Eleanor Roosevelt's Response: The NYA 2 of 3 Eleanor Roosevelt helped establish the National Youth Administration in June 1935. The NYA helped more than 2 million high school and college students stay in school by giving them grants in exchange for work. They worked in libraries and college labs, and on farms. The NYA also found work for 2.5 million young people who were not in school and not working. As World War II approached, NYA youths worked in defense industries where they gained useful job skills. The NYA was an equal opportunity agency, providing aid to women and minorities. This feature of the program was very important to Mrs. Roosevelt. "It is a question of the right to work," she said, "and the right to work should know no color lines."