By YachatsNews.com, Politico and Huffington Post
Angell Job Corps Center north of Yachats escaped a closure announcement Friday from the U.S. Forest Service but apparently will be run this fall by a contractor or non-government partnership overseen by the U.S. Labor Department.
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced Friday the agency intends to close nine of 25 Job Corps Centers across the country, including one in Estacada, Ore. A center in Glide, Ore. will remain open.
The Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers is being transferred to the Labor Department. As part of the move, it intends to close nine out of 25 centers, according to a statement today. The action could lead to significant cuts to the number of Forest Service employees.
The Angell Job Corps Center is three miles north of Yachats. It has dormitories for men and women students, classrooms, vocational training and a gymnasium. Its director, Bryan Wilson, joined the center this winter. It is staffed by a mix of federal employees and contract instructors or service providers.
She didn’t disclose how many employees may be affected by change, which is expected to be completed by September.
Another Forest Service official on the conference call said the agency will be requesting authority for a reduction in force, which has to go through the Office of Personnel Management because of the size of the staff cuts. In addition to the center in Oregon, others are in Montana, Washington, Kentucky and North Carolina.
The Forest Service official said that agency will try to help employees find other jobs within the department and also push “voluntary separation incentives,” or buyouts.
The origins of the Civilian Conservation Corps date back to the Great Depression but was disbanded in World War II. The current iteration was designed during the Johnson administration as part of the New Deal’s Jobs Corps effort.
The Forest Service’s work program has been targeted by Republican lawmakers and in the White House’s annual budgets as being wasteful of taxpayer money with little accountability. However, the union that represents Forest Service employees argues the program has been a success and the administration is misrepresenting data to make its case in order to privatize the centers.
“They have no plan for the students, no idea how to stop the loss of 613,000 hours of student service, and are not concerned about the impact on rural jobs and local economies,” Beverly Tobin-Ford, the National Federation of Federal Employees Forest Service Council Vice President, said in April. “It’s as if this administration just decided to do this without reservation or any forethought.”
Officials at the Forest Service informed staffers on Friday that at least nine of the agency’s 25 Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers would be closing.
The conservation centers, which are run by federal employees, help train youth in wildland firefighting, forestry, disaster recovery and other outdoor jobs. Their official mission is to educate 16- to 24-year-olds, many of whom are from disadvantaged backgrounds, while helping U.S. conservation efforts on public lands.
Most of the centers are clustered in the South and West on national forest lands.
Forest Service officials told staffers that Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue would be transferring control of all 25 of the job centers to the Labor Department. Sixteen would continue to operate, they said, but nine would be “deactivated,” resulting in layoffs.
Later, in a press release, the Labor Department said the 16 centers that remain open may be operated by private contractors. Despite the nine closures, the agency said the changes would lead to a more efficient program. “This action creates an opportunity to serve a greater number of students at higher performing centers at a lower cost to taxpayers,” the release said.
The union representing federal employees who staff the sites has been fighting to keep them open under the Trump administration. The National Federation of Federal Employees said in a statement Friday that the move was made “without forethought or a solid plan.”
“The worst part is, it’s very clear that the Trump administration doesn’t care about the young people in need who rely on this program,” the union said. “This Administration’s continued indifference to helping minority and disadvantaged communities is appalling.”
“Forest Service Job Corps is a program of opportunity,” the agency says on its website. “The majority of its students come from low-income communities, both urban and rural, who are seeking pathways to prosperity. After completing training, graduates return to their communities as productive workers, consumers, community leaders and entrepreneurs.”
Here is the news release Friday from the U.S. Labor Department:
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the U.S. Department of Labor accepted a letter from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) stating the USDA’s Forest Service will withdraw from operating Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers (CCC). This action creates an opportunity to serve a greater number of students at higher performing centers at a lower cost to taxpayers by modernizing and reforming part of the Job Corps program.
The U.S. Department of Labor reviewed the CCCs performance and outcome measurements, internal controls, capacity and proximity, costs, and ongoing needs of each CCC against the overall Job Corps program to determine the best path forward.
Accordingly, the majority of CCC operations will be replaced by new contract operators or a partnership overseen by Department of Labor. Centers with new operators will implement new policies and approaches that will offer students the skills they need to earn an independent living and succeed in meaningful in-demand jobs.
Implementation will be done in a way that minimizes impact on students, allowing each student to complete their technical training program or transfer to another center to do so.
Sixteen CCCs will continue under a new contract operator or partnership: Angell CCC in Yachats, Oregon; Boxelder CCC in Nemo, South Dakota; Centennial CCC in Nampa, Idaho; Collbran CCC in Collbran, Colorado; Columbia Basin CCC in Moses Lake, Washington; Curlew CCC in Curlew, Washington; Great Onyx CCC in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky; Harpers Ferry CCC in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia; Lyndon Johnson CCC in Franklin, North Carolina; Jacobs Creek CCC in Bristol, Tennessee; Mingo CCC in Puxico, Missouri; Pine Ridge CCC in Chadron, Nebraska; Schenck CCC in Pisgah Forest, North Carolina; Trapper Creek CCC in Darby, Montana; Weber Basin CCC in Ogden, Utah; and Wolf Creek CCC in Glide, Oregon.
A Federal Register Notice will propose nine CCCs for deactivation: Anaconda CCC in Anaconda, Montana; Blackwell CCC in Laona, Wisconsin; Cass CCC in Ozark, Arkansas; Flatwoods CCC in Coeburn, Virginia; Fort Simcoe CCC in White Swan, Washington; Frenchburg CCC in Frenchburg, Kentucky; Oconaluftee CCC in Cherokee, North Carolina; Pine Knot CCC in Pine Knot, Kentucky; and Timber Lake CCC in Estacada, Oregon.
Focusing on the best possible outcome for students now and in the future, the Department will increase student access to Job Corps centers with the highest sustained student performance outcomes. The Department will continue to ensure student access to the program through a commitment to maintain at least one Job Corps center in each state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.