A Proud Legacy, a Promising Future By Richard Schubert Chairman, National Job Corps Association

doubt that when Charles “Huckleback” Logan and Michael Dunn arrived in the Maryland mountains on a cold day 50 years ago, they Ihad any idea of the legacy they would help begin. They and the 83 other students who joined them at the first Job Corps center were focused most likely on improving their own lives. Michael said at the time, “I just hope that they can train me and that I can get a job.”

Years later, we meet people like MaryAnn Gamble, now a physician but who was living in her car when she discovered Job Corps, and Angel Ramon, an Army sergeant who once assumed he would end up like most kids he knew – in jail. leaders and employers from every state in the NJCA Chairman Richard Schubert country, share the fundamental belief that Their journeys are part of the Job Corps story, (l) and U.S. Rep. which grows longer every day as young men everyone deserves a second chance and that Job Chris Gibson (Photo by Mike and women make a decision to change their Corps works. Keza for FYO) lives and find that Job Corps is there to make Job Corps works because of its ability to adapt it happen. and evolve – a strength that will carry us into Changing one person’s life can be profound; the future. The Job Corps center of today is changing millions is powerful. nothing like the one Charles and Michael walked onto 50 years ago. Job Corps will con- The power and legacy of Job Corps is what tinue to evolve to meet the needs of students, made me a champion for the program three communities and employers, but I know it will decades ago when I was fortunate to serve as remain rooted in what has defined its legacy – the Deputy Secretary of Labor. I am just one changing lives. voice in a crowd of champions whose extraor- dinary commitment over the past 50 years Welcome to Changing Lives, a special maga- has helped the program grow from its roots as zine celebrating 50 years of Job Corps. This is Civilian Conservation Corps Centers to more the story of Job Corps – its history, students, than 125 centers today. Members of Congress graduates, heroes and champions who defined from across the political spectrum, community its legacy and are building its promising future.

1 Cover photo: 50th Anniversary National Celebration 50th Anniversary National Celebration Potomac Job Corps Honorary Host Committee Congressional Host Committee Center students in Washington, D.C., Hon. Bill Brock, Former Secretary of Labor Hon. Rob Bishop March 2014. Standing, Hon. Elaine Chao, Former Secretary of Labor Hon. Matt Cartwright l to r: Kiamesha Nath, Hon. Elizabeth Dole, Former Secretary of Labor Hon. William Lacy Clay Zaniab Gaal, Krystle George Foreman, Job Corps Graduate and Hon. Thad Cochran Mora, Stephanie Entrepreneur Hon. Chris Collins Fowler. Sitting, l to r: Hon. Alexis Herman, Former Secretary of Labor Hon. Susan Collins Luis Aponte Morales, Hon. Ann Korologos, Former Secretary of Labor Guy-Serge Ahoussou, Hon. Rosa DeLauro Hon. Ray Marshall, Former Secretary of Labor Anthony West (Photo Hon. Lloyd Doggett by Rob Mesite for FYO) Hon. Ralph Regula, Former Chairman, House Hon. Mike Doyle Committee on Labor and Health and Human Hon. Marcia L. Fudge Services Hon. Chris Gibson Hon. Bob Reich, Former Secretary of Labor Hon. Gene Green Back cover: Lynda Byrd Johnson Robb, Daughter of Penobscot Job Corps President Lyndon B. Johnson Hon. Michael M. Honda Center students and Hon. George Schultz, Former Secretary of Labor Hon. Sheila Jackson Lee staff celebrate their Maria Shriver, Journalist and Producer Hon. Lynn Jenkins 50th Anniversary Hon. Eddie Bernice Johnson spirit. (Photo by Mark Shriver, President, Action Network, Save the Children Hon. Hank Johnson Penobscot Job Corps Center) Tim Shriver, Chairman, Special Olympics Hon. Dan Kildee Hon. W.J. Usery, Jr., Former Secretary of Labor Hon. Rick Larsen Hon. David Loebsack Hon. Zoe Lofgren th 50 Anniversary National Celebration Hon. Ben Ray Luján Sponsors Hon. Doris Matsui American Business Corporation Hon. Betty McCollum Adams & Associates Hon. Jim McGovern Alutiiq, LLC Hon. Jerry Moran Career Systems Development Corporation (CSD) Hon. Lisa Murkowski Chugach Hon. Richard E. Neal Dynamic Educational Systems Inc. (DESI) Hon. Eleanor Holmes Norton 40 Education Management Corporation (EMC) Hon. Collin C. Peterson Education Training Resource (ETR) Hon. Jack Reed Exceed Corporation Hon. Loretta Sanchez Fluor Hon. John Sarbanes Horizon Youth Services Hon. Albio Sires MINACT, Inc. Hon. Bennie Thompson Management and Training Corporation Hon. Niki Tsongas Odle Management Group, LLC. Hon. Fred Upton Penn Foster Hon. Filemon Vela ResCare, Inc. Hon. Edward Whitfield 48 Serrato Corporation Hon. Don Young Texas Educational Foundation

2 Table of Contents APRIL 2015

1 A PROUD LEGACY, A PROMISING FUTURE CHANGING LIVES FOR 6 MEET JOB CORPS’ BEST 50 YEARS 10 14 The First Day 8 THE 50TH: CELEBRATING A BANNER 16 The Ladies of the Corps YEAR 17 Despair to Fulfillment in 1967

OUR JOB CORPS HEROES 19 ‘They Didn’t Tell Me Anything’ 20 A Good Judge of Success 18 21 The Art of Cooking: ‘Another Way’ 22 The Fighting Corpsman 24 ‘I See the Potential’ 25 From Car Life to Physician 26 ‘I Panicked’ 27 A New Career on Fire 28 ‘It Can Be Done’ 29 Job Corps Gets Sergeant in Line 30 Hero Honor Roll

PARTNERS BY NATURE CHAMPIONS OF JOB CORPS 42 Adapting to – and Saving – the 34 We Support Job Corps! Environment 38 Employer Partnerships Work — 40 47 Long-Time Forest Service Staffer and Create Work Says It’s ‘Easy to Give Back’ 32 39 Parks and Job Creation

BUILDING THE FUTURE 50 Building the Future One Block at a Time 48 52 National Director Discusses Next 50 Years 56 Always Trying, Always Gaining

3 Changing Lives National Job Corps Association National Job Corps Association Alpha Members Board of Directors American Business Corporation Richard Schubert, Chair Publisher Alutiiq Youth Services Dr. Jim Lindenmayer, Vice-Chair, The NJCA Foundation for Youth Opportunities Cherokee Nation Interim Treasurer CHP International, Inc. Ray Bramucci Editor in Chief Chugach Education Services LaVera L. Leonard Randy Ford Chugach Government Services David Marventano Chugach World Services Earl Pomeroy Associate Editor Career Systems Development Mark Rey Trish Jones Mondero Corporation Denny Rehberg Fluor Federal Solutions, LLC Jim Sourwine Senior Writers DESI, Inc. John Sparkman Mary Stegmeir, Michael J. Volpe Education Management Corporation Lonnie P. Taylor, ex-officio Education and Training Resources Copy Editors Job Corps National Office (USDA) Foundation for Youth Kathy Haney, Paul Kalomiris Horizons Youth Services Opportunities Board of Insights Training Group, LLC Trustees Art Director Jackson Pierce Public Affairs, Inc. LaVera L. Leonard, Chair Alex Dale McConnell Jones Lanier & Murphy LLP Jim Sourwife MINACT, Inc. Associate Art Director, Designer John Sparkman, Treasurer McNeely Pigott & Fox Public Relations Abigail Hulme Mary Lopez Wing Management & Training Corporation Lonnie P. Taylor, ex-officio Original Photography Odle Management Group Tim Ford, Executive Director Jan Duga, Mike Keza, Rob Mesite ResCare, Inc. Serrato Corporation National Job Corps Association Photography Assistant TCU/IAM Training Services Staff Jan Duga Department Texas Educational Foundation, Inc. Lonnie P. Taylor, Chief Executive Officer Photography Research Tribal Council of the Confederated Alex Dale, Senior Director, Creative Jason Baker, Brendan O’Hara, Richard Sant Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Indian Nation Services Randy Ford, Senior Director, Strategic Contributors United Auto Workers - LETC Communications Tim Ford, Morgan Pinckney, Lonnie P. Taylor YWCA of Greater Los Angeles, Inc. Tim Ford, President, LRG Public Affairs Jared Kobilinsky, Creative Services National Job Corps Association Specialist Affiliates, Small Businesses Trish Jones Mondero, Senior Director, The Foundation for Youth Opportunities (FYO), and Employers Congressional Affairs a 501(c)(3) organization, plans and implements Career Development Services Brendan O’Hara, Assistant Director, charitable and educational activities that help Career Education Services Company Congressional Affairs youth, especially those considered “at-risk” and who benefit from alternative education and training Center for Disease Detection Morgan Pinckney, Specialist, Member programs. The FYO was created by the National Job Exceed Corporation Outreach Corps Association (NJCA) in 2000 and continues to Leonard Resource Group, Inc. Anand Vimalassery, Senior Director, be affiliated with the NJCA, a national organization Policy Prairie Quest Consulting representing public, private and non-profit organi- Vickie West, Director, Member zations that manage and support Job Corps, the U.S. SIATech, Inc. Outreach Department of Labor’s largest and most successful Sodexo youth development program. Transcor, Inc.

Changing Lives is published by the FYO with private contributions.

4 Dale O’Neal, 23, a welder at ADF International in Great Falls, Montana, says the 15 months he spent at the Anaconda Job Corps Center “turned his life around.” (Montana Great Falls Tribune photo by Rion Sanders) Meet Job Corps’ Best Student Ambassadors Put a Face to 50th Anniversary By Mary Stegmeir

aura Louis knows firsthand the impor- technician program at Florida’s Pinellas (Above) Laura Louis takes a selfie with tant role Job Corps continues to play in County Job Corps Center, is one of four other Pinellas County the lives of disadvantaged youth. Job Corps students young people selected by the Foundation on a community More than at any other time in for Youth Opportunities to serve as service project. (Photo L th provided) America’s history, economic stability requires a Job Corps 50 Anniversary Student a high school degree and post-secondary train- Ambassador. ing. Without these, young people are often relegated to dead end jobs with little hope of Other representatives include Jayonna Minor, advancement. an accounting services student at Alabama’s Montgomery Job Corps Center; Jennifer White, Louis, 22, has been in that precarious position. a member of the Home Builders Institute The Tallahassee, Florida, native was crushed facilities maintenance program at Louisiana’s when she wasn’t admitted to college after high Carville Job Corps Center; and James Travis, a school. She spent several years working fast plumbing student at Old Dominion Job Corps food jobs and living paycheck to paycheck. Center in Monroe, Virginia.

