Economic Impact

Across the nation, Job Corps projects funded by the Recovery Act are having a positive impact on local economies. Funds dedicated to Job Corps have supported new career technical training opportunities, facility improvements, and construction projects at centers located across the country. The projects have helped to create and/or maintain jobs for local businesses.

Impact on local economies across the country has varied with the size of the project. Construction on the new Ottumwa Job Corps Center, for example, directed more than $24 million into the economy of Ottumwa, Iowa. In August 2011, the center began hiring individuals to fill the more than 120 positions necessary to support the center when it opens. Hundreds more were supported during the construction phase.

Randy Houk had been laid off by his previous employer and was out of work before getting hired by Grooms & Company Construction to work on the Ottumwa Job Corps Center.

"The Ottumwa Job Corps Center got me a job, which hopefully will result in a future job with this company," Houk said in an interview in July 2010. "I've been working on this project since last October, and I'm proud of the job we're doing."

The Ottumwa Job Corps Center will continue to be a leading economic engine in the community long after the construction is complete. Staff salaries, equipment, and supplies will drive about $8 million into the local economy annually. Center graduates will also be a source of trained employees for local businesses and industries.

"Once it's here, it's [continuous]," said Bob Morrissey, assistant to the president for government affairs at Indian Hills Community College - one of the Ottumwa center's community partner organizations. "It's going to be a tremendous boon to this community."

Construction projects at the Gerald R. Ford Job Corps Center, including a new dormitory and numerous renovation projects, have put more than 19 local contractors and subcontractors to work. John Brondsena, project superintendent for Nevilles Electric Service, is one of many workers who experienced the positive impact that this project has afforded the Grand Rapids community. "If it weren't for this job, I would have been out of work for the next 18 months," Brondsena said during the construction phase.

Nevilles Electric Service formed a work-based learning partnership with the center, through which Construction career technical training students were able to receive hands-on training in a variety of tasks, including low-flow toilet installation and weatherization techniques.

Several Job Corps graduates were hired by Nevilles to continue working on the center construction project. Carpentry graduate Jamell West was planning to return to his hometown of Detroit, but chose to stay in Grand Rapids when Nevilles offered him a job. "I knew nothing about carpentry before I came to Job Corps," West said. "The center taught me the skills that I use every day at work."

Because of the ARRA-related construction training they received, students from the Earle C. Clements Job Corps Center in Kentucky have also been hired for full-time positions.