Job Corps and the American Dream

Bob Confer’s post in the New American talks about how the US Government has created poverty instead of alleviating its presence.   He briefly mentions Job Corps as one of the wasteful programs that deserves a discerning look.  Confer mentions the “redundancy” of Job Corps and the fact that its programs are duplicated elsewhere  in the private sector and schools.  Redundancy is apparently another rationale for saying that Job Corps is expensive and should be eliminated.

I think why Job Corps has survived the “redundancy” accusation is because it’s highly touted as being the program of last resort for those who have been kicked out of high school, for the juvenile delinquents and misfits and for those who can’t read.  It’s a place to gather all “these” kids together and present Job Corps as a “one of a kind” program that isn’t duplicated anywhere else. It’s not the program Job Corps is selling, it’s the attendees.  And the message is: “Look how we take these inner city delinquents and cure them of their gang affiliations”, or, “Everyone else has given up on certain students, just give us six months and we’ll turn them around and give them a new attitude, a high school diploma and a trade on top of it all”.  Unfortunately, if it sounds too good to be true, most of the time it’s a lie.

Job Corps also has other kinds of attendees, the student who, for some reason or another wasn’t able to complete high school, or, the student from a broken family who is looking for an education and some stability.  Sometimes, kids without any behavioral problems at all enroll because they think it’s a place where they’ll get a quality, free, education and they believe what the glossy brochures and smooth talking recruiters tell them. I’ve spoken to those “other” kinds of students and heard the stories about the gangs, beat downs and blanket parties.  I’ve heard about the prevalence of drugs in the dorms and on campus. As a staff, I’ve also seen known drug-dealer students kept on the attendance rolls because we needed “the numbers”. Last, I’ve seen the stars slowly fade from student’s eyes when they suspect that they aren’t getting the dream of the education they deserve or when they notice that the overworked and underpaid teachers or staff don’t have the time to spend with them.

Sure, there are a few Job Corps students who do a complete turn-around, but unfortunately, they are the minority.  The vast majority are proved, through corrected statistics and scientific evidence that they are no better off than before they enrolled.  What gives? Why are we paying for this program? I believe that we too have stars in our eyes and want to believe that there is a magic bullet “out there” that will, once and for all, cure the troubled youth of our century and for now, Job Corps fulfills the fairly tale. We need the “dream” as much as the kids do…

Filed under: Job Corps, Kittrell Job Corps Center, Newspaper Reports, number manipulation, politics, Shriver Job Corps Center, Bob Confer, Job Corps, New American, poverty, redundant, The American Dream

Reader’s Controversial Comments About Martin Gross’s Statements

These are few comments from yesterday’s post about Martin Gross’s interview and “Job Corps  and the Government Racket”.  I remain fascinated that Job Corps supporters and detractors are so passionately polarized.  Having worked in two different Job Corps Centers: Shriver in Devens, MA and Kittrell, NC I feel aptly qualified to say I saw for myself the waste, inefficiency and focus on numbers to the detriment of the students. I am thinking that Job Corps most passionate defenders have never worked inside a Job Corps Center? I can’t believe that anyone would have been an employee and still wholeheartedly defend its purpose.  Only an outsider, not privy to the inner workers of these contractor cash cows would make a statement such as the following:

-from Marianne

So many good kids take advantage of the Job Corps opportunity, do the hard work, follow the rules, get their GEDs or HS diplomas and tech certifications. Any good program has its failures, detractors and disappointments. But Job Corps is just about the only safe place left for youth who have fallen through the cracks of school & society.

Even on the most poorly-run center – and there are some, as well as superbly-run centers – the program works for kids who take it seriously. And on every single center there are dedicated staff who love the kids, believe in them, and love their jobs. Why? Because the program works, the opportunity is there, and it’s a great second chance for tens of thousands of kids each year.

Win some, lose some. At Job Corps there are more winners than losers by far. I dare you to prove otherwise!!

