Need work? Get back to the land
TEXT OF STORY
Renita Jablonski: Today a House committee will look at a new plan to get people to work clearing trails, cleaning campgrounds, and cleaning beaches. Marketplace’s Jennifer Collins has that.
Jennifer Collins: Strap on your work gloves: the next big job opportunity may be in the public lands corps. There’s a bill in the House that would clear the way for this volunteer and stipend-based program to fund more paid positions.
Congressman Raul Grijalva chairs the national parks subcommittee, which is meeting today to discuss the bill.
Raul Grijalva: I envision some very, very profound attention to our public lands and the ability to put young people to work.
Grijalva says the bill could help the corps add up to 60,000 jobs over the next few years.
Alan Kaufmann runs crews of young people with lands corps programs. From a trailhead in Arizona, he says his crews quickly spend their paychecks.
Alan Kaufmann: So the money that is generated through the program goes straight into the economy.
Kaufmann says thanks to public works expansion, his group is adding as many as 50 jobs starting this summer.
I’m Jennifer Collins for Marketplace.
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