Horizons Youth Services

Muhlenberg Job Corps celebrates 50 years of Job Corps success!

The Muhlenberg Job Corps staff and students came together Aug. 18-22 for a full week of celebration in honor of Job Corps’ 50th anniversary.

Balloon release is a festival way to honor Job Corps.

Events included a 50th anniversary balloon release; time capsule burial, proclamation reception (proclamations for Job Corps 50 Week were received from Governor Steve Beshear and Greenville Mayor Ed DeArmond; MCDC 50 shape aerial  photo; and ending the week with graduation ceremonies, with 26 students graduating. Muhlenberg Job Corps was honored to have Colmon Elridge, executive assistant and senior advisor to Kentucky’s 61st Gov. Steve Beshear, as guest speaker.  Elridge told graduates, “It is left up to you to have the dignity to move forward in your life, the dignity to make a difference. You’re worth the dignity you’ve earned.  Please remember that you are the faces of hope and opportunity.  We are blessed as a commonwealth and nation for your journey.” 

Job Corps was initiated as a central program of the Lyndon B. Johnson Administration's War on Poverty. Since its inception in 1964 under the Economic Opportunity Act, Job Corps has served more than 2 million young people.  Job Corps serves approximately 60,000 youths annually at Job Corps centers throughout the country.

Ground broke for the Muhlenberg Job Corps Center in 1973, and the center began accepting students in 1974.  At that time three buildings were built for less than $ .5 million.  The center started as an all-male center; females were accepted in 1979.  Muhlenberg offered only heavy equipment operator career training for many years. In 1974, the center educated 82 students and employed 14 staff.  Now, 41 years later, the center houses 343 students, and employs 140 staff.   The center has served more than 16,000 students since 1973, and currently contributes approximately $6 million back to the local economy.

Over the years, the center has offered career technical training programs in the following areas:  heavy equipment operating; brick masonry; painting; plumbing; security officer; culinary arts; facility maintenance; auto repair; business technologies; construction equipment mechanics; welding; CDL license; clinical medical assistant; certified nursing assistant; pharmacy technology; and insurance billing & coding.

Job Corps continues to work by providing disadvantaged youth with the social, academic and vocational training they need to be successful in their chosen career.  For the past 50 years, Job Corps has been a beacon of hope and opportunity for more than 2.7 million young people.

Pictured at right are Center Director Eric Jones, BCL Karen Robinson and Jason Hasert, field representative for Sen. Rand Paul.