Job Corps

Job Corps is a no-cost education and vocational training program administered by the Office of the United States Secretary of the Department of Labor. It serves youth, ages 16 through 24. Job Corps offers career planning, on-the-job training, job placement, residential housing, food service, driver's education, health and dental care, a bi-weekly basic living allowance and clothing allowance. Some centers offer childcare programs for single parents as well.[1] Esther R. Johnson was appointed national director of the Office of Job Corps on March 24, 2006.

Since its inception in 1964, under the Economic Opportunity Act, Job Corps has provided more than two million[citation needed] young people with the integrated academic, vocational, and social skills training they need to gain independence and get quality, long-term jobs or further their education. Job Corps continues to help 60,000 youths annually at 123 Job Corps and Civilian Conservation Centers throughout the country.[3]

Besides vocational training, all Job Corps centers also offer GED programs as well as high school diplomas and programs to get students into college. Job Corps provides career counseling and transition support to its students for up to one year after they graduate from the program.

The Job Corps was initiated as the central program of the Johnson Administration's War on Poverty, part of his domestic agenda known as the Great Society. Sargent Shriver, the first Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, modeled the program on the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Established in the 1930s as an emergency relief program, the CCC provided room, board, and employment to thousands of unemployed young people. Though the CCC was discontinued after World War II, Job Corps built on many of its methods and strategies.