President reverses decision to close Anaconda Job Corps center

The Trump administration has reversed its decision to close a Job Corps training center in Anaconda, U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., announced Monday.

Daines said in a press release he secured President Donald Trump’s decision to keep the Anaconda Job Corps training center open.

The decision follows Daines’ call with Trump Saturday, where he stressed that the Anaconda center was one of the top centers in the country, and must remain open. After speaking with Daines, Trump told him the site would remain open, a release from Daines’ office said. 

  “The Anaconda Job Corps Center is one of the top-ranked in the country, employing hundreds in southwest Montana.  It provides future generations of young Montanans the tools they need to succeed in the work force,” Daines said in the release. “I greatly appreciate President Trump working with me to save these Montana jobs.”

U.S. Department of Labor announced May 24 it was taking over Job Corps, created in 1964 as a a no-cost education and vocational training program, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which had administered the program through the U.S. Forest Service in conjunction with Labor. The proposed change included closing nine service centers including in Anaconda and changing the operation of 16 to new contractors.

The Anaconda center employs more than 60 people and trains several hundred a year.

Daines and Rep. Greg Gianforte, R-Mont., immediately sent a letter to Labor Secretary R. Alexander Acosta saying they appreciated the effort to improve Job Service but were concerned about the closure of the Anaconda Center and transitioning centers to new contract operators, and urged him to keep the Anaconda center open.

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., also immediately sent a letter, to Acosta and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, blasting the decision, which he called “irresponsible.”

Tester is sponsoring legislation to prevent the closures and set up an internet link at https://www.tester.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=6802 where people can tell how the Anaconda or Trapper Creek center — one scheduled to have its contractor changed — helped them.

He said Monday after the announcement that the Anaconda center would remain open that he would address the future of the Job Corps in Montana on the floor of the United States Senate today at noon Mountain Time and outline his bipartisan legislation “to ban the closure of Civilian Conservation Centers in Montana and across the country, preventing these critical employment centers from being subject to the whims of the president,” a release from his office said.

“This reckless, gutless decision to close and undermine Montana’s Job Corps programs is dangerous to our state and our rural economy,” Tester said in the release. “I’m going to continue to fight until we get a firm promise from this Administration that these Job Corps centers are truly safe, and will be introducing legislation to block closures and prevent these critical employment centers from being subject to the whims of the president.”

Gov. Steve Bullock, who also sent a letter to Acosta and Perdue and who spoke to Acosta by telephone Friday, also issued a statement on the decision to retain the Anaconda center.

“I’m pleased that the right decision was made to keep Anaconda Job Corps open, maintaining jobs for over 60 people and ensuring workforce training for hundreds of at-risk students each year,” Bullock said in Monday’s statement. “I have no doubt it was the voices of the Anaconda community, folks from all over the state, and the workers and students who protected this critical rural training center. This is one of the top Job Corps centers in the nation and I’m glad our nation’s leaders finally recognized that.

  “I hope they’ll also recognize the Anaconda and Trapper Creek Job Corps should not be privatized,” Bullock added. “They are integral to the workforce needs of rural America and the jobs should remain in the agencies and with the people who have a track record of proven success.” 

The May 24 announcement on the Department of Labor website said the change was an effort to modernize and reform the program, creating “an opportunity to serve a greater number of students at higher performing centers at a lower cost to taxpayers.”

“ … Focusing on the best possible outcome for students now and in the future, the Department will increase student access to Job Corps centers with the highest sustained student performance outcomes,” it concludes. “The Department will continue to ensure student access to the program through a commitment to maintain at least one Job Corps center in each state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.”

The Job Corps website says the program, created in 1964 during the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson, is a no-cost education and vocational training program that helps young people ages 16-24 “improve the quality of their lives by empowering them to get great jobs and become independent.”

“ … Job Corps helps young people from disadvantaged backgrounds complete their high school education and trains them for meaningful careers so they can get a good start in the working world,” it continues, adding that Job Corps serves about 60,000 youths a year through 123 Job Corps centers throughout the country.