Past OIG Audit of Fort Simcoe Job Corps Center reveals unreliable program information

-“We concluded that Job Corps could not rely on financial or program information reported by the Fort Simcoe Job Corps Center (FSJCC).”

Has anything changed since 1998?

From OIG’s audit of Fort Simcoe Job Corps center.  Read about it here:

It should be clear to our regular readers that nothing has changed about the Job Corps’ maneuvering its statistics over the years. OIG’s investigations and negative audits have caused a high level of sophistication in today’s Job Corps Centers manipulating the press with its every positive achievement.  When Job Corps students re-paint a State Police barracks or pour concrete for a sidewalk in front of a small town library, there is much fanfare and celebration and, a press release is sent to newspapers touting the event.  Good deeds are strategically planned so as to get as much newspaper coverage as possible. Other staff and myself were “assigned the task” of ensuring that a positive newspaper article about Shriver Job Corps was published every three months.  These assignments were not voluntary, we had to do them by a certain date. Job Corps has so far, created an artificial image for itself that is no different than a *Potemkin Village or an Emperor without clothing.

*Potemkin Village,  a pretentiously showy or imposing façade intended to mask or divert attention from an embarrassing or shabby fact or condition.

Filed under: Fort Simcoe Job Corps, Improper billing, Job Corps, Job Corps Centers, number manipulation, OIG Reports, Performance, emperor without clothing, Fort Simcoe Job Corps, Job Corps manipulation of data, Job Corps unreliable program, OIG audits, Potemkin village

Do We Have Ann Axe to Grind Against Job Corps? (comment from a reader)

Comment from a reader:

-“Many of your news articles are old, at least one year or more. I would wonder what axe you have to grind against Job Corps. Where is your facts on how much good the program has done. I know a lot of people who have gone through the program and are now making a good wage and paying taxes and not in jail or on welfare. Where is your information on that?”

Thank you for your thoughtful post.  One of  the intentions of this website is to be a one-stop place where parents, students, employees and interested persons could read “hard to find” or “buried” information about Job Corps.  I do plan on its having a complete history, in one place, of all the problems that have been going on with Job Corps since the program’s inception. Please come back as, some future posts may go back as far as  the 1960’s.  What we are discovering with our reading of the older posts is that nothing has changed in Job Corps. Its history is rife with fraud and manipulation of numbers.

Another of the the webisite’s purposes is to bring to light “the other side” of all the news propaganda that is constantly being published about Job Corps. Those of us who worked in the trenches at Job Corps know there are two sides to the newspaper stories which contain glowing accolades about Job Corps.  Many of the success stories you read everyday are being based on fraudulent facts. We can prove our facts. Job Corps can’t.

Case in point, your mis-statement that Job Corps students are “making a decent wage” is false.  The results of the DOL’s own national study contained the information that Job Corps students gains are insignificant compared to non-Job Corps attendees.  The DOL refused to publish this study for four years.  We also will be publishing a study from four years ago that proves that attending Job Corps has a negligible effect on Hispanic students.  How come these stories don’t make nation-wide news?  This program is costing the taxpayer 1.7 billion dollars a year.

Also, I certainly agree that a few students have been helped by Job Corps, but the vast majority are not.  The program needs to change so that more students are given an opportunity for an education where the focus is on quality and not on increasing contractor profits.

I encourage you to continue to read some some of the older articles at this site so you might understand how Job Corps past has led to its present history. Again, thanks for asking your important question.  Andrea for Job Corps Fraud

From Patrick-

Lynn, please read the comment posted yesterday by Larry King on the FB  Job Corps Fraud page.  He has been working with Job Corps for 20 yrs and knows what he is talking about.

Filed under: Comments, Job Corps, Axe to Grind against Job Corps, Job Corps, Job Corps Fraud, Job Corps manipulation of data

A Letter From a Reader to the Secretary of Labor

-From A Reader to Hilda Solis, Secretary of Labor

“Recently, the U.S. Department of Labor sought ideas from the public regarding an Open Government plan. One of the input topics was: accountability, transparency and making information available in a timely and accessible manner. An idea was submitted that addressed the on-going fraud in the Job Corps program and provided suggestions for eliminating most of it. This idea is not new. The U.S. Congress has been aware of allegations regarding financial and student performance fraud on the part of contractors for many years, but other than conduct OIG audits periodically, Congress has largely chosen to ignore the problem. 

Filed under: Contractors, Fraud, Job Corps, number manipulation, OIG Reports, Reader's Comments, transparency, Hilda Solis, Job Corps contractor fraud, Job Corps contractors, Job Corps manipulation of data, OIG audits, transparency, U.S. Department of Labor