“Job Corps was a second chance; it was As top performers and members of their cen- ters’ respective student government asso- hope,” Louis said. “It was what I needed.” ciations, the ambassadors are passionate about Louis, who is enrolled in the pharmacy

6 securing a better future for themselves and their peers. With encouragement from staff members, they dream big.

Minor, 19, wants to start her own fashion business.

White, 21, has her sights set on a bachelor’s degree in architecture or agriculture.

Travis, 21, plans to pursue advanced training through the Transportation Communication Union at the Gary Job Corps Center in San

Marcos, Texas. The program offers an avenue She’s now experiencing success in the center’s Jayonna Minor to positions with airlines, railroads and other accounting services program. “I never thought and accounting services instructor transportation entities. “If you want to have a I could do math; but I went to tutoring every Waletta Carlisle at better job, a life and a career, you need to advance day and it just started to click,” said Minor, who the Montgomery Job Corps Center your studies,” said Travis, whose previous occu- hopes to pursue a degree in business administra- in Alabama (Photo pation as a Newport News shipyard worker left tion. “It was a pretty cool experience.” by Montgomery Job him subject to frequent layoffs. “I tell people all Corps Center) White also sees a brighter future. the time, Job Corps is a great place to do that.”

She worked hard from a young age, helping Job Corps also retains its longtime role as a talent her family run a crawfish bait business in her development program – a supportive environ- hometown of Henderson, Louisiana. But with- ment that helps young people improve their aca- out money for college, White worried about her demics and find careers suited to their interests future prospects. She joined Job Corps, in part, to and abilities. prove to herself that she could make something With individual attention and support from out of her life. The facilities maintenance pro- a caring Job Corps tutor, Minor’s math skills gram allowed her to add marketable skills to her have grown by leaps and bounds over the past solid work ethic. few months. The teen left high school after her White hopes to attend college one day but is also sophomore year due to bullying. Job Corps staff excited to join the homebuilding industry. She members have helped her fill in learning gaps. loves working with her hands and has excelled in the program. “I know now that I can become employed and stay employed,” White said. “I have a plan and the tools to do what I want to do.”

After 50 years, Job Corps continues to serve as a springboard, a fact pharmacy student Louis is thankful for. She hopes to eventually pursue a doctorate in her field.

“I’m just so thankful to be in school again,” Louis said. “I want a career James Travis (Photo by Old Dominion Job that I love and a life that I love.” Corps Center)

CHANGING LIVES 7 : The 50th Celebrating A BannerBy MaryYear Stegmeir

he Job Corps community used the 50th As U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez noted dur- Anniversary milestone to inspire stu- ing Celebrate Job Corps 50 Week, the skills taught dents, reconnect with alumni and remind at the nation’s 127 Job Corps centers have evolved state, local and national leaders of the over the course of the last half-century. Many Job Timportant role Job Corps continues to play in the Corps trades, for example, include technical com- lives of low-income youth. ponents to prepare students to live and work in a digital world. Yet after 50 years, the program’s core The festivities kicked off in summer 2014. Over the goals remain the same: To create opportunity and course of five days – Aug. 18 to Aug. 22 – more than nurture success. 250 events were held in conjunction with Celebrate Job Corps 50 Week. Center staff led tours. Students “Every single person in this room – every single used newly honed skills to complete community person who comes through a Job Corps center – is service projects. Graduates offered testimonials gifted,” Perez told attendees during an Aug. 20 about the power of Job Corps to help disadvantaged event at the Dr. Benjamin L. Hooks Job Corps Center youth build a brighter future. in Memphis, Tennessee. “It is up to us to draw out those gifts and talents.” There was an outpour of bipartisan support. More than 50 members of Congress sent letters of con- gratulations; more than 100 city, state, county and national proclamations were signed commemorat- ing the program’s 50th Anniversary.

Photos courtesy of Job Corps centers

Students and staff at the Albuquerque Job Corps Center celebrate five decades of Job Corps Gov. Steven L. Beshear at the Earle C. Clements Job Corps Center in Kentucky

Senator Mitch McConnell at the Earle C. Clements Job Corps Center in Kentucky

Senator Shelley Moore Capito at the Charleston Job Corps Center in West Virginia

U.S. Rep. Kathy Senator Roy Blunt at the Castor at the St. Louis Job Corps Center U.S. Rep. David Jolly at the Pinellas County in Missouri Pinellas County Job Corps Job Corps Center Center in Florida in Florida

U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta with Center Director Bryan Mason Gov. Terry E. Branstad signing a proclamation supporting at the Keystone Job Corps Center in Pennsylvania the Denison and Ottumwa Job Corps centers in Iowa President Lyndon B. Johnson watches a Camp Gary Job Corps Center student in San Carlos, Texas, in a hands-on training exercise, in November 1965. (LBJ Library photo by Frank Wolfe)

BY MICHAEL J. VOLPE

10 hen Jordan Kimber enrolled in cause may lie deeper in our failure to give 2014 at the Lyndon B. Johnson our fellow citizens a fair chance to develop Job Corps Center in Franklin, their own capacities, in a lack of education North Carolina, he did some- and training, in a lack of medical care and Wthing quite remarkable. Kimber finished housing, in a lack of decent communities in the difficult and challenging welding pro- which to live and bring up their children,” gram offered by the center in four months, Johnson said. a task that usually takes students up to eight months to master. When asked how he was able to achieve his success, Kimber said he “prided myself on understanding The Economic Opportunity the basics of welding and soon developed a Act, signed on August 20 of passion for the vocation.” With drive and determination, Kimber graduated from that year, helped establish Job the center, which is run by the U.S. Forest Service, and was accepted into the St. Louis Corps, a residential education Job Corps Center in Missouri. There, Kimber and training program for studied advanced training in rail safety, mechanical skills, welding, airbrakes and disadvantaged young people hazardous material handling as part of the ages 16-24. Johnson appointed Transportation-Communications Union / International Association of Machinists and Sargent Shriver to be Aerospace Workers Training Program. the architect of Job Corps. Kimber’s is one of the many success stories from the more than 2.5 million students who have enrolled in the Job Corps program The first Job Corps center was located in since its inception in 1964. Catoctin Mountain Park near Thurmont, That year, amid economic uncertainty Maryland, where the students – all men – and the controversy of the Vietnam War, worked in maintenance and construction of President Lyndon B. Johnson urged Congress park amenities, such as trail signs, for the to pass legislation aimed at fulfilling the National Park Service. country’s promise to provide equality and By the end of 1965, Job Corps had grown to opportunity to all Americans regardless of 87 centers, with the first women’s center race, creed or color. opening in Cleveland, Ohio. The program “Very often a lack of jobs and money is was receiving applications for enrollment at not the cause of poverty, but the symp- the rate of 6,000 per day. In 1969, respon- tom,” Johnson told Congress in 1964 as he sibility for Job Corps was transferred from described his vision of a “Great Society” the Office of Economic Opportunity to the centered around a “War on Poverty.” “The Department of Labor.

CHANGING LIVES 11 The program expanded rapidly, and on its 10th When Job Corps reached its 25th anniversary, anniversary in 1975, President Gerald R. Ford the country was entering the 1990’s and look- saluted the success of Job Corps in a presiden- ing for ways to train Americans to compete tial proclamation. “The Job Corps has provided in a 21st century workforce. Labor Secretary 500,000 young people with opportunities to Elizabeth Dole acknowledged in her confir- learn marketable job skills,” Ford said. “It has mation speech that “a vital new generation provided special education, vocational train- of young people” from Job Corps was critical ing, work experience, avocational activities, to this success. She noted that over 1 million health care, and counseling. students had already attended training in the existing 100 Job Corps centers, making them “part of a great American success story.”

When Job Corps celebrated its 40th anniver- “Job Corps over the past decade sary in 2004, the program had expanded to 122 co-educational centers nationwide and has opened a path to a better offered its students more than 100 trades ranging from math and science skills train- life,” the President added. ing, homeland security, culinary arts, com- puter networks, and pharmaceutical aides to “By giving them a chance to auto technicians, heating, ventilation and air conditioning repair, and heavy construction prepare for meaningful and equipment operators.

Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao recognized rewarding employment, it has the important role that Job Corps students had played during the aftermath of the 2005 offered the disadvantaged a Hurricane Katrina devastation of the Gulf Coast. Chao said students from the Shriver chance to help themselves.” Job Corps Center in Massachusetts helped evacuate Job Corps Gulf students to its facil- ity, while the Flatwoods Job Corps Center in Virginia sent instructors and students to assist with evacuation and transportation in Throughout the 1980’s more centers were New Orleans. The Mingo Job Corps Center in established and curricula were expanded. A Missouri sent a 20-person crew to Everglades survey at that time found that the most popu- Park to help the National Forest Service clear lar occupational choices by male students trees felled by the hurricane. “In center after included carpentry, construction, mechani- center, students and faculty have been helping cal repair and industrial production. Nurse’s to raise funds or do the work needed to help assistant and sales clerk were the top job the people of the Gulf Coast,” the secretary choices among female students. said.

12 CHANGING LIVES FOR 50 YEARS President Lyndon B. Johnson talks with a student at the first Job Corps center just weeks after it opened in 1965. (LBJ Library photo by Yoichi Okamoto)

In 2014, Job Corps began its Talking with NPR during an August 2014 visit to the Dr. Benjamin L. Hooks Job Corps Center year-long 50th Anniversary in Memphis, Tennessee, Labor Secretary celebration, with 125 centers Thomas Perez reviewed the impact the pro- gram has had on America’s youth. “More than now operating in America and 80 percent of Job Corps graduates go on to join with two additional centers on the workforce, enlist in the military or enroll the drawing boards. More than in higher education,” Perez said. “On average, students improve two grade levels in reading 45,000 students enroll each and writing or math. And I have seen so many year in a variety of blue and people for whom the Job Corps center has been the game-changer.” white collar occupations.

