Reader’s Comments on Job Corps and the American Dream

-from Trevor

I have an idea:

Start teaching really young kids to stay in school, stay out of trouble, learn how to find resources to get a JOB they’d WANT. Do this with some kind of private educational institutions and/or Awareness Campaign to make sure kids don’t end up getting themselves in something that could hurt them and them not know. If there was another alternate for kids other than Job Corps, and if we had a non-gov’t program telling kids to better themselves before they end up like Job Corps kids. If kids don’t have a reason to make a last resort to Job Corps, the program will suffer and the plug will be pulled.

This would take years to do so, but with the right people starting this, it all has possibilities to work. I plan on seeing this some day.

-from Howard

Why does this need to be privatized? Why can’t this be part of the public school curriculum?

-from Howard

While there is redundancy in the Job Corps program, for instance, one can earn a GED through BOCES, a community college, public school systems, as well as do work on-line and by watching TV programs, the selling point of Job Corps is that it provides room, board and health services free and the student also earns a stipend when enrolled as a trainee. For homeless youth or those in other negative life situations, this program can be life-saving.

-from Shirley

Bob Confer is a total joke. And this article is a bunch of bull. The government has been bought and paid for by the wealthy, and the big corporations. They and the government are one in the same. I can name on one hand the government representatives who appear to be honest and fighting for their constituents. “The government that has created poverty” is in fact the wealthy classes who want the masses to be poor – how else can they exploit them so they, the rich, can become more wealthy?

Confer and his ilk just don’t want to pay their fair share of taxes, so they attack Job Corps and health programs by saying that these programs are ruining the country and using jingoism to scare people. Sound familiar? Sound like Fascism, well it is. Why doesn’t he talk about his cronies who run the system and have become millionaires by playing the game?

Does this Bob Confer, a writer for the New American, a right wing John Birch Society publication, think we are all so stupid as he would hope? Does he think at least some of us don’t see through his distortions and lies? Using Job Corps, Medicare and Medicaid as examples of government waste in his right wing diatribe is despicable, as the right wing is the recipient of most tax handouts. Check the statistics – see which states receive the most tax dollars back from Washington as compared to the tax dollars they contribute to Washington.

The people in this country are fed a bunch of lies just to keep them stupid and exploitable and they actually believe those lies.

New American is a magazine published by the John Birch Society and the information on Job Corps Fraud is taken from a larger article that also criticizes Medicare and Medicaid.

The companies who abuse and make the profit from the “entitlements” this author mentions are the very same right wing nut jobs who read his magazine.

Read the whole article. These programs and the government are not ruining our country – it’s the right wing contractors who are stealing our tax payer dollars and who have to be monitored every step of the way because they are a bunch of thieves who can’t be trusted.

I wouldn’t cite anything from a John Birch Society rag publication as having any credibility because while they claim to be fighting for freedom, the only freedom they are concerned with is their own and to hell with the middle and lower classes. Read about the Koch brothers whose father co-founded the John Birch Society. Do you think they care about anyone but themselves and their own pockets?

Filed under: Job Corps, Newspaper Reports, politics, Reader's Comments, Bob Confer, Job Corps, John Birch Society, New American, redundant

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

Contractors Resist US Disclosure Effort

Make sure to read the article from Boston.com here:

A published article in Boston.com highlights the ongoing backlash of Federal contractors heightened opposition to disclosure of their shoddy and fraudulent work practices.

According to Boston.com:

“The controversy highlights the extent to which efforts to make the government more transparent often garner bipartisan support but then stall in the face of powerful interests seeking to limit public disclosure.”

The Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System is a secret database that is not available to the public. Since 2008 contractors have been required to submit information to the database that includes information about court findings and contract failures.

Senator Bernard Sanders of Vermont is extremely vocal in his support of transparency surrounding past and present fraudulent and criminal practices on the part of Federal contractors:

according to Sanders from Boston.com

“We hand out over $500 billion a year to federal contractors, many of which have well-established histories of systemic illegal, fraudulent, and incompetent behavior,’’ Sanders said in a statement. “We cannot let these corporations continue to rip off American taxpayers. I strongly expect that this new public awareness will go a long way toward putting an end to handing out taxpayer-financed contracts to corporations with a history of fraud.’’

Sanders website is here:

If my perfunctory research is correct, the US has been trying to disclose these corrupt contractors through a public database since 2005 and for some reason it has stalled.  I wonder if big business will once again rule and keep their dirty laundry secret from the American taxpayer who supports their greed.

