After suffering setbacks in Congress, the Biden administration released funds to launch its American Climate Corps, a new federal program that aims to employ thousands of young Americans in the clean energy, conservation and climate resilience.
The highly anticipated first steps of The American Climate Corps, or ACC, was shared exclusively with NBC News on Tuesday, as the administration seeks to launch the first cohort by next summer.
The new corps will be led by a partnership of federal agencies: the Departments of Commerce, Interior, Agriculture, Labor and Energy, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency and AmeriCorps.
The ACC depends almost entirely on the interest of young Americans applying to join the program. The body will host a number of “virtual listening sessions” in January to engage young people, hear their priorities and discuss at a local level how best to implement the program in different regions facing different climate realities. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Ed Markey, Democrat of Mass., are expected to join those talks.
According to the White House, nearly 50,000 people from every state and territory, including Puerto Rico, have sign to learn more about ACC membership since it was first announced, and a portal to apply will launch next spring.
The White House continued to draw similarities to the policies of President Franklin Roosevelt. Civilian Conservation Corpswhich was established in 1933 to allow unemployed young men to work on preserving public lands to combat low employment during the Great Depression.
“A historic program like this has never been done before in the lifetimes of almost everyone who works on this program,” said Maggie Thomas, special assistant for climate to President Joe Biden.
The administration had sought to finance the ACC through the Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed by Congress last year, but funding was ultimately removed from the final IRA text. The White House now hopes to use funds for climate-focused programs across multiple agencies to realize the vision of the American Climate Corps.
Five states – California, Colorado, Maine, Michigan and Washington – have already launched programs to combat climate change, and the federal program will rely on them as implementing partners.
“We continue to think that congressional spending is still a good idea, that hasn’t changed, but we continue to get creative to make sure that we are actually using every tool at our disposal to fight the climate crisis ” said Thomas. . “We’re engaging all agencies and we’re really attracting this new, diverse generation of young people to ensure we can tackle the climate crisis in all the ways we know we need to.” »
As the White House works to establish ACC to launch its first cohort, it is leveraging existing funding to realize the program’s vision of expanding opportunities for young people to pursue careers in justice environmental.
The first such program targeted by the administration was the EPA. Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grant Program, which received $2 billion in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act last month. This funding will be used to implement and fund projects focused on reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions in underserved communities, including “an option for communities to propose their own Climate Corps program » which would place young people in these projects, the White House said. said.
“What we’re doing is building into our funding opportunities the opportunity for local communities to take advantage of this tool,” Thomas said. “And if it’s the right tool for them, we want to make sure there are ways for them to apply and get money to do that. We at the federal level are working to bring all of these programs together through the federal agency and put in place the federal infrastructure to make these local programs a success.
Rosemary Enobakhare, associate administrator for public engagement at the EPA, said the agency targets young people “and really makes sure they’re all part of this work.”
“Young people don’t hesitate to ask questions. … EPA is really getting involved and really telling the story about the impact of climate on communities and how young people are the future,” Enobakhare said. “And they’re going to hear this plan, and they need to be part of the solution.”
