Cascades Job Corps Center drawing more female students

The Cascades Job Corps Center in northern Washington State stood out from its peers in a recent report on the recruitment and retention of female students.

The center excelled at retaining young women through its various medical and business vocational training programs. Many centers across the country fell below the required enrollment levels, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Nationwide, Job Corps achieved nearly 100 percent of its required enrollment for male students from 2005 to 2007.  However, during the same three year period, less than 80 percent of the female students who were expected to enroll, did so.  Cascades Job Corps Center bucked this trend in a big way, enrolling 130 percent of its required female student population.

Job Corps, a U.S. Department of Labor program established in 1964, offers vocational training to young adults ages 16 to 24.  Cascades and the Columbia Basin Job Corps Center – also located in Washington State – topped Job Corps campuses in required female enrollments.

The GAO report concludes, existing efforts by the Department of Labor are not sufficient to recruit more women. The report recommends centers with low female student populations assess and adjust vocational options, expand outreach efforts and develop video or online center tours.

(Posted 7/30/09)

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