The broader inspiration for the American Climate Corps comes from the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), an early New Deal program that put young men to work planting billions of trees and building trails, roads, hunting cabins and other infrastructure dedicated to both conservation and recreation. Dubbed “Roosevelt’s Tree Army,” the program lasted for about a decade and employed some 2.5 million people. Having piloted similar efforts as governor of New York, Roosevelt first started drawing up plans for the CCC just after his inauguration, eventually bringing Congress a proposal for “Emergency Conservation Work” in late March 1933. By July, the program was up and running, and had already met the White House’s initial goal of putting 250,000 men to work.
The American Climate Corps will be meager by comparison, although activists hope it can be the basis for more expansive climate jobs program down the road. Public details as to how the program will work are still sparse. According to a source familiar with the design of the program, the first jobs will likely start hiring next summer or early fall. The White House has set a goal of employing 20,000 people in the first year. That may sound like a big number, but, for reference, an estimated 75,000 people marched through New York City in climate marches on Sunday. If the program were to meet its goals, that is, it would employ significantly less than half of the people that showed up to last weekend’s demonstration.
Per the same source, the program will reportedly be administered by a dedicated staff within the Corporation for National and Community Services, which also houses AmeriCorps. That team will coordinate with an initial list of six federal agencies; pending future budget allocations by Congress, Corps members will work on agency projects that have already been funded, including by the Inflation Reduction Act. Agencies already implementing the IRA will work over the coming year with the CNCS to match recruits to eligible positions. In addition to connecting Corps members with federal-level placements, they’ll also work with state-level Climate Corps, tribal programs and labor unions who can sign up as partners, and then can utilize the CNCS as a “national recruitment arm,” per the source.