CHANGING LIVES 13 The First Day By Michael J. Volpe

n May of 1964, as Congress debated the Economic Opportunity Act legislation proposed by President Lyndon Johnson that eventually created Job Corps, govern- Iment officials were already considering land located in the Catoctin Mountains of Maryland as the potential site of the first Job Corps center.

The mountain’s 5,810-acre hardwood forest held remnants of Native American sites, charcoal and iron industries, sawmills and an old moonshine still, according to the National Park Service. It also included historic structures and products of the 1930s Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps. Nearby Camp Hi-Catoctin later became the presidential retreat of Camp David.

Eighty-five young men, from the poor hollows of Kentucky to inner-city Baltimore and New Haven, arrived at the first Job Corps site, Camp Round Meadow, on January 15, 1965. Most of these young people had never been more than 30 miles from home, had never been treated by a doctor or dentist, had never held a job and could not qualify for military service. Some could not read or write.

Records show that the first student to enroll he felt the Job Corps site was “too far out in the in Job Corps was Charles “Huckleback” Logan, woods,” Dunn noted that “they feed you good, a 17-year-old from Baltimore, Maryland. and they’re really trying to help you. . . . I just Time magazine described him as a high school hope that they can train me and that I can get dropout from a crime-ridden neighborhood a job when I get out.” James Blackman, 19, also who was down on his luck. from New Haven said he had been treated well since arriving at Job Corps and didn’t miss the “But Huckleback’s life took a turn for the better street gangs he left behind. when he became the first person to enroll in a newly created Job Corps that would house him, The early months of 1965 were spent complet- feed him, and teach him a skill that would allow ing the camp, building sidewalks, underpin- him to earn a living and stay off the streets,” ning trailers, and landscaping, NPS historical Time reported. “I just don’t want no more records show. In the winter, Job Corps students trouble,” Huckleback said. spent half their day at work and half their day in classrooms. Full days of work and educa- Another original Job Corps student was Michael tion were alternated in the summer. First-year Dunn, 18, from New Haven, Connecticut. A projects included trail repair, construction of news report identified him as “a dropout from 150 picnic tables and two fire circles for the high school who couldn’t get a job and couldn’t organized camps. get along with his mother and sister.” Although

14 CHANGING LIVES FOR 50 YEARS The first director of the Job Corps site was Al human mind “should be given every opportu- Maxi, 39 years old, who had previously been a nity to grow. We hope the Job Corps camps will Forest Ranger at Yellowstone National Park. help do this.” NBC News reported that he, his wife and five From these early beginnings, the Job Corps children put their furniture in storage to travel program has successfully grown to include back east and live in a trailer, because, as Maxi 125 centers across the nation and has touched put it, “This looked like an opportunity to help the lives of about 2.5 million youth in the pro- people who’d been left out.” gram’s 50 years of existence. Maxi said the students were all given instruc- Sargent Shriver, the architect of Job Corps and tion in remedial reading and math and got the Director of the Office of up early to study and attend training classes, where they learned valuable skills and trades. Maxi told NBC, “Our goal here is to take a disadvantaged youth and lead them to a better life,” Maxi told NBC. “We try to introduce all of our boys to the world of work, and this is in some ways a part of our goal to bring them into a situation where they do enlarge their horizons.”

Dr. Otis Singletary, the former chancellor of the University of North Carolina Chancellor, was the Job Corps program’s first national director. “I think our work is cut out for us, for the immediate future,” Singletary told NBC.

In March of 1965, the second Job Corps Center in the country was dedicated at a former Air Force base Economic Opportunity, said in 1965 how he Students outside in Winslow, Arizona, by Secretary of the their Breckenridge would judge the success of the new Job Corps Interior Stewart Udall. According to an Interior Job Corps Center program. dorm room in 1965, Department news release, enrollees at that Job including a 17-year- Corps site – under the direction of Lee Brewer, a “I don’t think we’ll be able to tell tomorrow old Warren Rhodes (wearing red) (Photo former boarding school principal – could learn afternoon whether it’s working or not. It will courtesy of Dr. occupations such as automotive, plumbing take time in order to prove how successful it Warren Rhodes) and heating repair, cooking, office work and is,” Shriver said “There are a large, large num- outdoor conservation techniques such as sur- ber of [students] who want to work, who want veying and earth dam construction. Classroom to learn, who want to get ahead in a profitable studies would also focus on “the Three R’s,” way with their lives,” he added. “That is a ter- the Interior Department said. In his remarks rific discovery.” announcing the center, Udall said that the

CHANGING LIVES 15 The Ladies of the Corps

By Michael J. Volpe

hen she stepped off the bus in front “When I left campus, I knew who I was as a of Maine’s Poland Springs Job Corps person. I knew my goals and what I wanted Center, teenager Harriette Howard W to do in life.” sensed she was embarking on a life-changing experience. Howard was in the first wave of The first Job Corps center was opened on women in the mid-1960’s to enroll in Job January 15, 1965, in Maryland. Although the Job Corps. A single mother, Howard said her class Corps concept was originally designed to serve was told “you will be the role models” for the only men, U.S. Rep. Edith Green of Oregon con- program, and she said was determined to take vinced Job Corps administrators that growing full advantage of the opportunity given her. numbers of women were destined to become heads of households and needed the skills to Howard graduated in 1967 and went to the succeed in the workplace. Hartford, Connecticut Job Corps Center to train in the offset printing trade. She then became The first women’s center opened in Cleveland one of the first women in the male-dominated on April 9, 1965. Co-education was introduced printing business. Since 1986, Howard has been at Tongue Point, Oregon, in 1970. Young women a criminal investigator in the Public Defender’s are many of the 50,000 students enrolled in Job Office in Hartford County, Connecticut, the Corps each year, and the program remains one first African-American female in that role. of the best avenues for helping women succeed in non-traditional fields. She credits all her success to Job Corps.

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, left, helps celebrate New Haven Job Corps Center carpentry program graduate Michelle Johnson’s 2012 Better Occupational Opportunities for Tradeswomen (BOOT) Award from the Office of Job Corps. At right is Center Director Barbara Sandstrom. Many young women have received hands-on training for jobs not traditionally filled by women, thanks to U.S. Rep. Edith Green – who first insisted on allowing women into Job Corps – and the earliest female enrollees, such as Harriette Howard, a 1967 graduate of the Hartford Job Corps Center, also in Connecticut. (Photo by New Haven Job Corps Center)

16 CHANGING LIVES FOR 50 YEARS Despair to Fulfillment in 1967 By Michael J. Volpe

ife once looked particularly bleak for Baltimore, Maryland, teenager Warren Rhodes. An 8th grade drop- out, Rhodes’ gang involvement and Lsubstance abuse had led him to crime and violence and the realization that he “needed to do something drastic or be dead pretty soon.”

Rhodes heard a radio ad about a new pro- gram called Job Corps and convinced a recruiter that this was his last chance to do something right in his life. Soon Rhodes was on his way to the center located on the for- mer site of Camp Breckinridge, a World War II and Korean War army training facility in Dr. Rhodes has dedicated his life to helping Rhodes, left, and actor Clifton Davis talk others overcome childhood despair and dif- northwest Kentucky. (The center’s name was on the set of “God’s changed in 1980 to honor Earle C. Clements, a ficulties. He has taught college students and Amazing Grace... Is Just a Prayer Away.” former governor and senator from Kentucky.) co-authored several well- received books on Rhodes wrote, directed problems confronting adolescents. In 2013, and produced the film, At Breckinridge, Rhodes fell into the Job Corps Dr. Rhodes wrote and directed the movie which has won numer- ous awards, including routine, with chores like making his bed, then God’s Amazing Grace . . . is just a prayer away, for Best Christian Film alternately attending trade classes and aca- the story of his and his brother’s troubled at the 2015 San Diego demic classes in math and English. Rhodes teenage lives and how each made individual, Black Film Festival. thrived at Breckinridge, as his instructors (Photo provided by life- changing choices, which led to differ- Warren Rhodes) offered encouragement to do well and the ent outcomes for the two men. Among the friends he calls his “homies” exerted peer accolades the film won was the prestigious pressure on him “to do right” and not turn Christian Spirit Award at the 2013 Churches back to his old way of life. Making Movies Film Festival.

When Rhodes graduated from Breckinridge in 1967, Job Corps helped place him in a retail job Dr. Rhodes is often asked to speak at in Maryland. Rhodes fully embraced academia, Job Corps student assemblies, telling earning his GED and then enrolling in nearby his life story and how Job Corps was Morgan State University, from which he a transfer point for him from a life of graduated magna cum laude. In 1977, Rhodes grim despair to a life of promise and earned his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from fulfillment. “I tell students to have a the University of Illinois, the first Job Corps dream, to diligently pursue it, not to graduate ever to earn a doctoral degree. He get discouraged, and if you work hard, was inducted into the Job Corps Hall of Fame you will succeed,” he said. in 1980.

CHANGING LIVES 17 Job Corps Heroes

MaryAnn Gamble was living in her car. their communities. Today, Gamble is a physician. Owens earns high wages Jaleesa Owens spent her days working as a unionized carpenter. And Ramon two dead-end jobs. serves his country as a sergeant in the U.S. Army. Angel Ramon, a high school dropout, had prepared himself for what he Their stories – and those of other “Job thought would come next – prison. Corps Graduate Heroes” selected in a nationwide search – represent the Then – in different decades and in millions of lives touched by Job Corps different parts the country – they and serve as powerful reminders that found Job Corps. Through the edu- all young people, regardless of their cation, training and support the circumstances, have the potential for program offers, they managed to greatness. rise above those barriers to become leaders in their professions and in Meet our Job Corps Heroes!

