Letter to the Hon. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House and the Hon. Chuck Schumer, Senate Majority Leader - Urging Creation of Civilian Climate Corps

Letter

Dear Speaker Pelosi and Leader Schumer,
Thank you for your leadership and steadfast commitment to combating climate change, investing
in clean energy, and protecting our environment, especially as the country faced extraordinary
and devastating circumstances over the course of the last year.

The United States experienced 22 billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in 2020, shattering
the previous annual record of 16 events. 2020 was the worst fire season on record, burning over
10.2 million acres and costing over $16 billion in damages and $3 billion in suppression costs.
The U.S. experienced a record-breaking 30 named tropical cyclones, 7 of which became billion dollar disasters--also a new record. Nearly half of the U.S. has been in a drought since 2021
began, amplified by dangerous heatwaves with record breaking temperatures. Climate disasters
continue to increase in number and strength.

At the intersection of the COVID-19 pandemic unemployment crisis and the impacts of a
warming climate, we have a historic opportunity to make bold investments in our public lands,
clean energy, and climate resiliency, all while creating good-paying jobs, building a diverse
workforce, and strengthening career pathways. It is in the spirit of this conviction and dedication
that we write to express our strong support for funding a Civilian Climate Corps in the
upcoming reconciliation package.

President Biden recognized the potential of a Civilian Climate Corps through its inclusion in the
American Jobs Plan and the FY2022 budget. Congress must ensure these bold plans are
brought to fruition by passing ambitious legislation that harnesses the enthusiasm
Americans feel for the Civilian Climate Corps. Half of all voters under 45 say they would
consider joining the Civilian Climate Corps if a position was available to them. A renewed
Civilian Climate Corps would provide unprecedented economic opportunities to young
Americans who are unemployed at nearly double the rate of the total population. President Biden
highlighted this in his January 27, 2021 Executive Order. We agree that it is time to "put a new
generation of Americans to work conserving our public lands and waters" among other pressing
climate priorities to decarbonize our economy, provide essential updates to the nation's
infrastructure, and create more resilient communities. In addition to the strong support from
President Biden, we are encouraged by discussions of transformative investments in the
Civilian Climate Corps for the coming budget resolution.

The urgency of this moment recalls past chapters of national mobilization. More than eighty
years ago, we rose to the challenge of the Great Depression with the creation of programs like
the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration. Responding to the call
of Great Society priorities and the advocacy of leaders like Senator Ted Kennedy, Congress
acted to preserve those initiatives' legacy in a suite of national service and youth engagement
programs, the largest of which is AmeriCorps. In each new iteration, Congress worked to address
the inequities that marked the New Deal initiatives. Today's programs include both opportunities
for a residential, team-based experience modeled on the twentieth-century Civilian Conservation
Corps and partnerships with nonprofit and community-based organizations. In standing up the
Civilian Climate Corps, we will build on that legacy and existing infrastructure, provide
robust economic and educational opportunity, and promote inclusive and equitable Corps.

GOALS OF THE PROGRAM: The Civilian Climate Corps program goals are to provide
employment opportunities; invest in natural climate solutions, clean energy, and resilience; and
address environmental justice through locally-led, science-based projects.

● The Civilian Climate Corps will put people back to work, train a new workforce for
long term careers, and support local economies. After historic levels of job loss due to
COVID-19, this bold investment in jobs is a bipartisan priority. Recent polling shows that
77% of likely voters support the concept of a Civilian Climate Corps, including 65% of
Republicans and 87% of Democrats.
From rural communities to urban centers, the
Civilian Climate Corps will provide new career opportunities across the country.
Additionally, the projects completed by the Corps will improve and support the local
economies of the communities they are located in.
● The Civilian Climate Corps will invest in natural climate solutions, including
conserving public lands and waters, investing in coastal restoration, expanding
regenerative agriculture, and increasing natural carbon sequestration. The National Park
Service currently struggles with a nearly $12 billion maintenance backlog, and the work
done by the Corps will help ensure our public lands remain healthy, supporting strong
ecosystems and biodiversity.
● The Civilian Climate Corps will reduce carbon emissions by investing in a clean
energy economy. From installing renewable energy infrastructure, to improving energy
efficiency, to providing training for clean energy jobs, the Corps will support the
transition to a clean, competitive energy economy. These investments are integral to
achieving President Biden's goal of achieving net-zero global greenhouse gas emissions
by 2050.
● The Civilian Climate Corps will invest in climate resilience projects, including flood
and wildfire mitigation and preparedness, drought management, addressing invasive
species, and rebuilding communities after climate disasters. The Corps will play an
important role in supporting communities experiencing these impacts firsthand. Projects
will be ecologically and scientifically appropriate, and benefit our climate, public lands,
and communities.
● The Civilian Climate Corps will prioritize Environmental Justice. Work done by the
Corps will help address historic inequities, from improving access to public lands and
waters for disenfranchised communities, to reducing air pollution by supporting the
transition to renewable energy, to providing job training and career guidance to
communities that are most in need. The work completed must also receive community
feedback to ensure the communities impacted will benefit.

STRUCTURE OF THE PROGRAM: A central entity within the White House should
coordinate and oversee the work of Civilian Climate Corps and its public and private partners. In
the coming reconciliation package, we urge you to include funding for programs across the
federal government at levels necessary to meet the scale of the climate challenge.

