NYA, which stands for National Youth Adminstration, was part of the New Deal program proposed and sponsored by Franklin D Roosevelt. Its main goal was focusing on providing work and education to support the teens and adults around the ages 16-25. It ran from June 26 of 1935 til 1939, transferred to the War Manpower Commission, and discontinued in 1943. The head of NYA was Aubrey Willis Williams, whose goal was to get these people between the age of 16-25 the job and education that they needed. According to reliable sources, "By 1938, college youth were paid from $6 to $40 a month for "work study" projects at their schools. Another 155,000 boys and girls from relief families were paid $10 to $25 a month for part-time work that included job training." In total, the NYA helped over 4.5 millions of people find jobs, receive training, and education. Moreover, it helped to provide means for overcoming this economic crisis, along with the other programs of the New Deal, so that the future generations wouldn't have to suffer through the same things.
This is actually my personal favorite solely because of the acronym NYA (also because if this program was active today, I would be affected by this, therefore receiving education (but we kind of already get education as a given right now so I'm not really complaining) and also job opportunities regardless of education level (which is slightly more appealing because we have to all compete for jobs these days and employers only look for the best so not everyone gets a job that they want)).
I think the information you provided is really interesting and I find it especially interesting as compared to present day that this could drastically change the way teens viewed education compared with working and jobs. That receiving an education would be more easy and reachable for with some of the impoverished areas of America now. In addition, I think overall, the NYA really encouraged education through the form of "work study" and also provided relief to the general public.
ReplyDelete