18 BUILDING THE FUTURE Below, Vera Ford in 1965 and, at right, with graduates of the Milwaukee Job Corps Center (Photos provided by Vera Ford)

‘They Didn’t Tell Me Anything’ VERA FORD, Milwaukee Job Corps Business-Community Liaison Los Angeles Job Corps Center Los Angeles, California Graduated in 1966

Despite graduating early to do.’ And I did.” By age 18 she was run- with good grades, Vera Ford ning an ambulatory care nursing home in faced a bleak future in 1965. Milwaukee, promoted, in part, because of her keen mind and desire to learn. Ford, then 16, had been told by her high school counselor in Milwaukee that she She continued to work in the nursing field was best suited for light factory work. for several years before enrolling in col- “They never encouraged me to work lege to pursue a criminal justice degree. beyond that,” said Ford, who is African Ford graduated magna cum laude from American. “There was a lot of racism at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee that time. They didn’t tell me anything in 1983 and has since worked for Job Corps about continuing my education.” and other affiliate organizations. Today, she serves as the business and community Without Job Corps, Ford says, she may have liaison at the Milwaukee Job Corps Center. settled for those low expectations. Instead, Trainees there call her “Grandma.” she headed off to a newly opened training center in Los Angeles. Within a year and a half, she was working as a licensed practi- “I tell them, my background cal nurse and had a whole new outlook on is no different from yours; I life. grew up in the projects here in

“They looked beyond the color of my skin Milwaukee,” Ford said. “Job and empowered me,” Ford said. “From Corps gives you the tools to say: then on, I said, ‘I can do whatever I want I can do better than that.”

CHANGING LIVES 19 A Good Judge of Success SERGIO GUTIERREZ, Idaho Court of Appeals Judge Wolf Creek Job Corps Center, Glide, Oregon Graduated in 1970

at age 16. “I saw a lot of ugly things out in the streets; I got shot at. Job Corps brought me such hope.”

Gutierrez was able to resume his studies and learned car- pentry at the Wolf Creek Job Corps Center in Glide, Oregon. No longer preoccupied with how to get his next meal, he excelled academically, earning a GED diploma in a matter of months.

Gutierrez, a Mexican immi- grant and naturalized U.S. citi- zen, went on to get a bachelor’s degree in elementary educa- tion, followed by a law degree.

Sergio Hardship and trauma characterized Sergio He served as an advocate for Gutierrez Gutierrez’s teenage years. The grandmother who Idaho’s migrant workers before being selected in (Photo 1993 as a district judge. Nine years later, he was provided) had cared for him died when he was 13 years old. Returning to California to live with his mother and appointed to Idaho’s Court of Appeals, a position adoptive father, an agricultural worker, Gutierrez he calls a “dream job.” was surprised to see how large his immigrant fam- The father of four – who also helped raise one ily had grown. foster son and three nephews – has been honored

The boy who had loved learning dropped out of for his work mentoring young people outside the school after ninth grade to help keep the clan courtroom. Gutierrez calls Jobs Corps his “launch- afloat. He began by picking tomatoes as a farm ing pad.” laborer. When work became scarce, he stole to survive and entered the dangerous world of street “Job Corps gave me a lot of stability crime. He was also forced to make the heartbreak- at a time when there was a lot of ing decision to commit his mother, who battled mental illness, to a state hospital. instability in my life, both physically and emotionally,” he said. “I have Despite the odds, Gutierrez persevered. Today he is them to thank for the life that I now a judge on Idaho’s Court of Appeals – an accom- plishment he credits to Job Corps. “Job Corps saved enjoy.” my life,” said Gutierrez, who joined the program

20 OUR JOB CORPS HEROES The Art of Cooking: ‘Another Way’ MICHAEL GADSON, Executive Chef Bamberg Job Corps Center, Bamberg, South Carolina; Michael and Mandy Treasure Island Job Corps Center, San Francisco, California Gadson, who met at Treasure Island Graduated in 1999 Job Corps Center (Photo by Rob Mesite for FYO)

Learning to slice and dice opened up a world of opportunity for Michael Gadson. At 6-foot-5, his size helped him command respect on the streets. But it wasn’t until Gadson enrolled in Job Corps that the high school dropout turned top chef truly learned to respect himself.

Bamberg’s culinary arts instructor Leroy Tyson ignited Gadson’s passion for cooking and gave him a purpose in life. “He loved cooking, and I wanted to love it as well,” said Gadson, now an award-winning executive chef at a Myrtle Beach resort. “He showed me another way. He told me I had potential.”

After mastering the basics at Bamberg, Gadson was selected for advanced training at the Treasure Island Job Corps Center in San Francisco. There, he learned skills like menu planning, which he con- tinues to use in his current position overseeing two restaurants and a staff of more than 30.

Gadson also met his wife, Mandy, a fellow Job Corps trainee, during his time in California.

Their life in Myrtle Beach is a far cry from the one Gadson left behind. Before joining Job Corps, Gadson ran drugs and stole cars.

Today, he spends his free time participating in cooking competitions and has mentored at-risk youth. “I want them to know that if they believe in themselves and if they make changes, they can become a better person,” he said.

CHANGING LIVES 21 The Fighting Corpsman GEORGE FOREMAN Grants Pass Job Corps Center, Grants Pass, Oregon; Parks Job Corps Center, near Pleasanton, California Graduated in 1967

George Foreman will forever be But the boxer is quick to point out that an intellectual awakening in the classroom also thankful for Job Corps. Staff mem- spurred his success in the ring and in life. bers in the program recognized his A junior high school dropout, Foreman recalls boxing talent and set him on a path finishing reading his first full book while studying for his GED at the Grants Pass Job to become an Olympic gold med- Corps Center in Oregon. He later transferred alist and two-time heavyweight to the Parks Job Corps Center near Pleasanton, California, for electronics training. “I felt champion of the world. Those myself changed and changing daily. Books accomplishments made Foreman and learning had done that,” Foreman wrote in his 1995 autobiography, By George. “I had an early Job Corps poster boy. been reborn.”

22 OUR JOB CORPS HEROES To President Lyndon Baines Johnson From George Foreman 1968 Olympic Heavyweight Gold Medal Winner In appreciation for fathering the Job Corps program Which gave young Americans like me Hope, dignity, and self-respect.

- Inscription on a plaque Foreman presented to President Johnson shortly before the end of his presidency

Indeed, the athlete’s early years were charac- Early in Foreman’s career, the warm-up robe terized by want. With six brothers and sisters, he wore before bouts was emblazoned with the there was never enough food to go around at moniker: “The Fighting Corpsman.” the Foreman house. And Houston’s impover- ished Fifth Ward offered few opportunities for In a letter to Lady Bird Johnson, upward mobility. By the time he reached his teenage years, Foreman rarely attended class, Foreman – who later became an used his fists freely and stole from others. ordained minister and famed entrepreneur – wrote: “I wore the Enrolling in Job Corps at age 16 opened Foreman’s eyes to a new way of living and an robe with pride because it had been abundance of opportunities. Under the tute- President Johnson’s Job Corps lage of Job Corps employee Charles Broadus, which had changed the direction Foreman learned to use boxing to channel his of my life. By wearing it, I thought rage. The training helped Foreman win a spot all those Job Corpsmen out there on the 1968 U.S. Olympic team. A gold medal followed at the Mexico City games, propelling would see that one among them was one of the most successful professional boxing making it, and maybe it would help careers to date. them believe they could as well.”

CHANGING LIVES 23 ‘I See the Potential’ DELLA JAMES TAYLOR, Entrepreneur, Barber, Pastor Guthrie Job Corps, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Graduated in 1994

wife, Juanita. His diligence earned him a scholarship to continue his education at a nearby community college.

Today, in addition to his other ventures, Taylor is a barber at the same Job Corps center that gave him a fresh start. Giving back is the cen- tral focus of Taylor’s life. He and his wife have six children, including one foster child, and he mentors several current Job Corps trainees.

Like many of those students, Taylor grew up in poverty, without a father figure. “That was my story,” he said. “But I tell these young men and women that they can rise above that with Job Corps. They can enter a whole new phase of life, if Della James At age 18, Della James Taylor was convinced Taylor (Photo they just let it happen. he’d missed his big chance. Two colleges had by Rob Mesite for FYO) offered him athletic scholarships follow- ing a standout senior year on the Blytheville, Arkansas, high school football team.

“I didn’t have that mentor to help me under- stand the paperwork,” said Taylor. “I looked at the papers, and they kind of intimidated me. Before I knew it, (that opportunity) was gone.” Six months later, he found himself in an unenviable position: Unemployed and without direction.

Enter Job Corps, which James calls a stepping stone to success. “They were there at Job Corps to say: ‘Young man, I see the potential in your life,’” said James, now a small business owner and pastor in Oklahoma City. Della James Taylor and Nikisha Luke (Photo by Rob He studied plumbing and welding at the Mesite for FYO) Guthrie Job Corps Center and met his future

24 OUR JOB CORPS HEROES MaryAnn Gamble (Photo by Rob Mesite for FYO)

From Car Life to Physician MARYANN GAMBLE, Physician Gary Job Corps Center, San Marcos, Texas Graduated in 1992

One of the qualities that make Dr. MaryAnn Gamble years training as an electrician at the Gary Job an effective physician can’t be learned from a Corps Center in Kyle, Texas. She later joined the medical textbook. The Texas woman – an Air Force military, serving as a Korean language linguist. veteran and Job Corps graduate – can relate to the Gamble then used her GI Bill to complete her struggles that many of her patients face. bachelor’s degree and went on to medical school. “I feel like I have more compassion than some Today, she’s a family practice physician in Kyle, people I went to school with who never had a job Texas. other than being a doctor,” she said. “I’ve lived in The doctor makes sure to talk with her teenage my car; I’ve had no health insurance.” patients about their plans for the future. Several Gamble graduated from high school with the aca- have gone on to enroll in Job Corps. Although demic credentials to succeed in college. But with- everyone may not start on the same playing field, out family support or money saved up for tuition, all young people have the potential to go any- she faltered. Gamble worked two part-time jobs where in life, Gamble said. and hopped from couch to couch, but by the end of her first semester, she was living out of her car. “I don’t think that anyone gets When she learned about Job Corps through a late- anywhere on their own,” she added. night TV commercial, the program seemed like a “I see this as my opportunity to pay it godsend. She remembers thinking: “Three meals forward.” and a bed to sleep in – I’m in.” Gamble spent two

CHANGING LIVES 25 ‘I Panicked’ JALEESA OWENS, Construction Worker Iroquois Job Corps Center, Medina, New York Graduated in 2012

Jalessa Owens has two words of advice for “I panicked; I didn’t bother to try to go to col- young people who find themselves under- lege,” she said. educated or under-employed: Defy expecta- Instead, she found work as a hotel house- tions. That, after all, has been the ticket to keeper and factory worker. But after a year, success in her young life. Owens was ready for a change. She enrolled at the Iroquois Job Corps Center in Medina, New York, eager to learn more about carpentry, a career that had always fascinated her. “I like hands-on, and carpentry is like putting a puzzle together,” Owens said. “You get to see the outcome and then you’re proud of yourself.”

