[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]







 
                  WORKFORCE INNOVATION AND OPPORTUNITY
                     ACT REAUTHORIZATION: CREATING
                   OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTH EMPLOYMENT

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                               before the

                            SUBCOMMITTEE ON
                          HIGHER EDUCATION AND
                          WORKFORCE INVESTMENT

                                 of the

                    COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR
                     U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION

                               __________

              HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, MAY 13, 2021

                               __________

                           Serial No. 117-14

                               __________

      Printed for the use of the Committee on Education and Labor
      
      
      

[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]                                     


                                     

          Available via: edlabor.house.gov or www.govinfo.gov

                               __________
                               
                               
                               
             U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 
44-535 PDF             WASHINGTON : 2022                               
                               
                               

                    COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR

             ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia, Chairman

RAUL M. GRIJALVA, Arizona            VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina,
JOE COURTNEY, Connecticut              Ranking Member
GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN,      JOE WILSON, South Carolina
  Northern Mariana Islands           GLENN THOMPSON, Pennsylvania
FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida         TIM WALBERG, Michigan
SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon             GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin
MARK TAKANO, California              ELISE M. STEFANIK, New York
ALMA S. ADAMS, North Carolina        RICK W. ALLEN, Georgia
MARK De1ASAULNIER, California        JIM BANKS, Indiana
DONALD NORCROSS, New Jersey          JAMES COMER, Kentucky
PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington          RUSS FULCHER, Idaho
JOSEPH D. MORELLE, New York          FRED KELLER, Pennsylvania
SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania             GREGORY F. MURPHY, North Carolina
LUCY McBATH, Georgia                 MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS, Iowa
JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut            BURGESS OWENS, Utah
ANDY LEVIN, Michigan                 BOB GOOD, Virginia
ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota                LISA C. McCLAIN, Michigan
HALEY M. STEVENS, Michigan           DIANA HARSHBARGER, Tennessee
TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ, New Mexico   MARY E. MILLER, Illinois
MONDAIRE JONES, New York             VICTORIA SPARTZ, Indiana
KATHY E. MANNING, North Carolina     SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin
FRANK J. MRVAN, Indiana              MADISON CAWTHORN, North Carolina
JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York, Vice-Chair  MICHELLE STEEL, California
MARK POCAN, Wisconsin                JULIA LETLOW, Louisiana
JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas                Vacancy
MIKIE SHERRILL, New Jersey
JOHN A. YARMUTH, Kentucky
ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York
KWEISI MFUME, Maryland

                   Veronique Pluviose, Staff Director
                  Cyrus Artz, Minority Staff Director
                                 ------                                

       SUBCOMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE INVESTMENT

                FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida, Chairwoman

MARK TAKANO, California              GREGORY F. MURPHY, North Carolina
PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington            Ranking Member
ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota                GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin
TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ, New Mexico   ELISE M. STEFANIK, New York
MONDAIRE JONES, New York             JIM BANKS, Indiana
KATHY E. MANNING, North Carolina     JAMES COMER, Kentucky
JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York              RUSS FULCHER, Idaho
MARK POCAN, Wisconsin                MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS, Iowa
JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas                BOB GOOD, Virginia
MIKIE SHERRILL, New Jersey           LISA C. McCLAIN, Michigan
ARIANO ESPAILLAT, New York           DIANA HARSHBARGER, Tennessee
RAUAE1L M. GRIJALVA, Arizona         VICTORIA SPARTZ, Indiana
JOE COURTNEY, Connecticut            JULIA LETLOW, Louisiana
SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon             VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina
ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia    (ex officio)
  (ex officio)
                            C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              
                                                                   Page

Hearing held on May 13, 2021.....................................     1

Statement of Members:
    Wilson, Hon. Frederica S., Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Higher 
      Education and Workforce Investment.........................     1
        Prepared statement of....................................     5
     Murphy, Hon. Gregory F., Ranking Member, Subcommittee on 
      Higher Education and Workforce Investment..................     6
        Prepared statement of....................................     7

Statement of Witnesses:
    Fulmore-Townsend, Chekemma, President & CEO, Philadelphia 
      Youth Network..............................................     9
        Prepared statement of....................................    11
    Garrett, Byron, President & CEO, National Job Corps 
      Association................................................    81
        Prepared statement of....................................    84
    Lindner, Deb, Human Resources Manager, Precor Inc............    76
        Prepared statement of....................................    78
    Showalter, Thomas, Senior Advisor, National Youth Employment 
      Coalition..................................................    56
        Prepared statement of....................................    58

