Mayor Barrett hosts job center’s open house
Mayor Tom Barrett officially welcomed the New Job Corps Center campus located at 6665 N. 60th St. The open house was open to the public as an opportunity to learn more about the Job Corps program and to tour the campus, which holds eight buildings on 25 acres. (Photo by Robert A. Bell)
Mayor Tom Barrett recognized the culmination of a 17-year process to bring a Job Corps center to Milwaukee during an open house this week at the Milwaukee Job Corps center campus, 6665 N. 60th Street. The open house was open to the public as an opportunity to learn more about the Job Corps program and to tour the campus, which holds eight buildings on 25 acres.
Funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, Job Corps is a free education and training program that helps young people learn a career, earn a high school diploma or GED, and find and keep a good job. For eligible youth, 16—24 years of age, Job Corps provides the all-around skills needed to succeed in a career and in life. The Milwaukee Job Corps Center is the newest of 125 centers located around the US and Puerto Rico.
Mayor Barrett played a vital role in establishing a Job Corps center in Milwaukee and was the chief sponsor of legislation to authorize and appropriate funding for the Milwaukee site during his service as a member of the United States Congress.
“I’m very proud of the leadership role I played in bringing a new Job Corps site to Milwaukee and our state,” Mayor Barrett said. “The new Milwaukee site will be a great place for young people to complete their high school education in a campus-like setting, learn a marketable trade, make lifetime friends, and graduate with a good job in hand. I look forward to providing future guidance and support to Job Corps students, administrators and faculty to ensure that every participant receives all of the life skills they need to graduate and succeed in life. As a result, our community will reap tremendous benefits.”
Milwaukee’s Job Corps center was the first of the 125 centers nationwide to be built from the ground up to specifically complement the Job Corps’ campus learning model. Local firm Continuum Architects + Planners designed the campus, which holds classrooms, dormitories, a medical center, a student services building, and recreational and administrative facilities.
In development since 1993, the Milwaukee Job Corps opened earlier this fall and will eventually offer occupational training to nearly 300 low-income youths aged 16 to 24. Students will have the opportunity to live on site and receive year-round training in a campus environment. MINACT, Incorporated was selected earlier this year by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to operate the facility. MINACT operates eleven other Job Corps Centers in nine states around the country.
The Job Corps is both preparing the next generation of workers and providing jobs for current workers. The first students will arrive in January. The center is expecting to be full with 300 students by the end of June 2011. To date, more than 125 jobs have been created.