Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
Introduction
Started as part of the New Deal, the Civilian Conservation Corps, or the CCC, ran from 1933 to 1942. The CCC was a work relief program that was publicly funded to provide employment during the depression. The CCC provided jobs in the area of conservation to unskilled laborers ages 18 to 25. These laborers were unmarried men from families who were going through hard times, and in many cases, were the soul supporters of there families. The CCC ended up employing 2.5 million people. The CCC served several purposes during the great depression: it created much needed jobs, bolstered America's interest in forestry and the out doors, and demonstrated how the government could be a source of temporary employment. The CCC was the brain child of President Roosevelt, who had a great passion for conservation, and, as the governor of New York, had implemented a program like the CCC a few years earlier. It was Roosevelt who determined that an executive order on April 5th, 1933 was necessary to create the CCC to fund hundreds of thousands of much needed jobs at this critical time.
The Aim of the CCC
The aim of the CCC was two-fold, to provide much needed jobs to the unemployed while also providing a conservation movement that would reforest millions of acres of Americas rural areas. The CCC did not pay it's worker's very much, indicating that it was more about giving people the feeling that they were contributing to the prosperity of the nation and to get them "back on their feet" than it was to provide permanent jobs. The aim and purpose of the CCC changed over time, when it was originally constructed it was meant to be an emergency government employment program, but in 1937 the CCC was established a by congress as a fully funded social program. The age limits were changed and its focus was broadened to included emergency respondance. The new CCC volunteers/workers started cleaning up and responding to disasters, such as the 1938 New England hurricane.
Subdivisions of the CCC
While the majority of those who filed for employment with the CCC were white, other ethnic groups were also hard hit by the depression. The CCC had a entire division dedicated to employing native Americans that were part of a governmentally established Indian tribe, known originally as the Indian Emergency Conservation Work. The reason for this separation is because the Native Americans had a vested interest in preserving Native American land rather than other conservation areas. The government saw this as valid, and had the CCC Indian division committed to planting trees and otherwise protecting Indian American lands.
Outside Sources
Hear a brief overview of what the CCC was from a completely randomly created speaking dude that is not meant to represent anything other then some random guy.
A more detailed, secondary source for information on the CCC from PBS can be found by clicking here.