U.S. Sen. Susan Collins received an award from the National Job Corps Association in her hometown of Caribou Friday for her efforts to reverse a Trump Administration push to shut down Job Corps last year.
At an awards ceremony at the Caribou Veterans of Foreign Wars post, the Republican senator described herself as a “champion” of Job Corps, the nation’s largest job training program for low-income young adults.
The program has two centers in Maine, the Loring Job Corps Center in Limestone and the Penobscot Job Corps in Bangor. The U.S. Department of Labor paused enrollment at most Job Corps locations nationally last spring, citing rising costs. That decision was reversed in November following a federal lawsuit by the Job Corps association.
“Despite strong bipartisan support, however, the federal department of labor sought to end the program,” Collins said in her remarks. “I just couldn’t believe it. Why would you want to terminate a program with such a success rate? So I fought back persistently, and in the end, effectively, to reverse that misguided decision.”
While in Caribou, Collins told the story of a Loring Job Corps student she met nearly two decades ago who fled from a “violent” home environment in Connecticut. That woman went on to graduate with a master’s degree from Husson University and became a nurse practitioner, Collins said.
It’s the same story the senator told on the Senate floor in a Department of Labor budget hearing last year to advocate for the program’s continued funding.
“That’s why I am such a passionate believer in Job Corps, and I will continue to fight for this program,” Collins said.
More than a hundred people packed the VFW for the ceremony, which included a number of awards presented to local students and teachers by the veterans organization.
Job Corps leadership also honored a handful of successful students in the Loring and Penobscot centers with community impact awards.
“It’s clear that this group of young adults have made a continued impact in making a difference in the lives of others in our community,” said Roger Felix, the Caribou VFW commander and business engagement coordinator at Loring Job Corps.
The federal Labor, Health and Human Services and Education funding bill passed in early February provides $1.8 billion in funding to keep the more than 100 Job Corps centers open nationwide.
