A Federal Job Guarantee mobilizes the human potential to maximize resiliency and solves for every alt cause to sustainability

A revival of FDR’s Tree Army and the formation of a 21st century Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) would create JG jobs in close proximity to the unemployed. Since all communities have acute environmental needs, the camp-based CCC model from the New Deal is not appropriate or desirable. Instead, jobs will be created where the workers live. The Community Jobs Bank will include a list of monitoring programs, rehabilitation programs, and public investment programs. The jobs will tackle: soil erosion, flood control, environmental surveys, species monitoring, park maintenance and renewal, removal of invasive species, sustainable agriculture practices to address the “food desert”2 problems in the United States, support for local fisheries, community supported agriculture (CSA) farms, community and rooftop gardens, tree planting, fire and other disaster prevention measures, weatherization of homes, and composting. Communities are best rebuilt from within. Many communities throughout the United States experience urban blight, poverty, and crime. The JG can employ existing best practices to mobilize the human potential within a community to revive it and make it more resilient. Jobs can include: cleanup of vacant properties, reclamation of materials, restoration of public spaces, and other small infrastructure investments; establishment of school gardens, urban farms, co-working spaces, solar arrays, tool lending libraries, classes and programs, and community theaters; construction of playgrounds; restoration of historical sites; organization of carpooling programs, as well as recycling, reuse, and water-collection initiatives, food waste programs, and oral histories projects.