Civilian Conservation Corps CCC

One of the first New Deal programs, the Civilian Conservation Corps grew from the Emergency Conservation Work Act, signed on March 31, 1933, weeks after President Franklin Roosevelt took office. The first camp, Camp Roosevelt in Virginia's George Washington National Forest, opened on April 17, 1933, and within months hundreds of thousands of young men were at work. Several departments ran it together: Labor recruited enrollees, the Army ran the camps, and the Agriculture and Interior Departments directed the work. Congress formally named it the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1937.

Enrollees were mostly unmarried young men from families on relief, who earned 30 dollars a month, 25 of which was sent home to their families. They lived in military-style camps, often in remote forests and parks, and received meals, clothing, medical care, and education classes. Over nine years about 3 million men planted an estimated 3 billion trees, built trails, roads, lodges, and shelters in national and state parks, fought forest fires, and worked on erosion and flood control. Separate units served Native Americans and veterans, and Black enrollees were largely placed in segregated camps.

The CCC was among the most popular New Deal programs, and many park buildings and trails it built are still in use. As the economy recovered and the country prepared for war, enrollment fell, and Congress ended its funding in 1942, with operations closing by June 30 of that year. Later programs such as the Job Corps, the Youth Conservation Corps, and AmeriCorps drew on its model. Admirers see it as proof that public service jobs can build lasting public goods, while critics at the time questioned its cost and its military-style organization of young civilians.