Modest Proposal : Combine Needed Public Works, Public Jobs

President-elect Bill Clinton has called for every citizen to “come to the aid of his country.” We feel we have an idea that will:

- Save taxpayers’ money;

- Put young people back to work;

- Encourage young people to finish school;

- Put self-esteem back in the nation’s vocabulary;

- Help rebuild inner cities.

Do you remember Franklin Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps, the CCC, which gave employment to thousands of desperate people on public works projects during the Depression? In 1976, Gov. Jerry Brown established the California Conservation Corps, modeled after the original CCC, and aimed primarily at youth. In 1987, we saw this program in action at Oat Mountain in Chatsworth, near our homes. In that program, young people fought fires and floods and improved parks during the day. They attended academic classes, literacy tutorials and self-esteem seminars in the evening, with the assistance of teachers and volunteers. A number of the youths in the state program said they had enlisted to get away from the problems and temptations of the streets.

Unfortunately, many of our state camps have been phased out as enthusiasm and funding for them declined over the past several years, and the national program is just a distant memory. The CCC needs to be returned to the state and national scene. What about it, Gov. Wilson? What about it, President-elect Clinton?

Editors note: Judith Jacovitz and Jane Mayer, both free-lance writers, wrote a feature about the Oat Mountain CCC program for The Times’ San Fernando Valley edition in 1987.