U.S. Department of Labor Provides Idaho Flexibility To Better Serve Job Corps Students

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta and Idaho Governor C. L. “Butch” Otter today announced a Job Corps Demonstration Project that will make Idaho the first state in the nation to assume operational control of a Job Corps center and the responsibility to provide skills instruction to Job Corps students.

“Job Corps must focus on what matters most: graduating students into better jobs. As the Department of Labor works to reform the Job Corps program, this demonstration project will help the Department determine how it can use different program models to more effectively serve students,” said Secretary Acosta.

“I am proud that Idaho is the first state to be trusted with this important program,” said Governor Otter. “The Idaho JOBCorps model is intended to increase access to and enrollment in education and work-based learning for out-of-school and at-risk Idaho youth by leveraging existing resources and programs to better serve Idaho youth in getting the education and training they need in high-demand fields. I want to thank my Department of Labor Director Melinda Smyser; Trent Clark, the Chair of the Idaho Workforce Development Council; Wendi Secrist, Executive Director of the Workforce Development Council, and Dr. Bert Glandon, President of the College of Western Idaho, for their hard work on Idaho’s program proposal. I also extend my appreciation to Secretary Acosta for his willingness to work with Idaho on this unique demonstration project.”

“Providing the tools for Idaho’s ‘at-risk’ students to be highly successful post-graduation is of the utmost importance to me, and that’s what this grant will help Job Corps accomplish,” said Governor-elect Brad Little. “This money will be used to customize learning opportunities that fit the unique needs of our state’s future workforce. The best hand up is a rewarding career.”

Through a federal grant, this State-Operated Job Corps Demonstration Project, known as the Idaho JOBCorps Program, will provide flexibility to the state to develop and implement a customized, state-based, approach to serving Idaho Job Corps students. In July 2019, the Department of Labor will transfer operational control of the Centennial Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center property in Nampa, Idaho, from the U.S. Forest Service to the Idaho Department of Labor.

The Idaho Department of Labor will be directly responsible for project outreach, recruitment, work-based learning, and employment related services. The College of Western Idaho will deliver skills instruction at the current Centennial Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center. In the first full grant year, the Idaho JOBCorps Program will serve up to 50 residential students and up to 100 non-residential students through the College of Western Idaho, pending approval from the CWI Board of Trustees. In the second and third years of the grant, the Idaho JOBCorps Program will expand to serve up to an additional 150 non-residential students annually at other community colleges in Idaho.