Reader’s Comments to “Our Stories”

From Dave-

“I have known Job Corps since its inception at Catoctin. Todays Job Corps bear very little resemblance to the early days. Contractors now run a “candy store” for their companies. The government centers are all now under the Forest Service. Nothing is perfect in life, however the FS centers do a much better job of preparing youth for employment. Job Corps is not a college as Esther Johnson thought! Job Corps needs to return to its’ CCC roots to enter into this new century.

To those who say we spend too much money on training our youth I can say only this, the 2010 DoD budget is over 700 billion dollars. Job Corps has existed for 45 years on a fraction of that budget, and could stay in existence for the next 300 years on that dollar amount. I think the disadvantaged youth of America surely deserve such a small pittance. Corruption needs to be cleared up in the JC program. USDA control would be an integral part of that cleaning up process.”

From Eric-

“The disadvantaged youth who attend this program could use the money that is paid to unscrupulous contractors. The money should be going into the program, not a contractor’s pocket. I agree with you Dave – today’s Job Corps does bear very little resemblance to the early days. Why do we need contractors anyway? How do they add value to anything? Most aren’t even educators and most of the administrative staff at the centers aren’t educators either. Any serious educator doesn’t last long at a Job Corps; they are either fired for trumped-up reasons because they know the contractors are running a bogus program, or they quit because of the lack of professionalism.

Dave, it sounds like you work for a center run by the FS. Have you worked for a JC run by a contractor – especially in the last 15-20 yrs? Even contractor-run centers are very different today from 20-30 yrs ago. Much more corrupt and blatantly abusive to staff. They get away with it because government oversight does not result in serious punitive measures and the government and the contractors play this shell game.

Doesn’t this sound just like the mining industry? Education and Training Resources (ETR), like Massey Energy, has figured out how not to pay fines – just contest a finding and then they don’t have to pay the fine as long as it is under review. If they were put out of business, instead of paying fines, maybe things might change.”

Filed under: Contractors, Education and Training Resources (ETR), Fraud, Job Corps, Reader's Comments, U.S. Forestry Service, Catoctin, ETR, Forest Service, government oversight, Job Corps, Job Corps contractors, Job Corps corruption, Massey Energy, mining industry, USDA