Her work won the praise of her Job Corps teachers, who tapped her for building improvement projects at the center. Today, she stays in touch with several Job Corps staff members Jaleesa Owens and graduates. She also (Photo by Rob Through Job Corps, Owens exchanged two Mesite for FYO) encourages other young people to minimum wage jobs for a well-paid carpentry position and membership in a trade union. At enroll in the program. “For kids out age 22, she’s already a valued employee with a there who are struggling, I tell them: construction company in New York City. Don’t be predictable,” Owens said.

The journey hasn’t been easy. Owens’ father passed away when she was a high school “They’re expecting us to give up, they’re junior. After his death, her family lost their expecting us to not be anything in life. Prove home and Owens – a high school athlete – for- them wrong.” feited her dream of playing college basketball.

26 OUR JOB CORPS HEROES Nikisha Luke (Photo by Rob A New Career on Fire Mesite for FYO) NIKISHA LUKE, Fire Training Program Assistant Barranquitas Job Corps Center, Barranquitas, Puerto Rico; Schenck Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center, Pisgah Forest, North Carolina Graduated in 2014

Nikisha Luke credits Job Corps with replacing government’s Wildland Fire her doubts with determination. She enrolled Training and Conference Center in the emergency medical technician program near Sacramento, California. at age 19, but several weeks into the classes “If you have an open mind and she remained skeptical about her abilities. you’re willing to change your She had previously worked as a grocery store life, Job Corps is the perfect cashier. start,” Luke said. She’s proud “I was thinking I wasn’t smart enough for all of her resume, and through Job this medical stuff,” recalls Luke, who trained Corps, the once soft-spoken at the Barranquitas Job Corps Center in Puerto young woman has learned to Rico. “But it turns out, I was like the top of the embrace new opportunities class. When I saw that I really had potential, I and forge connections with wanted to see how much further I could go.” professional mentors.

Luke, a native of Dominica, went on to study “Job Corps has set a path for me wildland fire management at the Schenck Job Nikisha Luke for greatness,” said Luke, who is in her pre-Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center in North Corps position as Carolina. As part of her training, she battled considering enrolling in college. a cashier (Photo provided) blazes in that state, as well as in Florida, “I feel like I got the best out of Job Texas, Virginia, Georgia and Tennessee. Corps.” Today she’s a staff member at the federal

CHANGING LIVES 27 ‘It Can Be Done’ DAGO PATES, Police Officer Gary Job Corps, San Marcos, Texas Graduated in 2006

little things – like offering a free meal or a kind word – can give hope to those down on their luck.

“Just a little kindness can go a long ways toward building trust,” Pates explained. “Some people have just never had a positive interaction with law enforcement.”

The Texan stays in contact with his former Job Corps instructors and has visited the center to meet with current trainees. He tells partici- pants, “I hold my head up high, because I’m a police officer.”

“I went through the rough times, but I did it,” Pates said. “I want

Dago Pates Car chases and collaring criminals are all in people to know it can be done.” (Photo by Rob a day’s work for Dago Pates, but the thrill of Mesite for FYO) pursuit isn’t what drives the police officer.

“For me, the real draw is to be able to actually reach out and touch somebody’s life in a real, meaningful manner,” said Pates, who studied security and corrections at the Gary Job Corps Center in San Marcos, Texas. “I enjoy helping people.”

Compassionate by nature, Pates knows that his desire to assist others in need is also driven by his own experiences. Growing up in a small Iowa town, Pates, who is Honduran, recalls being the target of racially motivated bullying. Later, as a young man, he felt “helpless and hopeless” as he struggled with academics in college and eventually dropped out.

Now an officer with the police department in Kyle, Texas, Pates says he has learned that

28 OUR JOB CORPS HEROES Job Corps Gets Sergeant in Line ANGEL RAMON, U.S. Army Sergeant Westover Job Corps Center, Chicopee, Massachusetts Graduated in 2007

Angel Ramon belongs to an elite club. Just 1 percent Ramon, now stationed at Georgia’s Fort Stewart, of Americans have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. continues to stay in touch with Job Corps teachers Ramon, a sergeant in the U.S. Army, has com- and classmates. “They worry about me and sup- pleted yearlong tours in both countries. He credits port me every time I get deployed,” he said. “They his accomplishments to Job Corps, which he says gave me that support system and the skills I need kept him from becoming another kind of statistic. to further myself … It allowed me to break the cycle.” Ramon dropped out of high school at age 16. In his Brooklyn neighborhood, the next stop for most young men was prison, Ramon said.

The Westover Job Corps Center in Chicopee, Massachusetts, offered an alternative. There, he received a GED while studying maintenance and plumb- ing. Staff members also helped him prepare for the Armed Forces Vocational Aptitude Battery, a military entrance and career interest exam.

Ramon enlisted immediately following his graduation from Job Corps. He serves in the infantry and has gained command skills as a squad leader.

“I’m so glad I gave myself this chance,” Ramon said. “I’ve always been proud about joining the military. I’m proud of all the people I’ve met serving my country.”

Angel Ramon, right (Photo courtesy of Angel Ramon)

CHANGING LIVES 29 Hero Honor Clarence Ferguson Roll TRAPPER CREEK JOB CORPS CENTER 1968 Rosario Fernandez Victor McGee TONGUE POINT JOB CORPS CENTER BLACKWELL JOB CORPS CENTER The Job Corps 1970 2001 community is proud to recognize the Honor Role of Heroes from Ashley Dupree Tishanna Taylor DENISON JOB CORPS CENTER among the 127 SIERRA NEVADA JOB CORPS CENTER 2008 centers across the 2007 country. Van John Duong ST. LOUIS JOB CORPS CENTER 1992

Abdul Abdulhayi Abdelhayi These are just a LONG BEACH JOB CORPS CENTER 2002 few of the millions Destiny Smith TULSA JOB CORPS CENTER of students who 2013 have helped Jaime Freeland ROSWELL JOB CORPS CENTER make Job Corps 2005 a success.

Julieta Ramirez GARY JOB CORPS CENTER 1999 Dawn Day PENOBSCOT JOB CORPS CENTER Thomas Hamilton Jr. 1999 ONEONTA JOB CORPS CENTER 2013 Carmen Montijo Charles Gillingham WESTOVER JOB CORPS CENTER ONEONTA JOB CORPS CENTER 2013 Victor McGee 2005 BLACKWELL JOB CORPS CENTER Jayson Stilwell 2001 NEW HAVEN JOB CORPS CENTER 2013 Cordaryll Monroe DETROIT JOB CORPS CENTER Irene Shaw 2010 EDISON JOB CORPS CENTER 2001 Shirley Tucker CLEVELAND JOB CORPS CENTER Cheryl Robinson 1971 PHILADELPHIA JOB CORPS CENTER 2009 Dominique Broadnax OLD DOMINION JOB CORPS CENTER Morgann Thomas 2012 POTOMAC JOB CORPS CENTER Alfozo Hagan 2012 MUHLENBERG JOB CORPS CENTER 1982 Gladys Wilks POTOMAC JOB CORPS CENTER 1998

Tony Blash KITTRELL JOB CORPS CENTER 1984

Devin James DR. BENJAMIN L. HOOKS JOB CORPS CENTER 1999

Brantley Turner DR. BENJAMIN L. HOOKS JOB CORPS CENTER 2009 Marquez Bowden GULFPORT JOB CORPS CENTER Ibrahim Nyei 2012 JACKSONVILLE JOB CORPS CENTER Demetrius Norman 2013 SHREVEPORT JOB CORPS CENTER 2005 Ariel Freeland GAINESVILLE JOB CORPS CENTER 2013

31

Job Corps works. That’s why it has broad bipartisan support across the country. That’s also why relationships with employers, union representatives and local officials develop and evolve. The elected leaders, business owners and other supporters who believe in the program are the Champions of Job Corps.

33 We Support Job Corps!

Job Corps has advocates throughout Congress — and across the country — because of its half century of success working for young people, communities, employers and taxpayers. Four Capitol Hill leaders tell Changing Lives why Job Corps is so important to them.

L to R: U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, Turner Job Corps By U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, I have seen first-hand the positive impact Job Center graduate Co-chair, Friends of Job Corps Corps has had on the graduates of Turner Job Mauricia Ward, Congressional Caucus Corps in my hometown of Albany, Georgia. Turner Job Corps Center student The young men and women between the ages Job Corps is one of the nation’s most Andrew Haywood, and of 16 and 24 who successfully complete their Education Training successful anti-poverty programs training at Turner Job Corps receive much Resources President because it empowers its participants & CEO Brian Fox more than a certificate of completion. They celebrate Job Corps’ to become productive members of society by gain valuable career and social skills that will 50th Anniversary. helping them reach their goals, earn their (Photo by Turner Job serve them well throughout their lives – all GED and learn a trade. Corps Center) in a supportive environ- ment that encourages them to succeed.

As co-chair of the Friends of Job Corps Congressional Caucus on the program’s 50th birthday, I will do every- thing that I can to ensure that it continues to ful- fill President Lyndon B. Johnson’s goal to “give our fellow citizens a fair chance to develop their own capacities.”

34 CHAMPIONS OF JOB CORPS By Senator Susan Collins, a leading member of the Friends of Job Corps Congressional Caucus

On August 30, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed legis- lation creating Jobs Corps. Today, a half- century later, generations of graduates in Maine and across America demonstrate why Jobs Corps has been one of our nation’s best investments.

