Officials respond to Job Corps 'pause' that will impact almost 800 in Albany

Yahoo

2 days ago

ALBANY – The abrupt announcement of a 'pause' of Job Corps operations across the country will be a big blow to Albany, where the current 510 students and nearly 300 staff members are looking at being off the campus by the end of the week.
On Friday morning, all web pages related to Turner Job Corps had been scoured, replaced with a single entry that appeared on all, titled 'Beyond Job Corps,' giving referrals to other options including the U.S. Department of Labor's CareerOneStop, federal Pell grants and the military.
The DOL has told Job Corps locations to have students 'transitioned' off campus by June 6.
Job Corps provides free residential education and job training program for students ages 16-24.
'It's very devastating,' Albany City Commissioner Jon Howard, in whose Ward II the sprawling center is located, said. 'Those are people that are going to have to find somewhere to go and to find jobs. That's not as easy as people think, especially for those that are homeless. I'm depressed and sad it's happening.'
Of the student contingent, 19% are listed as housing-insecure or homeless, placing them in a potentially precarious position.
Coming on the heels of the announcement two weeks ago of the layoff of 535 workers at the Georgia-Pacific container board plant in Early County, the news is grim, state Rep. Gerald Greene, R-Cuthbert, said.
'It's another shock in southwest Georgia,' he said. 'With the closing of the Turner Job Corps … that organization has been there for a long time and it has had great success for a lot of individuals. It really is a blow for the Albany area and the region, and it's going to affect us again.'
After hearing about the announcement on Thursday evening, the legislator said, he has been in touch with Dougherty County officials as well as the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce..
'We've got to find out what's going on and see if there's anything we can do other than say we support them,' he said. 'We need to see how we can support them and be effective. We've just got to get together with our chamber folks and county and city and see what we can do.'
The number of students and employees affected in such a short-time frame is particularly concerning, Greene said, especially with the closing coming so unexpectedly and with so little time to prepare. State officials were completely caught off guard by the Department of Labor's announcement.
'We have a lot of individuals who are going to end up in a bad posture, especially those homeless individuals, because we have no place to house them at this particular time,' Greene said.
While Job Corps has been targeted by President Trump, who has expressed his desire to eliminate the program, it has support from both Democrats and Republicans in Congress, said U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany, who serves as co-chair of the bipartisan Job Corps Caucus in the U.S. House.
A letter of bipartisan support for the Job Corps sent to the House Appropriations Committee had 130 signatures, he said. And DOL Secretary Lori Chavex-DeRemer was also supportive during her time in the U.S. House.
'It's enjoyed bipartisan support for 60 years,' Bishop said. 'We have one of the most successful Job Cops in the country in Albany. I'm concerned. I think Job Corps is a very good program that has a good track record.'
The bipartisan support is not surprising, as the Job Corps is a program that reflects the conservative values of work, the legislator said.
'I don't quite understand, particularly when the emphasis is on work, that they would want to destroy (this) program that provides job training and turns people's lives around,' Bishop said. 'This is a program that employs people and has upward mobility and provides the kind of work force development we want across the economy.'
In a statement issued last week after the announcement of the pause, Bishop said that the program has provided academic opportunities and career pathways in business and industry to at-risk young people for six decades.
'The Job Corps program is the embodiment of a hand-up and not a handout,' the statement said. ' It provides work force skills and training that empower participants to become self-sufficient and productive citizens.
'Today's foolish action by the White House and the United States Department of Labor to close the Job Corps program will shatter the dreams and aspirations of tens of thousands of promising students. I intend to work with my Republican colleagues to protect and improve Job Corps to ensure its continued success.'