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Our History
Green Thumb, the original name of Experience Works, started as a small
rural demonstration project in 1965 as part of Lady Bird Johnson’s
beautification program. At the time, rural leaders who recalled farmers
working on county roads during the Great Depression to pay their taxes
encouraged Lady Bird to use the “green thumbs” of low-income famers to
provide the skilled labor for her program. And so was born the only
federal program that currently serves the training and employment needs
of older workers.
In the early days of the program, it was common to find crews of
Green Thumb workers in towns such as Jamestown, N.D., painting picnic
tables, fixing playground equipment and serving as greens keepers for
city parks. They earned minimum wage to put food on the table while
beautifying their communities.
Many early participants said they were able to go to church again
after working for Green Thumb because they had a bit of money to add to
the collection basket. One of the earliest participants, an 81-year-old
from Virginia, said that Green Thumb gave him the inspiration to learn
how to read and write. In some ways, early participants bear a
resemblance to those served by the program today. Then and now, often
enrollees come to Experience Works because they need extra income to
help pay for the medical expenses of their spouses. One early
participant sought assistance after selling his entire band of sheep to
pay for his wife’s medical care.
The words of Dr. Ray Marshall, Secretary of Labor from 1977 to 1981,
still ring true today: “There is not a more successful program anywhere
than Green Thumb. We believe that as part of our full employment effort
we can put people to work doing useful things.”
Today, Experience Works offers older workers the opportunity to train, re-train and enter employment every day in 30 states and Puerto Rico. Participants come to our program with a variety of work
backgrounds and education levels, unlike the early days when most
enrollees had farming backgrounds. A candidate today could be a former
office worker, truck driver or small business owner. Often, they have
been laid off, or they need to re-enter the workforce to survive. It is
likely that person may learn new computer skills through our hands-on
technology training, which could lead to permanent employment in a new
career.
What hasn’t changed is the community service emphasis of the program.
Each year our participants perform more than 14 million hours of
community service while completing on-the-job training assignments with
nonprofit organizations, libraries, parks, schools, hospitals and
municipalities.
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