Rep. Bresnahan said Job Corps are training young workers to join economy

BUTLER TWP. — Although the U.S. Department of Labor has moved to close Job Corp centers like Keystone, U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, R-8, Dallas Twp., said they are training students to take part in the growing economy of Northeast Pennsylvania.

“That’s something that I felt that Job Corps does exceptionally well,” Bresnahan said at a news conference on Monday, “So it’s certainly frustrating to see what they are currently going through.”

On May 29 the department issued what amounted to an order to shut down Job Corps centers, where students from families with low incomes live and train for careers. Next federal judges issued a temporary restraining order on June 3 and preliminary injunction on June 25 to keep centers open during a court case, but then the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against nationwide injunctions on Friday.

The status of Job Corps has been volatile enough that Bresnahan checked his phone during the news conference to make sure he hadn’t missed anything while meeting in private for an hour with leaders from the Hazleton and Pittston Chambers of Commerce, union and business leaders, local government officials and executives from Keystone.

During the private session, Bresnahan said he heard about one student who has become a journeyman painter and now earns a family-sustaining wage. Furthermore, Keystone students have volunteered to repair Little League dugouts, pack supplies for hurricane victims and help at food banks and community dinners during holidays, Bresnahan said during the news conference that followed the workshop in the Butler Township Municipal Building.

“It was exciting to get a much deeper look … of how impactful this is,” he said.

Collectively, Keystone, which has a 123-acre campus here, and its sister center, Red Rock  in Colley Twp.. Sullivan County, pump $60 million into Northeast Pennsylvania in wages for teachers and other workers, goods purchased from local suppliers and restaurants and stores that students patronize.

“It’s much more than what meets the eye,” Bresnahan said.

Keystone teaches students to work in construction, security, food service and healthcare.

“There’s not an industry sector that isn’t affected or will be affected by the shuttering of Job Corps.,” said Bresnahan, who worked at his family’s construction business before being elected to Congress.

Since the Labor Department’s directive went out, however, about 200 students have left Keystone and Red Rock; Bresnahan said, and one student left to take advantage of a housing opportunity rather than risk being homeless.

“That’s not a story that we want to continue,” he said.

Before  the Labor Department issued a directive that would have halted center operations, a department transparency report said Job Corps spent an average of $80,284 a year per student, and students earned an average salary of $16,695 after leaving. The administration also cited violence on campuses as a reason for ending Job Corps, which started in 1965.

National Job Corps Association, which filed the lawsuit that is keeping the centers open, said the report’s numbers were skewed by lower enrollment during the pandemic and because the department stopped processing new students in March.

On a metric that measured success, Keystone and Red Rock ranked 16th of 120 centers nationwide. Bresnahan said.

He said the courts offer a more immediate solution to keeping open centers, which also have strong support in Congress, and he plans to talk with U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, R-9. Jackson Twp., who represents Red Rock Job Corps.

More than 200 legislators wrote letters backing the program, and 150 lawmakers from both parties support requests to fully fund Job Corps, Bresnahan said.