● We agree with President Biden's assertion that the existential threat of climate
change requires a whole-of-government approach. As further highlighted in Section
215 of President Biden's Executive Order, Americans support a Civilian Climate Corps
that makes bold investments to "conserve and restore public lands and waters, bolster
community resilience, increase reforestation, increase carbon sequestration in the
agricultural sector, protect biodiversity, improve access to recreation, and address the
changing climate." Additionally, the Corps must address energy efficiency, renewable
energy, weatherization, education, environmental justice, disaster preparedness and
mitigation, and other climate issues. These ambitious goals demand a coordinated and
organized approach.
● We support the creation of a central entity within the Executive Office of the
President to coordinate and oversee the work of the Corps. Through this central
coordination, the Civilian Climate Corps will have a unique identity within the federal
government that includes uniform branding, mission, and purpose, even as multiple
federal, state, and local programs are involved in administration. This identity should also
be integrated with that of the existing service infrastructure. This model will ensure that
the Civilian Climate Corps builds on the already existing and successful infrastructure of
its many partners and highlight the diversity of ways in which Americans can get to work
meeting the urgent needs of their communities.
● The program should include funding for enlisting Americans at scale, including
through the infrastructure at AmeriCorps, non-profit, state, local, and agency
partners. More than 300,000 Americans work through programs funded by AmeriCorps,
formally known as the Corporation for National and Community Service, to address
critical community needs, including Civilian Climate Corps activities like conservation,
habitat restoration, and environmental education. There is also strong existing network of
partners, including outdoor recreation groups, park and refuge friends' groups,
conservation groups, trail organizations, and many more whose local knowledge and
expertise can expand program impact and make efforts more successful. Robust funding
should also extend to Department of Labor programs to strengthen the workforce
development capacity of the Corps. A re-envisioned Corps must support the entire
ecosystem of partners engaged in this work.
● The program should include robust funding for the many programs and activities in
which Corps members will engage. These include initiatives and accounts at the
Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Energy, Transportation,
Housing and Urban Development, and Health and Human Services, as well as the
Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and others.
These programs are foundational to the work of the Corps, from funding forest
restoration projects, to supporting conservation practices on farms, to ensuring clean
water for communities. Increasing climate extremes are exacerbating existing challenges.
The Civilian Climate Corps will provide the needed workforce for federal programs to
fulfil their full potential in supporting communities and mitigating climate impacts.
● The Civilian Climate Corps should coordinate with other AmeriCorps, national
service, and public programs to provide integrated services. Climate change threatens
enormous collateral consequences for our efforts to combat nutrition insecurity, promote
public health, and prevent and address damage from natural disasters. The breadth of this
challenge requires a holistic response, and the Corps should be designed to provide
integrated services and activities where appropriate.

STANDARDS OF THE PROGRAM: We urge you to include legislation in the reconciliation
package to ensure the Civilian Climate Corps includes strong labor standards and clear career
pathways. The program must also prioritize frontline communities and locally-led operations.

● In addition to a whole-of-government approach, the Civilian Climate Corps must
have ambitious labor standards. For the workforce to be equitable, the program must
provide a living wage and a robust education award to offset the cost of college or pay
down student loans. The Civilian Climate Corps must ensure members do not need to
rely on other income or public benefits to survive, and should establish partnerships with
industry partners, unions, community colleges, trade schools, universities, and other
postsecondary education programs to establish educational opportunity pipelines. Further,
the program should provide benefits to include full healthcare coverage and support for
childcare, housing, transportation, and education. Further, these benefits should be
extended on an equal basis to all members participating in national service programs, so
that Americans providing critical public health, nutrition, education, and other services
may also benefit from the same economic, educational, and career pathway opportunities.
● In addition to strong labor standards, the Civilian Climate Corps must provide a
pathway to good jobs, and especially union jobs. Participation in the program will
provide Corps members with the education and training to succeed in the future
workforce and aid them in establishing their careers. Corps programs that offer preapprenticeship and registered apprenticeship opportunities and job placement assistance
programs must be prioritized. The Civilian Climate Corps should also provide noncompetitive hiring authority for all Corps members with federal partners.
● The new Civilian Climate Corps must improve upon the original program by
prioritizing environmental justice and investing in an equitable and diverse Corps
membership. The program must include investments in and recruitment from frontline
environmental justice communities, by directing 50% of Corps investments into, and
recruiting 50% of Corps members from, frontline environmental justice communities.
The program must maintain close coordination with Tribal communities and ensure
specific funding is allocated for participants from Tribal communities. The program
should also center justice in recruitment and retention by ensuring gender equity,
providing opportunities to a range of ages, and enabling participation regardless of
immigration status to include DACA recipients, DED and TPS holders, refugees and
asylees. Finally, the program must engage veterans and out-of-school or out-of-work
youth and formerly incarcerated persons.
● Although national coordination is necessary, the Civilian Climate Corps must follow
the lead of local communities in day-to-day operations. The Civilian Climate Corps
should look to impactful public-private partnerships and locally administered programs as
models. Projects should focus on locally-designed climate solutions that meet the needs
of local communities. Additionally, the program should prioritize local hiring to ensure
Corps members can live and work near their communities.

The intersection of climate impacts and COVID-19 have resulted in unique economic, racial, and
public health challenges facing the United States. Congress has an opportunity to pass bold
legislation to create jobs, combat climate change, and prepare America for the future.

There are several pieces of legislation that have been introduced in the 117th Congress signaling
strong support for a Civilian Climate Corps. While each of these bills vary in detail, we
collectively ask that the upcoming reconciliation package include text that supports and
funds a Civilian Climate Corps program as outlined in this letter.

Thank you for your dedication to bold climate action, and we look forward to working with you.