-from Andrea, Job Corps Fraud

We do not dispute that there are success stories from Job Corps. However, there are two sides to every story and the “other side” of Job Corps must be told. There is too much propoganda and illusions about this program in the press today. Please, I urge you to click around this site and read research studies done by scientists and reputable economists who have studied Job Corps extensively. Instead of challenging me, read the factual reports on this site. Thanks so much. I think the site speaks for itself. Andrea for Job Corps Fraud

-from Nancy

Exactly whose butt are you trying to KI##,  the Job Corps have had historically SUCH a LOW %%% of success that it DOES NOT make any of them worth the money that spent on them.  Stop drinking the Kool Aid, and WAKE UP.  And STOP most importantly condoning STEALING from honest tax payers by this program.

-from Harold

Marianne,

“I dare you to prove otherwise!!” ? Just look at the statistical reports, the OMS10, which is bogus anyway, and you will see the proof right there. If the statistics weren’t manipulated for that report, the results would be even worse.

Andrea is correct – unless you have worked in the system, as I have for many years, you have no idea what is really going on.

“Only safe place left” – I’ve been on centers where students rioted, assaults and beat-downs were common, gang activity flourished, drugs were rampant, and even a death occurred. These centers are not as safe as you might want people to believe. They are understaffed, especially after class and on week-ends, when most of the negative behavior happens. If you knew where to look for student accounts of what goes on “after hours” you would see the truth.

Marianne, you seem to be someone who wants to present a different picture of Job Corps to the public. Be honest, are you a contractor, a parent or a naive employee who doesn’t see the forest for the trees? Maybe you have a job at a Job Corps because you have a political patronage job and are protected for awhile anyway. If you are an employee, save your money – chances are your day will come and you will be unemployed too like so many others.

Filed under: Employees, Job Corps, Job Corps Centers, Kittrell Job Corps Center, Reader's Comments, Shriver Job Corps Center, Job Corps, Job Corps Employees, Kittrell Job Corps, Martin Gross, Readers comments, Shriver Job Corps

Repost: Senator Tom Coburn’s 2006 Congressional Record Remarks of Job Corps Documented Fraud, Abuse and Waste

MAKING EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 30 2006

Text From the Congressional Record

Coburn, Tom [R-OK]

Begin 2006-05-03 10:07:32

End 10:08:03

Watch the actual video testimony here

Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, I intend on withdrawing this amendment. I wish to make a few points before I do so.

In the supplemental bill, the Job Corps receives a direction that the Department of Labor can’t manage it, can’t use the resources to manage it. There are documented errors and documented fraud within it.

Mr. President, section 7017 of the Emergency Supplemental would mandate that Job Corps operate with less accountability. Specifically, the language would make Job Corps the only program out of 100s to be operated out of the Secretary’s office with direct contracting authority.

The Office of the Secretary of Labor does not have the staff or resources to effectively manage and conduct oversight on the Job Corps. The language of Section 7017 forbids the Secretary from shifting oversight and management personnel from any other support office in the Department of Labor. Secretary Chao is forbidden to utilize the same oversight and management that every other program normally receives from other support offices within the Department.

Section 7017 ignores recommendations from the Government Accountability Office and the Inspector General that warn against the dangers of waste, fraud, and abuse that will go undetected in the Job Corps program when one office controls all aspects of a contract-drafting, soliciting, bidding, and managing. The incestuous relationship between the contractors who operate the Job Corp program and the program officers operating the program will have no independent oversight to guard against improper payments, improper use of resources, fraudulent performance reporting resulting in fraudulent salary bonuses, and non-compliant accounting and record keeping.

Secretary Chao is trying to clean up the Job Corps program so that it effectively serves low income teenagers and young adults with a residential job training program. The Job Corps program needs accountability. According to the Office of Job Corps, the program failed to have aggressive monitoring of performance data making evaluations of the program’s effectiveness unreliable.

The Job Corps contractors are reporting misinformation regarding the number of students that successfully graduate or receive G

EDs. The contractors fail to report that almost 40 percent of the students who go through the program fail to obtain a GED or diploma. This results in fraudulent bonus increases to the contractor’s pay.

