Job Corps National Director speaks at MTC conference

Job Corps National Director Dr. Esther Johnson was among the primary speakers during the first day of the Management & Training Corporation Job Corps Strategic Planning Meeting on May 1, 2007.

“I’m a champion for youth in this country,” Dr. Johnson said, in opening her remarks.  Well over 125 conference attendees listened in, at the Davis Conference Center in Layton, Utah.

Dr. Johnson told MTC Job Corps leaders many key statistics are down in this program year, as compared to last year.  The current Job Corps student graduation rate is 52% – compared to 56% a year ago.  Student placements into jobs or the military are currently 64%, down from 70% the previous year.

“These are numbers we must all work to improve,” Johnson said.  “I have been asked about these numbers on Capitol Hill.  Senators and House members are aware of the work our program is doing.”

The National Job Corps Director also discussed outreach and admission recruitment kits that will soon be distributed to each of the six Job Corps regions.  She said the materials have been customized by region and tested with focus groups across the country.  “I believe these materials will help us to recruit more students and to hold them on center longer.”

In just over a year on the job, Dr. Johnson has already visited about 20% of all the Job Corps centers in the system.  The day before offering her remarks at the conference, Dr. Johnson visited both Utah centers – the Weber Basin Job Corps Center and the MTC-operated Clearfield Job Corps Center.

(Posted 5/20/07)

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