In a crisis like this, there should also be opportunities. People will be frantically trying to renovate their homes and will not be able to find contractors or qualified people to help them. Meanwhile, we have a glut of people who are in dead end jobs often with few skills.
A helper/apprenticeship/skilled trades program that uses this crisis to begin training people who are stuck in low wage jobs or out of work would be a win/win situation. It would resemble the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps — started during the Great Depression). Briefly it would look like this:
I expect a lot of people will be out of jobs as their factories, stores, and places of business are closed down. Recruiting these people first and then from a broader area, invite people to participate in an apprenticeship program to learn skilled trades.
The first step would be a quick training — probably a week or less teaching the basics of building recovery after a flood. This includes such things as how to make a flood cut on drywall and remove it, how much insulation to remove, how to be safe working around electricity, and how to clean and sanitize after a flood. Having lived through a flood, I know that even these steps are overwhelming and need knowledge to do them right. Trainees would have supervision from contractors who would otherwise be doing the work themselves.
Recruits would work alongside home and business owners getting the buildings ready for renovation. They would receive living wages coming out of flood recovery funds.
After this, a more focussed and complete apprenticeship program would be offered in most of the skilled trades, working with established contractors and unions. People would be learning plumbing, electrical work, and other skills of innovation while renovating flood ravaged communities.
At the end, homeowners would have their houses back with much of the renovation paid for with flood relief dollars. And we would have an expanded group of skilled workpeople who could continue to use those skills for a better wage and life.
It is almost impossible to find a plumber, electrician, or builder these days, especially for a quick response or small job. Giving people the ability to move into such trades would be at the core of “making America great”. These jobs cannot be exported. They often pay a living wage. They can, with training, be done by people from all walks of life — without running up tremendous debt for education.
I said that this had a resemblance to the CCC or WPA (Works Progress Administration) during the depression. People from these two programs were instrumental in recovery from a number of disasters. including one of the worse hurricanes to ever hit New England
the CCC forces contributed to disaster relief following 1937 floods in New York, Vermont, and the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys, and response and clean-up after the 1938 hurricane in New England.
Participants in the CCC, by the end of the program were required to receive at least 10 hours a week of vocational or academic training.
I realize that an idea like this probably won't either move quickly or even happen in the current administration. But, other storms are coming and it will take years to renovate Houston. I wish we could move to making opportunities for those in need as we recover. This diary started out as an extended comment. A couple of people suggested that I post it as a diary so I am expanding and hope that I can get help with the idea. What do you think? How can we improve on this idea?
This is the core job of government, giving people the safety to know we have your back if something goes wrong, and opening the doors for a better life in the future. We must keep fighting to make that happen.
Thank you.