Link to the FAPIIS Website:

Filed under: Contractors, FAPIIS, Job Corps, Job Corps Centers, Newspaper Reports, politics, transparency, Boston.com, corrupt contractor, FAPIIS, fedeeral contractor, Federal Awadee Performance and Integrity Information System, Federal Contractors, Senator Bernard Sanders

Stephen Joins Contractors, Workers Blasting Lack Of Progress Towards Job Corps Center In Manchester

Re-printed press release from the Stephen for Governor Website:

Thursday, 24 June 2010 10:55

Stephen Joins Contractors, Workers Blasting Lack Of Progress Towards Job Corps Center In Manchester

“MANCHESTER, NH- John Stephen, Republican candidate for Governor, today joined contractors and workers in calling for the federal Department of Labor to re-solicit the bid for the Job Corps Center in Manchester.  New Hampshire is currently the only state in the nation that is not moving forward on completing a Job Corps Center.  The project received approval for up to $35 million in federal funding in 2008, but stalled in November of 2009 after local contractors filed a complaint with DOL when the original solicitation included a project labor agreement (PLA) that would have excluded most New Hampshire contractors from bidding on the work.  Since then, there has been no movement to re-offer the solicitation to bid on the work.

“For the past nearly eight months, there has been no progress at all towards moving forward on bringing the Job Corps Center to Manchester,” Stephen said.  “That means for eight months that New Hampshire has not created numerous construction jobs or added millions to our economy.  If our leaders were seriously committed to doing everything possible to create jobs, it would seem that a $35 million project would be a good place to start.  We need to get this project moving again in a way that gives our local employers a fair shot at winning the work.”

Stephen said that Governor Lynch needs to take a leadership role on this issue to bring DOL and local contractors together to ensure that the project begins to move forward again.

“Governor Lynch has said he wants to do all he can to create jobs, but for the past eight months, he has be silent on an contract that could be putting hundreds of people to work today,” Stephen added.  “If the Governor really wanted to create jobs, he would be leading the charge to get the Department of Labor to re-solicit this bid in a way that gives New Hampshire contractors a chance at this work.  We need somebody who is going to take helping to bring good new jobs here and leading our economic recovery, not someone who is going to sit on the sidelines.”

Filed under: Department of Labor, Job Corps, Manchester Job Corps Center, Newspaper Reports, politics, Republican, Job Corps Center in Manchester, re-solicit, Stephen for Governor, U.S. Department of Labor

Reader’s Comments About Job Corps 6/17/2010

Regarding St. Petersburg Job Corps Center and the forty million dollar question…

-Allison

“Call the Atlanta Job Corps Regional Office to find out why the center is still empty, or better yet, the National Job Corps Director, Edna Primrose. Or maybe the Secretary of Labor.

With Edna Primrose as Director,  just wait and see how many contracts end up going to Adams and Associates.”

Regarding Oneonta and Iroquois Job Corps Centers and Education and Training Resources Corp:

-Josephine

“How is the latest contractor doing at Oneonta?  ETR is the same company that runs Iroquois Job Corps and the Corporate Liaison for Oneonta is the same person who oversaw Iroquois for the last five years – and we know all about the complaints under her watch at Iroquois.

This 2008 article just quotes the same concerns that have been in existence since Oneonta Job Corps opened about thirty yrs ago. Wake up Oneonta, nothing is going to change unless the taxpayer/voters decide to do something about it.

The conservative corporation that runs the center, ETR, will continue to fleece the taxpayers of this country because they can. Conservatives love to criticize “big government”, but they are first in line when it comes to handouts like Job Corps contracts.

They don’t give a damn about the population they serve, just the profits they can generate at taxpayer expense. Pigs at the trough.

We’ve all seen how government oversight and regulation work.  Just look at the mines, oil drilling, Arizona border issues, the big banks, etc. Big business runs this country and buys off our legislators – Job Corps is just another symptom of our society run amuck.”

Filed under: conservative, Education and Training Resources (ETR), Job Corps Centers, Oneonta Job Corps Center, politics, Reader's Comments, St. Petersburg Job Corps, Adams and Associates, Atlanta Job Corps Regional Office, Edna Primrose, Education and Training Resources, ETR, National Job Corps Director, oil drilling, Oneonta Job Corps Center, Readers comments, St. Petersburg Job Corps Center