San Diego Job Corps Center Welcomes Labor Secretary

JOURNAL: ISSUE 1 - 2012

DOL and IMI representatives with San Diego Job Corps students: from left, Bobby Brown, Pete Camarda, William Brewster, Anthony Williams, Lavada Rogers, Malcolm Tunner, Secretary Hilda Solis, Kyle O’Conner, IMI and Local 18 CA instructor Jerry Conrique, Marisela Robles, Christopher Kidd, Rogelio Sandoval, Miles Galicia, and Cory Love. Job Corps Director Dennis Studley was present but is not pictured.

After President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address in January, U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Hilda Solis traveled the country to talk about the President’s plans to create jobs for an “America Built to Last.” On January 27th, she visited the San Diego Job Corps Center to see firsthand the specialized job training that students receive in the construction trades and advanced manufacturing. While there, the Secretary expressed interest in the updated, upgraded “green” procedures and practices that are a part of Job Corps Career Technical Training program curricula. According to Local 18 California member, IMI instructor and area Job Corps Director Dennis Studley, “Students that join the IMI Brick or Tile programs do so with the hope of completing the programs and being accepted into a BAC apprenticeship program as a pathway to a better life for themselves and their families.”

A program of the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration, Job Corps is a free education and training program that helps young people, ages 16 to 24, many with limited resources, learn a career and earn a high school diploma or GED. The program serves 60,000 students at 124 centers.