The program fails to report that the median stay of a student at a Job Corps location is 8 months, while it takes at least 12 months to successfully obtain a GED. The program also fails to accurately report how many students successful receive

job placement into the skilled jobs for which the Job Corps is supposed to equip the students. They fail to report that only 5 percent of the graduating students are placed in apprenticeships for skilled jobs. The contractors incorrectly consider job placement in unskilled jobs and the military–(obtainable without a high school education)–as benchmarks for success. This results in fraudulent bonus increases to their pay.

Examples of mismanagement illustrated in past Inspector General Reports include doctoring of program performance resulting in bonus pay, unethical use of resources, lack of cost controls and resource management. These examples makes the point for Secretary Chao–that the Job Corps program is in desperate need for accountability and oversight.

The September 30, 2005 Inspector General report, San Diego Job CORPS Center: Student Attendance and Training Data Overstated, stated that the number of vocational completions was overstated by over 50 percent. Training records did not support that students had completed all the vocation’s tasks with an appropriate level of proficiency.

In the March 30, 2005 Inspector General report, Kittrell Job Corps Center: Manipulation of Student Attendance and Training Records, the Inspector General found that Kittrell managers manipulated student attendance and training records to improve the center’s reported performance. Reported performance of high school diploma attainment and job placements was also was not reliable. This unreliable data affected Job Corps financially because reimbursed operating expenses and incentive fees paid to contracted center operators and based on reported performance.In the 2001 independent auditor’s report on the schedule of Job Corps expenses for the Turner Job Corps Center, the Inspector General found inadequate controls over payroll processing, that included hiring two instructors without proper credentials and keeping inaccurate records of leave. There was also lack of accountability over inventories of consumable supplies, evidence that the center underreported medical and dental expense, and the purchase of property and equipment that Department of

Labor did not approve prior to acquisition.

In the January 31, 2000 report entitled OIG Questions $1.3 Million of Additional Costs Claimed by Contractor Report No. 18-00-003-03-370, the Inspector General found that the contractor Will H. Hall & Son, Inc. received an additional $2,365,622 due to delays at their construction site. The Inspector General found that this contractor failed to substantiate its claim that various events under the Department of Labor’s contract constituted compensable construction delays caused by the Department

of Labor. Certain amounts claimed were either double counted as both direct and indirect costs, already covered under the original firm fixed-price contract, or based on estimates instead of actual costs incurred.

Section 7017 of the Emergency Supplemental will virtually guarantee that we will see many more examples of [Page: S3939]

waste, fraud and abuse within the Job Corps program. Furthermore, why is the Senate being asked to make a program change to a 40-year-old program within an Emergency Supplemental bill? Why hasn’t the Department of Labor been consulted in making this unprecedented move away from accountability? Why hasn’t the Appropriations Committee or the Committee

on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions held a single hearing about this radical change to the Job Corps program?

Due to time constraints and my desire to move Senate business forward, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment.

Filed under: congress, Department of Labor, Fraud, government oversight, Job Corps, Job Corps Centers, Kittrell Job Corps Center, Legislative and Congressional Reports, Management and Training Corporation, number manipulation, Turner Job Corps Center, Congressional Record, Department of Labor, Job Corps contractor fraud, Job Corps Fraud, Kittrell Job Corps Center, Management and Training Corporation, Oversight, Senator Tom Coburn, Turner Job Corps Center

More Federal Contractor fraudulent practices

In addition to overseeing Job Corps Centers, Management and Training Corporation (MTC) also has contracts with the Federal Government to run “fee for service” prisons.

The following is a link to a copy of a letter Project on Government Oversight (POGO) sent to MTC’s corporate office in order to verify the amount of money MTC  has had to pay for legal settlements.  Read letter here:

This amount is only the tip of the iceberg and does not include the massive fines MTC has had to repay the government for manipulation of its Job Corps numbers in order to inflate center performance.  All of that information is contained in yearly Office of the Inspector General reports.

I worked at Kittrell Job Center when it was owned by MTC and experienced numbers inflation first-hand. I was required to attend two-hour daily “retention meetings”  this is where management moved students around like pieces on a chess board in order to enhance the numbers and reflect the center in the best light.