Since its founding, more than 2.5 million young people have entered the Job Corps program with the determination to succeed and have graduated with the confidence and the skills to do so. And the success rate is extraordinary – nearly 86 percent of Job Corps graduates find employment in their fields, go on to higher education, or serve our country in uniform. Job Corps students do not just learn a trade – they cultivate high it also improves their lives and strengthens Senator Susan Collins talks with aspirations and a commitment to service. their communities. The Penobscot Job Corps Penobscot Job Corps Academy and the Loring Job Corps Center in Center student As I travel throughout Maine, I have exten- Maine have the capability to serve nearly 800 Marissa Nerbonne. sive conversations with small business With them are at-risk youth on a daily basis. owners and workers about the challenges students Cheyleigh Robbins (center) and they face. While there is no doubt that our The combination of skills, self-confidence, Samantha Guzman. nation’s unemployment rate remains unac- and determination Job Corps offers can help (Photo by Penobscot Job Corps Center) ceptably high, I have met with employers in young people overcome the setbacks, obsta- Maine who have jobs available but who can- cles and failures that are part of life. The not find qualified and trained workers to fill focus on community service at both centers these vacant positions. helps to create the involved citizens that are so important to Maine’s future. These cen- In an effort to help provide resources to con- ters put these young men and women on a nect these employers with skilled workers, path to being successful and vital contribut- I was pleased to cosponsor the Workforce ing members of our state. Innovation and Opportunity Act, which was signed into law in July 2014. This bipartisan Job Corps was founded on the noble idea that, law streamlines, modernizes and improves if given the opportunity, the support, and existing federal workforce development pro- the training, America’s young people could grams to narrow the “skills gap” between overcome any obstacles and achieve. For 50 the job seeker’s training and available jobs. years, Job Corps graduates have turned that Job Corps is an essential part of this effort. idea into reality. Congratulations for this accomplishment and best wishes With two centers in Maine, Job Corps not for your continued success. only helps young people in my state gain the skills that lead to rewarding careers, but

CHANGING LIVES 35 By U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson, Co-chair, are empowered to realize their full potential, Friends of Job Corps Congressional living and working close to home. Caucus Spending time with the Oneonta and Job Corps plays a vital role in our Delaware Valley Job Corps team near my communities, providing students home in Upstate New York has been tre- with the skills they need to succeed in their mendously rewarding for me personally, careers and in life. The academic curriculum and I am honored to co-chair the Friends and technical training offered at our nation’s of Job Corps Congressional Caucus as this Job Corps centers are also crucial to our U.S. Rep. Chris program celebrates its 50th Anniversary. My Gibson meets economy, providing nearly every sector of father was a mechanic who showed me the Oneonta Job our economy with a local source of workers dignity of hard work and instilled in me a Corps Center student Rudisio who are able to perform at the highest level. love for learning. I see the same mentorship Maduro. (Photo From the building trades to healthcare to on display at our Job Corps campuses, and I by Oneonta Job advanced manufacturing, these graduates Corps Center) know the dividends it pays for the graduates of these programs. I want to thank the men and women of Job Corps for sharing so gen- erously of their time and talents on behalf of our young people.

You make a real difference in towns and cities across America, and I am proud to advocate for you in Congress. Happy Anniversary!

By Senator Jack Reed, a leading member of the Friends of Job Corps Congressional Caucus

I have been a great fan of Job Corps for many years now.

Since its inception, Job Corps has provided a safe environment for more than 2.5 mil- lion young people to obtain the education, training, life, and social skills they need to support a family. Job Corps has also provided our businesses with the trained, entry-level employees they need to help their compa- nies expand. It is no wonder that Job Corps is one of the most successful Department of Labor programs.

When I started my Senate career, Rhode Island was one of only a handful of states that didn’t have a Job Corps Center, and many of our young people went to neighboring states

36 CHAMPIONS OF JOB CORPS to participate in a Job Corps program. I knew that this was an opportunity that Rhode Island youth and employers needed.

So I went to work. In 1997, the Clinton Administration proposed new funding for the creation of more Job Corps centers. These new centers were only supposed to be built in places where a facility was provided to the Department of Labor at minimal or no cost. As a result, I asked the Senate Appropriations Committee to include language in the law that would give a prefer- ence to states applying for a Job Corps Center that didn’t community. Exeter Job Corps Academy has Senator Jack Reed have one. It was the successful inclusion of visits with students consistently ranked among the top 10 per- this language in the FY1998 Appropriations from Exeter Job cent of all centers across the country, and Corps Center in Conference Report, and the necessary $15 its students have distinguished themselves Rhode Island. million in federal funding that followed, that (Photo by Office of in terms of both personal achievement and led us to the point we are today – a tremen- Senator Jack Reed) community service efforts. dous facility for our state’s youth since its opening in 2004. As the Rhode Island economy continues its progress back to full strength, Ocean State It took almost seven years to get a Job businesses need high-quality, skilled work- Corps center sited in Rhode Island, but we ers. The Exeter Job Corps Center is helping to did it. I could not be more proud of the Job fill that need by helping our state’s students, Corps Academy that we now have in Exeter, some of whom have had few opportunities, Rhode Island, and I consider helping to get to develop their talents and build a career it constructed to be one of my proudest path. Indeed, job placement for Exeter Job accomplishments. Corps Academy graduates ranks among the Job Corps offers big bang for the buck. Every best in the country. dollar invested in Job Corps has doubled its So congratulations and thank you to Job return through income taxes paid and social Corps on a remarkable 50 years of inspiring welfare costs avoided. hope and creating opportunity for our young And despite some initial uncertainty from people. I can’t wait to see what the local residents, Job Corps’ demonstrated next 50 years bring. success and community relations efforts have made the Academy an important, productive and vital part of the Exeter

CHANGING LIVES 37 L to R: Bill Haws, Bill Howe Plumbing general manager; Shelby Bruce, HVAC technician and third-year Plumbing- Heating-Coolers-Contractors (PHCC) Journeyman Plumbing apprentice; Louis Zimmerman, PHCC Journeyman Plumbing Apprenticeship program graduate and five-year Howe Plumbing employee; Bill Howe, President; Tina Howe, Vice President; David Acosta, PHCC Journeyman Plumbing Apprenticeship gradu- ate and eight-year Howe Plumbing employee; and Christian Soto, Bill Howe Plumbing restoration technician (Photo by Bill Howe Plumbing)

situation. “Young people come to us with a plumbing background, and we take it a step Employer Partnerships further, pairing them with our experienced plumbers, where they receive more in-depth Work — and Create Work training,” he said. In turn, Bill Howe Plumbing By Michael J. Volpe sometimes pays for later apprenticeship training and hires some of the most promising students.

“We believe in giving a helping hand to young he key to a thriving economy in the people,” Tina Howe, the company’s vice pres- 21st century is an academic and techni- ident, said. “We give them an opportunity to cal preparation that ensures workers T flourish and succeed as employees in our com- are ready for new jobs, new skill require- pany’s environment.” ments, and continuous learning. Educators and elected officials continually work with Job California State Assemblyman Rocky Chavez, Corps to improve its curriculum and industry a Marine veteran and educator who represents certification programs that provide graduates a portion of San Diego, worked his own way with the skills they need to be competitive and through college by taking jobs washing dishes, successful. painting, gardening and gathering almonds in the agricultural fields. He is a proud local The demand for skilled workers is extremely champion of Job Corps and said it is especially powerful, consistently driving business lead- important to at-risk youth because the pro- ers to partner with Job Corps to address their gram “gives students an opportunity to find employment needs. value in education, while developing soft skills One such partnership can be found at Bill in areas like leadership and responsibility.” Howe Plumbing in San Diego, California. The Chavez also said the employer-community 35-year-old, family-owned and operated partnership is an important part of the solu- business has provided plumbing internships tion to closing the skills gap and training the and employment over the years for a number next generation of workers. “Job Corps is an of San Diego Job Corps Center students. investment in people,” Chavez said, helping Bill Howe, the company’s president, called many “to rise out of poverty and become bet- the relationship with Job Corps a win-win ter citizens.”

38 CHAMPIONS OF JOB CORPS Parks and Job Creation By Michael J. Volpe

Thousands of tourists visit the Jenny Wiley State Resort Park every year in Prestonsburg, Kentucky, contributing millions of dollars to the local economy. The park has 49 lodge rooms and 18 cottages, as well as a restaurant, convention center, golf course, 121-site campground, 153-slip marina and amphitheater.

It also has a close partnership with the local Carl D. Perkins Job Corps Center to offer students an opportunity to obtain real-world work experience in a number of disciplines such as culinary arts, facilities maintenance and carpentry.

Park Manager Julian Slone, who is responsible for all day-to-day activities of the park, talked with Changing Lives about how important Job Corps and its students are to the park.

What do the Perkins Job Corps How important is the involvement students do at the park? of students in the day-to-day operation of the Park? Slone: Some of the Perkins students from its culinary program will work four days a Slone: Well, the Perkins students, along week with our chef in the kitchen to learn with other volunteers from our com- meal preparation and recipe development. munity, recently removed almost 3 tons Then these students also rotate throughout of man-made trash and plastic from our the dining hall to learn buffet food station waterways, helped clear trails and reno- and serving techniques. Others from the vated our structures used by the public. We Perkins security and facilities mainte- don’t have the labor budget to pay for these nance programs will help paint and repair efforts, so the value that the students bring our various structures and help with trash to the Park is immeasurable. We can always pickup and brush and wood cleanup. count on the Job Corps students to help us.

What kind of skills do the students What impact has the park had on possess? Perkins students?

Slone: The students show up at our park Slone: They come away with valuable well-trained and eager to work. We teach training in their course of studies, ready them our system, and they adapt to it to go out in the real world and make a dif- quickly. The character and quality of the ference. The work they do here is wonder- students coming from Perkins is great. ful. Our partnership with the Perkins Job Corps Center is great for both us and the community.

CHANGING LIVES 39

JOB CORPS AND UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE

When the federal government began building the Job Corps program, it turned first to a model that had already been serving young people for more than three decades: The Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center.

That partnership grew, and now the Forest Service operates 28 Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers associated with national forests or grasslands and span seven Forest Service regions, 22 national forests and grasslands in 18 states.

