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1.2

Job Corps started out as a good idea. However in reality the theory was deficient.

Taking at risk youth and jamming them together in one location can be risky at best. In my experience visiting Job Corps Centers in various parts of the Country, I am convinced that the USDOL/ETA has approached the problem of disadvantaged youth in a backwards manner. If Job Corps wants better programs than it needs to take the resources being spent on expanding and building new Centers into fixing up the ones currently in operation or replace them. Centers in facilities over 50 years in age should be closed and replaced.

Do not waste the taxpayers money to patch up places that are falling apart. Obtaining Federal funding to make even emergency safety repairs can take years. We all know from our urban experiences that as facilities age they break down. If they are not maintained at pristine levels the residents may help to break then down even further.

That is what is happening to countless existing Centers now. Some Centers were constructed on swamps and are sinking, some are in buildings with mold/asbestos, leaking roofs, no heat or A/C, and these are located in States that need heat and/or AC. Center operators cannot get the funds necessary to make the repairs if they wanted to do that because the USDOL process is too slow. It is actually easier to get funding to build an additional new Center than to get the funding to repair existing older ones.

During this current Job Corps press for Zero Tolerance, maybe the USDOL/ETA and the Obama administration along with Director Jacobs-Simmons should take a serious look at down sizing the program as a whole, close ALL Centers age 50 or higher, and relocate the students to the newly constructed Centers. Better facilities, better creative opportunities, better chances for higher quality education. If I live in a mansion I may act like I belong there. If I live in a slum I will act like I belong there.

For the billions being spent now, we are not getting a good return on our money. Keep the current training budget for the 120+ Centers and cut the total centers by 50%. Then upgrade everything that remains and see what that does. In the early days of Job Corps the plan was to take youth away from their home areas to train, new location away from their past, new opportunities for a new future.

Now Job Corps tries to accommodate everyone by having a Center in their own back yard. Close to home, close to the past and close to the associated problems of the home town.

The reality is that the theory has not work well for at least 20-40% of Job Corps attendees. If the trainees in Job Corps have failed in public school, what makes anyone think that another public school type program will succeed for them. Job Corps has become a very expensive childcare program where education and training is touted but the reality is that trainees are bribed by incentives to stay in the program.

It is preached in Job Corps "do the right thing because it is the right thing to do" but that is not the case for 20-40% of trainees. The trainees of today need a new educational approach, a focus on individualized education with modern equipment, methods, environment and facilities. The taxpayer is tired of funding governmental programs that do not work. Job Corps has tried but it is failing.

The answer is not to scrap it totally BUT rather to scale down, relocate to newer better, educationally designed facilities and take the funding for the 120+ existing centers and develop a maximum of 50 (state of the art) training facilities of no more that 300 trainees, pay the staff well and maintain the stuffing out of the facilities at all times. It is a paradox that the US government will spend millions to redecorate even one Federal courtroom, but will NOT spend millions to remodel/repair Job Corps Centers that are working to help keep young people out of the Federal courtrooms.

Job Corps has become a cash cow for some Federal agencies and private contractors. It is time for real change.

Job Corps Pros: Opportunity.

Job Corps Cons: Misguided funding and federal leadership.

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