The government continues to award MTC contracts year after year. Right now MTC operates:

Brunswick Job Corps Center,

Clearfield Job Corps Center

Gary Job Corps Center

Cincinnati Job Corps Center

Dayton Job Corps Center

Dennison Job Corps Center

Flint Hills Job Corps Center

Paul Simon Chicago Job Corps Center

Cascades Job Corps Center

Hawaii Job Corps Center

Inland Empire Job Corps Center

Maui Job Corps Center

Sierra Nevada Job Corps Center

Tongue Point Job Corps Center

Deleware Valley Job Corps Center

Westover Job Corps Center.

Filed under: Brunswick Job Corps, Cascades Job Corps, Cincinnati Job Corps Center, Clearfield Utah Job Corps Center, Contractors, Dayton Job Corps, Deleware Valley Job corps, Dennison Job Corps, Flint Hills Job Corps, Gary Job Corps Center, Hawaii Job Corps, Inland Empire Job corps, Job Corps, Job Corps Centers, Kittrell Job Corps Center, Management and Training Corporation, Maui Job Corps Center, OIG Reports, Paul Simon Chicago Job corps, Performance, Sierra Nevada Job corps, Tongue Point Job Corps Center, Westover Job Corps Center, Brunswick Job Corps, Cascades Job Corps, Cincinnati Job Corps, Clearfield Job Corps, Dayton Job Corps, Deleward Valley Job Corps, Dennison Job Corps, Federal Contractor fraud, Flint Hills Job Corps, Gary Job Corps, Hawaii Job Corps Center, Inland empire Job Corps Center, Kittrell Job Corps, Management and Training Corporation, Maui Job Corps Center, MTC, Paul Simon chicago Job Corps Center, POGO, Sierra Nevada Job Corps Center, Tongue Point Job Corps Center, Westover Job Corps

Job Corps Fraud for Taxpayers

Hopefully, this blog will be a “one stop” place for researchers, reporters, parents, students and staff to find information about their particular Job Corps Center.  Come to this site if you want to find out if there are ongoing problems with the Job Corps Centers in your state.

Please be patient, there is a massive amount of information that will be included on this site which will need to be updated at least daily. Use the pages at the top to find your particular Job Corps Center or check the “Job Corps Centers” pages to see if your center is mentioned on this site.  Again, this blog was begun on February 27, 2010 and it will take a long time to post all the information in a easy, readable format.  There will be a page for you to describe your experiences at your Job Corps Center.  Thank you for using appropriate language.

My first few links will be about 2009 Kittrell Job Corps, NC and Shriver Job Corps, Devens, MA, where I was employed.

http://www.youthtoday.org/publication/article.cfm?article_id=3551

This is an article by Jamaal Abdul-Alim, he reports on Shriver, Gadsden and Atterbury Job Corps Centers

CLICK HERE FOR THE 2009 OIG REPORTS ON ADAMS’ THREE CENTERS: Shriver, Gadsden and Atterbury

“Adams did not consistently ensure compliance with Job Corps requirements for safety in one of three areas tested — student misconduct.” 2009 OIG Performance Audit Report

2008 Report on DOL “…unimplemented recommendations and the almost two million dollars in fines that had to repaid to the Government for the following Job Corps Centers” (see page 24 for the totals) Kittrell, Laredo, Grafton, Cincinnati, Oconaluftee, San Diego

http://www.governmentattic.org/2docs/DOLabor_UnimplementdRec_2002-2008.pdf

Filed under: Adams and Associates, Atterbury Job Corps, Contractors, DOL, Gadsden Job Corps, Grafton Job Corps Center, Job Corps, Job Corps Centers, Kittrell Job Corps Center, Laredo, Legislative and Congressional Reports, Newspaper Reports, Ocanaluftee Job Corps Center, OIG Reports, San Diego Job Corps Center, Shriver Job Corps Center, Youth Today, Adams and Associates, Atterbury Job Corps, Gadsden Job Corps, Grafton Job Corps, Jamaal Abdul-Alim, Job Corps Mismanagement, Kittrell Job Corps, Laredo Job Corps, Legislative and Congressional Reports, Oconaluftee Job Corps, OIG Reports, San Diego Job Corps, Shriver Job Corps