National Youth Administration
The National Youth Administration (NYA) was a New Deal agency sponsored by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States that focused on providing work and education for Americans between the ages of 16 and 25 (Williams, 1937). The NYA was headed by Aubrey Willis Williams and it operated from June 26, 1935 to 1939 as part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) (Williams, 1937). The NYA operated several programs for out of school youth. By 1938, college youth were paid from six to forty dollars a month for “work study” projects at their school (Williams, 1937). Another 155,000 boys and girls from relief families were paid ten to twenty-five dollars a month for part-time work that included job training (Williams, 1937). Overall, the NYA helped over 4.5 million American youths find jobs, receive vocational training, and afford higher standards of education (Williams, 1937). More significantly, it provided the means necessary for this "struggling generation" to overcome the economic adversity that threatened to overrun the country (Williams, 1937).
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Roosevelt used this opportunity to focus on unemployment. The first year of the WPA operation created jobs for over three million people, with ninety percent of those jobs going to people who was classified as poor; the other ten percent being supervisors and administrators. There were rules put in place by the WPA to maximize employment for those who suffered from the depression the most. However, the administrators knew that the ones who needed the money the most would spend it the fastest, but it would also bring the economy up. With the economy not being in recession, the WPA was able to shape the future United