These centers provide a one-of-a-kind experience for young people to learn the role they play in protecting public lands – through programs ranging from urban forestry, construction and firefighting to carpentry, painting, electrical and culinary arts.

Pine Knot Job Corps Center (Photo by NJCA)

41 Adapting to – and Saving – the Environment

When Tina Terrell was growing up in Philadelphia, all she knew about trees was “that they were in my back yard.” Now she oversees the operation of 28 Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers as National Director of the USDA Forest Service Job Corps. Changing Lives asked Terrell about the long-standing relationship between Job Corps and the Forest Service and what lies ahead for the partnership.

The Forest Service was a crucial Corps Center. The establishment of a Job Corps partner in the early days of Job Corps. center was based on the Civilian Conservation Center model that was created in 1933. This How did that relationship shape what model focused on training young people to Job Corps became? learn a trade or craft, give back to society in the form of civic service, and obtain skills to Terrell: The relationship that the Forest Service become employed in the workforce. This model developed with the Department of Labor in was successful in the 1960’s and is still suc- 1964 was historic and laid the foundation for cessful today. how to develop, operate and manage a Job

42 PARTNERS BY NATURE There are some highly hands-on trades that are unique to Job Corps centers operated by the Forest Service. How does the Forest Service - Job Corps partnership prepare young people for futures that other training experiences cannot provide?

Terrell: Job Corps Civil- ian Conservation Centers expose students to various aspects of training that in many cases are not provided through other training programs. Any Job Corps student who is physically able to pass a fitness test and take an Introduction to the Inci- dent Management System (IMS) is able to participate on a wildland fire crew. A Job Corps student who is a member of a wildland fire crew will train and serve as an agency firefighter or a member of a fire camp crew. When a fire or part of the “militia.” This means that the Tina Terrell, natural disaster like a tornado occurs, the National Director students are volunteering their time and agency will utilize Job Corps students on a of the USDA Forest energy after the training day is completed at Service Job Corps, wildland fire crew and dispatch the crew the center or on the weekends to learn vital and a student where needed. (Photo by U.S. skills to be a firefighter. When dispatched to Forest Service) Students on a wildland fire crew thus gain a fire, the student is paid an hourly rate and experience in battling and managing wild- is able to earn money while also learning a land fires. Many of these students assigned trade at their center. Over the years a num- to a wildland fire crew are not in the forestry ber of students who finished their trade and or firefighting trade at their center but are graduated decided to apply for a firefighting job and were hired by the Forest Service, the

CHANGING LIVES 43 Forest Service-operated Job Corps centers are among the most beautiful natural spaces across the country, and many students come to that environment without having spent much time in nature. What impact does that have on their success at and after Job Corps?

Terrell: A Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center is located either in or near a national forest or park or is within 30 minutes of a forest. All Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers are resi- dential, which means the student lives on the center from 11 months to about 2 years. Thus, a Job Corps student lives in the woods. This can be difficult for some Job Corps Students participate National Park Service or the Bureau of Land in an urban forestry students as 85 percent of these students were Management as a wildland firefighter. exercise at the Pine born or raised in an urban environment. Day Knot Job Corps Center in Kentucky in August Another aspect of training at a Job Corps and night in a city are different than day 2014, when U.S. Rep. Civilian Conservation Center that is pro- and night in the forest; students at a Job Harold Rogers visited Corps Civilian Conservation Center learn to the students as part vided to a Job Corps student is the opportu- of Celebrate Job Corps nity to work in a national forest or a national adapt to the rural, wooden community that 50 Week. (Photo by park. Each of the 28 Job Corps Civilian becomes their home. Many students come to NJCA) Conservation Centers is located in or near a like the solitude and the ability to learn at a national forest or a national park. Students slower pace than what may be available in a have completed projects such as building city. A number of students have stated they picnic tables, restoring historical cabins or were successful when leaving a Job Corps stables, building earthen dams, construct- Civilian Conservation Center because of the ing culverts, refurbishing trails, renovating uniqueness of the center being in a forest. recreation areas, erecting signs, painting Students who live on a Job Corps Civilian buildings or restoring structural walls along Conservation Center express gratitude to the roads. These students thus learn conserva- staff for taking time to work with them and tion and stewardship of their public lands. for caring.

44 PARTNERS BY NATURE You have had a chance to talk with Third, students mentioned the feeling of many Job Corps students. Is there accomplishment they experienced when finishing a project, such as the Camino a common aspect of growth you Real Ranger District Office, which was built notice among the young people in Taos, New Mexico, in 2011. This build- who come through the program? ing was constructed totally by Job Corps stude nts from all 28 Job Corps Civilian Terrell: I have visited all 28 Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers in 2010 and 2011. Conservation Centers since becoming the When I visited a couple of centers in 2011, National Director in February 2014. There students who worked on this major build- are a number of common aspects of growth ing project wanted to talk to me about how I have noticed among young people who they were able to construct a building with have matriculated through the Job Corps their own hands and saw their labor, in the program. First, students have informed wooden beams, in the interior walls, in the me through group meetings that they have restrooms, in the roof, in the doors, in the matured since being on a Job Corps Civilian artwork and in the foundation of the build- Conservation Center. They came to the cen- ing. I could see from their smiling faces the ter with a particular mindset, a belief that joy they felt in completing a project and the they couldn’t make it in a class or in a trade, sense of accomplishment and fulfillment. and they learned to believe in themselves.

Second, students have discussed how they How do you see the Forest Service learned how to be leaders. One particular - Job Corps relationship growing student I remember at the Trapper Creek over the next 50 years? Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center expressed to me that he was shy and didn’t Terrell: I envision the Forest Service and want to speak to people in the beginning. Job Corps will develop a new relation- Over the months, this student learned how ship over the next 50 years that will focus to open up to people and also started to take Forest Service Job on all aspects of conservation. The Forest Corps National leadership opportunities at the center. The Service has established training programs Director Tina student became a member of the Student Terrell and Harper to develop firefighting crews on a Job Corps Ferry Job Corps Government Association and became a dorm Civilian Conservation Center. There are Center students leader. other conservation training programs that (Photo by U.S. Forest Service) will be developed for students that link

CHANGING LIVES 45 directly to a number of trades. Students in students opportunities to understand fish- the carpentry trade can be taught historic eries management, hydrology, and other preservation, especially when dealing with features of the Clean Water Act. wooden structures, and this curriculum Students in the brick masonry or heavy training can enhance a carpentry student’s equipment trades can be trained in bridge ability to obtain a job with a federal, state or restoration. The bridge infrastructure in the county land management agency, or with a United States is more than 50 or 75 years non-profit organization. old, and a number of bridges are gated for Students in the forestry or firefighting trade no access as land management agencies or can be taught a wilderness ethics or trail state/county transportation departments building curriculum that will provide ave- identify mechanisms to repair these bridges nues for them to obtain a recreation tech- with reduced budgets. A training curriculum nician job with a land management agency should be developed to enhance this trade. or a non-profit organization. Students in Finally, the Forest Service is interested in the electrical trade can obtain skills in solar developing a new performance metric with electrical wiring, with a “green trade” cur- the Department of Labor that focuses on riculum. Students in the forestry trade can conservation. This metric would be used be trained in aquatics management, which to assess how well a Job Corps Civilian is currently an 8-week curriculum developed Conservation Center is doing to enhance by a non-profit organization called Waders students’ opportunities to use their trade in the Water. This training will provide knowledge and skills in a natural setting.

Land is vital for humans, plants and animals to sur- vive. We must take care of the land and conserve where needed to ensure future generations are able to sustain themselves. Conservation management or environmental resources management is a growing field with opportunities for success. A focus on conservation performance is just as important as a focus on job performance or attainment of job cre- dentials; the young people who are trained in conser- vation today are going to be the citizen stewards of tomorrow.

46 PARTNERS BY NATURE Glide, Oregon – a center oper- ated by the U.S. Forest Service.

He completed the welding pro- gram in 11 months and showed so much promise that he was hired by the Forest Service as an assistant welding instructor at Wolf Creek, a job he held for seven years. He then had a suc- cessful career as a union welder, but something was missing in his life.

Cunningham found employ- ment at Timber Lake Job Corps in Estacada, Oregon. There he held a number of positions, from dorm advisor, to orienta- tion director, to center disci- plinarian. Cunningham then Warren Cunningham in 1978, when he was first hired at the became the center’s Business Wolf Creek Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centert, where he Community Liaison, a position still works today (Photos provided by Warren Cunningham) he has held for the past seven years. He regularly conducts meetings with business leaders and the community, extolling Long-Time Forest Service Staffer the skills and talents his students Says It’s ‘Easy to Give Back’ have to offer. He has now spent a total of 35 By Michael J. Volpe years with the Forest Service – as a Job Corps student and now a Forest Service It was “quite a culture employee. “I knew the Forest Service and Job Corps shock” in 1977 when helped me, cared for me and trained me,” he said. Warren Cunningham “It was easy for me to give back to the program” moved away from the and decide to return to counseling young men and “rush hour mental- women. ity” of Los Angeles to relocate in the middle of the forest. “The feeling you get when

He knew he wanted to you see changes in the students, leave the gangs and from when they first arrive to troubles of South Central Los Angeles in his rear when they walk across the stage view mirror. A disability kept him from joining the military, so with the help of his mother, he took and graduate, is just a great, a 22-hour Greyhound bus ride and enrolled in the awesome feeling,” he said. Wolf Creek Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center in

CHANGING LIVES 47

For a half century, Job Corps has helped students build their own futures. Now the students, staff, supporters and national leaders are looking ahead to the next 50 years.

49 Block designers at Homestead Job Corps Center in Florida included Office Administration trade students Sisteria Steward, Sabrina Williams and Jermeka Couns. (Photo by Homestead Job Corps BUILDING Center)

For the last half-century, THE Job Corps has offered young people the chance to imag- ine – and then build – a better FUTURE future for themselves. Trainees from across the country paid homage to that ideal this spring through a collaborative art installment ONE representing the individual and collective power of the nation’s network of Job Corps centers.

