Keith Geddes: Roosevelt blueprint can herald new deal for young Scots

FOLLOWING his landslide presidential election vic- tory, Franklin D Roose-velt wasted no time in legislating to tackle the Great Depression.

Five days after his 1933 inauguration, FDR called an emergency session of Congress to install one of his most popular New Deal programmes - the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Designed to tackle mass unemployment stemming from the depression, the CCC allowed those out of a job to participate in a natural resource conservation programme. Running from 1933 to 1942, the programme provided work and training for some three million men.

It may be a touch grandiose to argue that Roosevelt's bold initiative should be replicated here in Scotland. Or is it? Those of us who lived through the 1980s and witnessed the long-term social and economic consequences of mass unemployment recognise that urgent action is needed to ensure that long-term damage to communities throughout the country is not repeated. To do that, priority should be given to ensuring that young people are engaged with the world of work.

Scotland's latest unemployment figures indicate that the number of young Scots who are not in work or education and training programmes (Neets) has increased. In the geographical area that is covered by the Central Scotland Green Network (CSGN) - containing 3.2 million of Scotland's population - some 26,000 of the 139,000 aged between 18 and 25 are not in education, employment or training.

CSGN - one of the Scottish Government's 14 priorities identified in National Planning Framework 2 - has been charged with effecting a "step change for Scotland's Central Belt".

As part of that challenge, CSGN is seeking to find ways of improving local environments by securing resources to provide walkways and cycleways, and quality recreational space, and to help develop attractive settings as a means of attracting inward investment. And to boost Scotland's tourist appeal we are also in the process of examining the possibility of developing the existing John Muir Trail that would link his birthplace in Dunbar to Scotland's west coast from where he sailed to the United States.

As a practical contribution to the development of policies to help people back into work, CSGN is seeking to engage unemployed young people with the projects needed to help "green" the Central Belt. The goal would be to provide a programme that added real value to the lives of those seeking work, by providing training and the chance to participate in tailored college courses, and also to provide a lasting legacy that would be of wider value to local communities.

Echoes of Roosevelt's CCC still exist in many parts of the United States. Some 113 corps operate in 41 states. In California, for example, which has the United States' largest programme, some 3,300 young people between the ages of 18 and 25 are hired to work on natural resource projects. They have the opportunity to advance their education through two different scholarships or through completing their high school diploma. They are paid the minimum wage, with cash bonuses after working a specified number of hours.

Close to 70 years after the original CCC programme finished, a strong legacy remains. I hope that current policy-makers take the opportunity to develop a programme tailored to the needs of young Scots today that will not only leave them with the skills necessary to compete in the labour market but at the same time make a lasting contribution to the quality of life of those who live in, and come to visit, Scotland's Central Belt.

l Keith Geddes is chair of the Central Scotland Green Network.