained American through its hardest times but seems to have faded in the current crisis—the ethic of service for the good of not just one’s self, but the entire community.

While past generations sacrificed to help their fellow citizens survive the Great Depression and World War II, some members of current generations reject such minuscule sacrifices as wearing a face mask and abstaining from gathering in large groups at events, parties and bars to protect he health and lives of their fellow citizens as too much to ask.

On an individual basis, there are numerous heartening examples of community service. Ozaukee Press readers were treated to one in last week’s news story about a Port Washington couple who, thankful to have kept their full-time jobs in the pandemic recession, purchased a large supply of food items, stacked them on a table in front of their home and invited people less fortunate than them to take whatever they needed to sustain their families.

Large-scale organized opportunities to serve the vast community of the country, however, are limited. There are the armed forces, but fewer than one-half of 1% of Americans serve.

The Americorps service program created in 1993 for young men and women is in operation, but funding limits have kept it small, with only 75,000 participants. It should be wrapped into a new Civilian Conservation Corps and expanded exponentially to become the equivalent of a modern-day CCC. In return for a cost of living stipend and some educational benefits, Americorps members already do work similar to the that of the original CCC, including infrastructure and affordable housing projects.

When signing up for service, Americorps volunteers take a pledge whose language should be adapted for the mission statement of a new CCC. The pledge includes these words:

 “I will get things done for America to make our people safer, smarter and healthier. I will bring Americans together to strengthen our communities. Faced with apathy, I will take action. Faced with conflict, I will seek common ground. Faced with adversity, I will persevere.”

The pledge was created more than 25 years ago, but it might well have been written yesterday. It is perfect for these times.