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Gary Job Corps continues to foster community

Gary Job Corps continues to foster community

Author: Graphic by Barton Publications

SAN MARCOS — Near the beginning of summer, the U.S. Department of Labor was in discussion to shut down job corps around the nation. After an injunction, the Gary Job Corps, which recently celebrated its 60th anniversary, will continue to serve residents of Hays County.

According to community relations coordinator Randolph Goodman, the Gary Job Corps is a training center for the economically at-risk.

The corporation began in March 1965, said Goodman, after President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a bill to begin job corps across the country in 1964 as part of the Office for Economic Opportunity. The organization initially operated as a male-only facility until it became co-ed in 1975, Goodman explained. Since then, the federally-funded program has been training men and women between the ages of 16-24 years old for the workforce.

To qualify, an individual must meet economic qualifications and are often recommended to the Gary Job Corps by the Texas Workforce Commission. Once they arrive, they will be taken to the Wellness Department to receive a physical exam and any vaccinations needed.

Students will then enroll in a program to earn their high school diploma or begin trade and vocational training in one of several departments, said Goodman, including advanced manufacturing, construction trades, finance and administration, Homeland Security or transportation.

“When a student first gets here, if they have a high school diploma and pass [The Assessment of Basic Education], then they could go in their trade the whole day from eight o’clock in the morning ’til 3:30 in the afternoon. [They can also] go all day academics and get their high school diploma or GED done on the front part. There’s another way of doing it, [too], where they’ll go through their academics half a day and then, go to vocation trade the other half a day. So, they don’t get bored [and] burnt out sitting in a classroom. Normally, that’s the reason students drop out is because they just got tired of being in class,” explained Goodman.

Additionally students can learn to drive and, for those who may not speak English, have the opportunity to enroll in an English Language Learners program.

Goodman stated that the ultimate goal of the job corps is to place men and women back into the workforce, as “for every dollar that is spent training a job corps student, the taxpayer gets back $2.02, [since they] take people off of the welfare and put them in taxpaying roles.”

So, when the U.S. Department of Labor was considering cutting costs by removing funding for the job corps, the facility was determined to find a way to continue its mission in aiding the community.

“The big need has always been for a workforce. You need a tertiary. You need to have people that can lay cement and people that need to be working in the hospital. You need people to work on your air conditioner, refrigeration. You need a lot of people to do that,” emphasized Goodman.

He stated that he believes the reason there was a possible loss of funding is because job corps may switch to being overseen by the state rather than the federal government, though he stated that this would limit the range of certifications given. The coordinator explained that with the federal status, certifications given are able to be used across the nation and not limited to a specific state.

“It’s the attention that was given to our congressional people by the employers [and students] here in the area … Those were the folks that we had support letters that were sent to Washington and they went to our congressional people [to save us],” said Goodman.

The Gary Job Corps is not only important because it trains people, he continued, but also because other training programs do not provide the same level of support.

Goodman shared that there are military style dormitories available with residential advisors for the students throughout their time at Gary Job Corps. These advisors aid in job searches, how to navigate the real world, any difficulties in classes and more: “We don’t just bring in a student and dump them into the world.”

There are also mentors that are involved in the programs, such as Goodman himself.

“You got a bunch of old people here at the center that are mentors to these students because we’ve all been there. So, we share that with the students, [so they know] they’re not the only ones that are going through this,” he said.

Throughout its time, the Gary Job Corps has produced graduates that have gone on to serve the community in multiple capacities, such as Kyle Police Department officers and doctors at Austin Regional Clinic.

Goodman shared that the best way to support the job corps is by writing to state representatives showing support.

For more information, visit www.gary.jobcorps.gov.

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