The premise was simple: Students were BLOCK invited to design a square foot cube inspired by their centers and com- munities. Some chose to highlight the education and training options avail- AT A able. Others depicted their center’s rich history or chose to celebrate Job Corps’ residential component – living-and- learning communities that pave the way TIME to success for many students. Each block tells a story and offers a glimpse at BY MARY STEGMEIR the passions and potential of today’s students. When displayed together, the boxes become a powerful symbol of the nation’s largest career training program for low-income youth.

The mobile art exhibit has been featured in Washington, and individual pieces will be pre- sented to Job Corps champions on Capitol Hill and throughout the country.

Student Douglas Orellana from the Woodland Job Corps Center in Maryland shows off the blank building block cen- ters received to help students tell their stories. (Photo by Rob Mesite for FYO)

50 BUILDING THE FUTURE A student plans the design for the Penobscot Job Corps Center’s building block, which includes – among other items – a drawing that celebrates Job Corps’ 50th Anniversary. (Photo by Penobscot Job Corps Center)

Advanced Training student Kyle Perry, Advanced Training student at Oneonta Job Corps Center in New York displays the center’s block, “Bob,” from the center’s backhoe. (Photo by Oneonta Job Corps Center)

Each block tells a story and offers a glimpse at the passions and potential of today’s students. When displayed together, the boxes become a powerful symbol of the nation’s largest career training program for low-income youth.

51 National Director Discusses Next 50 Years

A CONVERSATION WITH LENITA JACOBS-SIMMONS, JOB CORPS’ NATIONAL DIRECTOR

What was the experience Why do you think Job Corps of your first visit to a continues to be success- Job Corps center? ful 50 years after its first graduation?

Jacobs-Simmons: I first visited several Job Corps centers when I came on board as a dep- Jacobs-Simmons: Well, I’m reminded a uty assistant secretary for employment and lot of the things that President Obama and training under Secretary Alexis Herman in Secretary Perez said when they went to th the late 1990s. What struck me so much about Selma, Alabama, to commemorate the 50 those visits was how eager the students were anniversary of “Bloody Sunday.” We’ve come to show an outsider what they were up to. Of a long way in 50 years, but a lot of unfinished course, any time an official from Washington business remains. There are still deep divi- or an elected official in the community visits, sions in our society. There are still too many the center goes out of its way to put its best Americans who are born into circumstances foot forward. The floors are shined; every- where they don’t have meaningful access thing is in its place; the desks and tables and to opportunity. We still have poverty – both equipment are all gleaming. rural poverty and urban poverty.

There’s a tremendous sense of pride in the I really believe that the essence of Job Corps Job Corps program expressed by both stu- is a matter of national character. We as dents and staff. Everyone is just so excited to Americans have chosen to invest in the hopes show you what they’re learning, how engaged and aspirations of a cohort of young people they are in the experience, how much they’re who need a helping hand in transcending looking forward to what the future holds. The their circumstances, through persistence sheer energy of the place is what I remember and hard work. Secretary Perez often says most from that first visit – a positive, vivid, that the American economy works best when joyful energy. And it’s catching. Going to a we’re fielding our whole team. We don’t leave Job Corps center reminds me every time of people on the bench. Job Corps is a testament how vital our work here is, how deeply we can to that, and until we have a society where no transform these young lives. The students one is left out, there will be a need for these know that, too. They know that they are tak- kinds of programs. ing one of the most meaningful steps they can take to build a better future, and it shows.

52 BUILDING THE FUTURE Job Corps National Director Lenita Jacobs-Simmons (center) stands with students in the Potomac Job Corps Center’s Homeland Security program and other trades (Photo by U.S. Department of Labor)

We’ve also been successful in keeping the program relevant in a changing economy, Why do you think Job Corps tailoring the program to meet the needs of continues to be success- employers. In its infancy, Job Corps was all ful 50 years after its first about what you might call traditional trades: graduation? carpentry, forestry, construction and the like. But technology has changed employment Jacobs-Simmons: There’s a short answer to in this country rapidly. The jobs of the 21st this: It’s all important. Every minute. century will come from industries that didn’t even exist when Job Corps began. We have In a practical sense, the trade or industry to prepare our workforce with the skills that credential that a student earns is what will now employers need to keep our economy set them on a path toward economic security growing. Today, Job Corps trains its students and a career that has meaning for them, so in more than 100 of these in-demand fields, absorbing as much skill and knowledge as like healthcare and advanced manufacturing. possible is critical. But the social aspects of

CHANGING LIVES 53 Job Corps are just as important. The young We have to nurture that, and the students people we serve have often lost their way in themselves need to know that if they stick more traditional education settings, where with the program, it can change everything. their unique needs may not have been met. Some may have developed bad habits, or How did you first become have trouble integrating with others, work- involved with Job Corps? ing with a team, knowing what’s appropriate and what isn’t in a professional setting. Jacobs-Simmons: I should note that I myself At Job Corps, they have a chance to attain was a participant in a Labor Department- some of those skills that they might have funded youth program when I was an adoles- missed out on before they came. The resi- cent. It was called the Neighborhood Youth dential setting forces them to change those Corps, and it helped me gain basic workplace habits and work more cooperatively with skills and helped me secure a job at the pub- their peers. These life skills are critical to lic library when I was in high school. So my building and maintaining a rewarding career involvement with youth training programs and earning a step up to the middle class. runs very deep. I worked as a grant writer for several years, first in higher education, and Our students’ resilience, their then for local workforce investment boards. dedication, the recognition that I was working in Charleston, South Carolina, Job Corps National when the Department of Defense announced Director Lenita their previous reactions to the that it would be closing the Charleston Naval Jacobs-Simmons challenges in their young lives visits with students Yard, one of the largest employers in the were often not healthy or pro- at the Potomac area. I helped to secure a national emergency Job Corps Center ductive, and the ability to look in Washington, grant for the affected workers from the Labor D.C., on March 16, at the world through new eyes Department, and that was my first exposure 2015 (Photo by U.S. to the department. Department of Labor) inspire me every day.

After that, I began working closely with the depart- ment as it began to imple- ment the newly enacted Workforce Investment Act, as the federal government and local governments began to coordinate. It was because of that work that I was asked to become the deputy assistant secre- tary for ETA. My portfolio included field operations, so that meant Job Corps. That’s when I became involved in the day-to-day operations and oversight of the program.

54 BUILDING THE FUTURE forward in your career. We succeed when What’s the single piece of we make learning a lifelong goal. Job Corps advice that you would give a should be the beginning, the turning point. recent Job Corps graduate on Build on that. Let the momentum carry you to having a successful career? places you never imagined. A Job Corps grad- uate has learned what it means to reinvent oneself, and we hope that spirit of personal Jacobs-Simmons: Never stop preparing. transformation and empowerment to become Never stop finding new ways to gain more a central part of these students’ lives. experience to take those important leaps

As the Job Corps community looks toward the next half century, Changing Lives asked National Director Lenita Jacobs-Simmons what the Department of Labor and the National Office of Job Corps are doing to keep the program strong. She outlined five priorities over the coming months that will “reform Job Corps in meaningful ways” to “improve the program and get better outcomes for students.”

1. MODERNIZATION AND REFORM. With the 3. SAFETY AND SECURITY. There can be no passage of the Workforce Innovation and learning in unsafe or unstable environments. Opportunity Act (WIOA), it’s time for a major At all times, our campuses, classrooms, and update of Job Corps policy. Policy changes residential areas should be safe. across the board – from admissions to on-cen- 4. STANDARDS-BASED EDUCATION, TRAIN- ter programs to post-graduation services – are ING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS. Job in progress. The Job Corps Policy Requirements Corps is a standards-based education and Handbook (PRH) is being updated to include training program. Our academic, career tech- these policy changes and is being re-tooled to nical and employment programs need to sup- better manage changes and new policy in the port successful entry into career pathways, future. apprenticeships and community colleges. This 2. PROGRAM AND DATA INTEGRITY. After an is not aspirational; this is who we are and what unfortunate period of financial hardship in the we must do. program, its finances are now on a solid foot- 5. NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED CREDENTIALS: ing, and we are rewriting policy to support the For employers in high-demand sectors to con- goal of maintaining the integrity of the pro- sider Job Corps as their go-to source for entry gram’s financial data and reporting. level workers, our graduates must earn nation- ally recognized credentials. Job Corps has made good progress in this area, but we must robustly continue that work.

CHANGING LIVES 55 NJCA CEO Lonnie P. Taylor (Photo by Mike Keza for FYO)

commitment to the core mission of chang- ing lives. With more than 100 members of Congress and thousands of other supporters across the country, each activity celebrating Job Corps’ 50 years has also given us a chance to focus on the future and what Job Corps will become over the next 50 years.

The next five decades will include challenges and opportunities for our nation’s youth and employers that the founders of Job Corps could not imagine, but the effective system they designed has proven its ability to adapt and grow.

The enduring partnership has defined the program’s training and placement activities for more than five decades. This partnership has been the most direct means of assuring Job Corps’ continued long-term impact. With a focus on performance and the flexibility to Always Trying, innovate, this partnership will continue to Always Gaining thrive and lead Job Corps’ evolution to meet the changing needs of youth. By Lonnie P. Taylor CEO, National Job Corps Association With the opening this year of new centers in Wyoming and New Hampshire, Job Corps will be in all 50 states, the District of Columbia “It is the excitement of becoming… and Puerto Rico. This important milestone for the program serves as a reminder of the criti- always trying and always gaining.” cal need for Job Corps to service those youth — President Lyndon B. Johnson who are at risk. Job Corps must continue its Inaugural Address long-term vision to invest in what works and January 20, 1965 expand the reach of our service.

The future of Job Corps begins today. Our President Johnson’s inspiring words from actions now will determine the legacy we 50 years ago still reflect what happens at Job provide to fture Job Corps students. The doors Corps centers every day, as well as the pro- of opportunity President Johnson opened 50 gram’s legacy and its future. years ago have changed millions of lives. By

The year-long celebration of Job Corps’ 50th always trying and always gaining, we will give Anniversary has been a tremendous oppor- millions more young people the tools to build tunity to reflect on the program’s impact, bright and promising futures for themselves celebrate the accomplishments of our stu- and their families. dents, past and present, and reinvigorate our

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