I always think a WPA or CCC would be awesome but then I think about it and I feel badly for everyone involved.
A modern day version would probably be involve an environmental project like cleaning up a river. So you have your crew of 10 somewhat unmotivated people. Some of them manage to show up on time and you get started, but then you have to manage all of their bullshit. I think managing a make work project in the 30's was a lot easier, if you don't work then the boss sends your ass home and you don't get paid. In this day and age, you would have to have a bunch of hearings, determine if there is harassment, determine if there were enough modifications made to the job, etc, etc. I can't imagine the administrative/HR nightmare of trying to manage all of that just to clean up a riverbank.
We probably ought to figure all of that out, otherwise, we're just going to leave them being poor in Ada. And, just telling them to pull themselves up by their bootstraps hasn't worked out so well either.