RENO, Nev. (MyNews4.com & KRNV) - Days after Job Corps say they will stop accepting new students for a while, several local and national leaders are speaking up - saying the decision will hurt the economy and taxpayers like you.
Job Core students save Washoe County a lot of green - from interning with the parks and open spaces horticultural program, volunteering at the north valley's library and even helping do mechanical work with county vehicles. It's estimated volunteers like them save Washoe one million dollars a year.
“When we can’t afford to pay people to do that work, they offer services that are critical to the County,” Commissioner Kitty Jung said.
Jung used to work for Job Corp in the early 2000s. She says the department of labor's decision to stop taking new students at the job training program for at risk young adults could cost the county in replacing their labor and is a bad choice.
Across the country several lawmakers have tried stepping in. And tonight a spokesperson for senator Harry Reid’s office writes news 4 that:
“Senator Reid is a longtime supporter of Job Corps, he is following these developments closely to ensure minimal disruption at the Nevada center. Senator Reid has said that he believes that there are different ways of dealing with sequestration in a balanced way. He believes and the American people believe that millionaires and billionaires should contribute more.”
Still a Department of Labor representative said they really had no other choice facing a $60 million plus budget shortfall nationwide and they'd love to start taking new students again at the job training and education program if they could just learn how to have the funding for it.
