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Over 100 Service, Workforce, Energy, Labor, Youth and Environmental Justice Organizations Join Together to Launch the Partnership for the Civilian Climate Corps to Put Youth on Pathways to Resilience Careers
The non-partisan collection of national and local organizations is working toward implementing a national service corps to address climate resilience and mitigation
WASHINGTON, DC (January 9, 2022) – Today, over 100 cross-sector organizations announced the launch of the Partnership for the Civilian Climate Corps (PCCC) to implement a national service corps to advance climate resilience and mitigation. The partnership includes organizations representing leaders in national service, workforce, labor, environmental justice and conservation, youth-serving organizations, and the growing resilience and clean energy industries, and represents national, state, and local organizations across the country.
The Partnership has identified the need for a multi-agency service corps to build on-ramps to good-paying conservation, resilience, and energy sector apprenticeships and jobs, address environmental justice, lower energy costs, and help communities improve infrastructure and disaster resilience. A resilience and mitigation corps has captured significant interest among federal, state and local policymakers over the past two years, stemming from persistent and popular support among young Americans.
The Partnership believes this corps should prioritize robust corps member benefits and professional development, equitable opportunities in communities that have been hardest hit by climate challenges, and projects focused on local community priorities including conservation, clean energy, resilience, infrastructure, and mitigation initiatives across rural, urban, and tribal areas. A successful resilience and mitigation corps should be built off of existing infrastructure, scaling up at national, state and local organizations including workforce development and labor partners. In this way, the corps could serve as a pre-apprenticeship pipeline into apprenticeship and career opportunities in the quickly growing resilience space.
Continued federal leadership to encourage interagency collaboration between Dept. of Labor, AmeriCorps, infrastructure, energy, and public lands agencies and to support sustainable funding streams will be necessary to move this effort forward. Leveraging national service and workforce programs is a major opportunity to achieve the resilience goals outlined in the recent infrastructure and Inflation Reduction Act.
The Partnership for the CCC is eager to work with champions at all levels of government to advance and implement this initiative, kick-starting the effort with a letter to President Biden requesting executive action from the White House and robust funding in the President’s FY24 budget request. The PCCC will also build off of recent action in states across the country that have created new state-based corps as well as existing networks of state service commissions, service and conservation corps, workforce, environmental justice, and registered apprenticeship programs.
“State Service Commissions and state governments around the country have been busy developing bipartisan climate corps models and hope to work further with the Biden Administration and Congress through the Partnership for the CCC to further develop resilience in our communities and provide on-ramps to green sector jobs through a new national service corps,” said Kaira Esgate, CEO of America's Service Commissions.
"JFF is pleased to be a founding member of the Partnership for the Civilian Climate Corps (PCCC). Now more than ever, the country needs robust training to meet the potential of the clean energy sector. A Civilian Climate Corp would allow for an equitable approach to filling these jobs. We look forward to working with PCCC champions across the country to meet the needs of today's evolving economy and workforce,” said Karishma Merchant, Associate Vice President, Policy & Advocacy at JFF.
“A 21st century version of the Civilian Conservation Corps will help restore and bolster the resilience of the lands and water essential to people and wildlife alike, while also training tomorrow’s workforce and addressing persistent environmental injustices. Investing in and expanding a new Civilian Climate Corps is long overdue — and an area where the Biden Administration and Congress should work together to find common ground,” said Collin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation.
“Young people are demanding tangible ways to strengthen environmental resilience and the Civilian Climate Corps represents an opportunity to empower youth to take action while also providing them with on-ramps to green sector jobs,” said Kristen Bennett, CEO of Service Year Alliance. “The Partnership for the Civilian Climate Corps demonstrates the strong national and local support for service years to strengthen communities, transform lives, and fill workforce gaps in a high-demand sector. We’re eager to work alongside our partners and see the promise of a CCC fulfilled.”
"Thousands of young adults are actively serving in Conservation Corps programs throughout the United States. Many of these programs have decades of experience training young people for conservation careers. By completing projects to steward public lands and enhance our climate resilience, young people in Corps help our country and learn valuable skills for the growing green economy," said Mary Ellen Sprenkel, President and CEO of The Corps Network. "I am excited to join fellow national service and conservation organizations to launch the Partnership for the Civilian Climate Corps. The infrastructure for a modern CCC is in place. Together, I believe our coalition can help secure funding and advance our shared vision of a Climate Corps focused on environmental justice and sustainability."
View the full list of PCCC members and other resources and publications from the Partnership here.
About the Partnership for the Civilian Climate Corps
The Partnership for the Civilian Climate Corps (PCCC) is a non-partisan collection of national, state, and local organizations working toward implementing a national service corps to tackle climate resilience and mitigation head on, while developing career pathways into apprenticeships and good-paying jobs for the next generation in the rapidly growing clean energy economy, disaster mitigation, infrastructure resilience, and conservation sectors.
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