Additional Submissions:
    Chairwoman Wilson:
        NAHB letter dated May 13, 2021...........................   128
    Ranking Member Foxx:
        July 2006, DOL OIG, ``National Park Service Has Not 
          Assured the Safety and Health of Students and Staff at 
          the Oconaluftee Job Corps Center''.....................   130
        March 2007, DOL OIG, ``Performance Audit of the 
          Oconaluftee Job Corps Center for the Period July 1, 
          2004, through September 30, 2005''.....................   134
        November 2006, DOL OIG, ``Top Management Challenges 
          Facing the Department of Labor: Ensuring the 
          Effectiveness of the Job Corps Program''...............   135
        November 2007, DOL OIG, ``Top Management Challenges 
          Facing the Department of Labor: Ensuring the 
          Effectiveness of the Job Corps Program''...............   144
        November 2008, DOL OIG, ``Top Management Challenges 
          Facing the Department of Labor: Ensuring the 
          Effectiveness of the Job Corps Program''...............   152
        November 2009, DOL OIG, ``Top Management Challenges 
          Facing the Department of Labor: Ensuring the 
          Effectiveness of the Job Corps Program''...............   165
        November 2010, DOL OIG, ``Top Management Challenges 
          Facing the Department of Labor: Ensuring the 
          Effectiveness of the Job Corps Program''...............   178
        November 2011, DOL OIG, ``Top Management Challenges 
          Facing the Department of Labor: Ensuring the 
          Effectiveness of the Job Corps Program''...............   192
        November 2012, DOL OIG, ``Top Management Challenges 
          Facing the Department of Labor: Ensuring the 
          Effectiveness of the Job Corps Program''...............   214
        November 2013, DOL OIG, ``Top Management Challenges 
          Facing the Department of Labor: Ensuring the 
          Effectiveness of the Job Corps Program''...............   225
        November 2014, DOL OIG, ``Top Management and Performance 
          Challenges Facing the U.S. Department of Labor: 
          Ensuring the Safety of Students and Staff at Job Corps 
          Centers''..............................................   236
        November 2015, DOL OIG, ``Top Management and Performance 
          Challenges Facing the U.S. Department of Labor''.......   246
        November 2016, DOL OIG, ``Top Management and Performance 
          Challenges Facing the U.S. Department of Labor''.......   262
        November 2017, DOL OIG, ``Top Management and Performance 
          Challenges Facing the U.S. Department of Labor''.......   278
        November 2018, DOL OIG, ``Top Management and Performance 
          Challenges Facing the U.S. Department of Labor''.......   294
        November 2019, DOL OIG, ``Top Management and Performance 
          Challenges Facing the U.S. Department of Labor''.......   294
        November 2020, Department of Labor Office of the 
          Inspector General (DOL OIG), ``Top Management and 
          Performance Challenges Facing the U.S. Department of 
          Labor''................................................   295
        March 2010, DOL OIG, ``Performance Audit for ResCare, 
          Inc., Job Corps Centers''..............................   295
        March 2010, DOL OIG, ``Performance Audit for Education 
          and Training Resources, Job Corps Center Operator''....   295
        August 2010, DOL OIG, ``Performance Audit of MINACT, 
          Inc., Job Corps Center Operator''......................   295
        December 2012, DOL OIG, ``Job Corps Needs to Improve 
          Timeliness of and Accountability For Maintenance 
          Repairs at Its Centers''...............................   295
        February 2015, DOL OIG, ``Job Corps Needs to Improve 
          Enforcement and Oversight of Student Disciplinary 
          Policies to Better Protect Students and Staff at 
          Centers''..............................................   295
        June 2018, U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), 
          ``Job Corps: DOL Could Enhance Safety and Security at 
          Centers with Consistent Monitoring and Comprehensive 
          Planning''.............................................   295
        August 2019, GAO, ``Actions Needed to Improve Planning 
          for Center Operation Contracts''.......................   295
        June 1995, GAO, ``Job Corps: High Costs and Mixed Results 
          Raise Questions about Program's Effectiveness''........   295
        November 1998, GAO, ``Job Corps: Links With Labor Market 
          Improved but Vocational Training Performance 
          Overstated''...........................................   296
        June 2017, GAO, ``Job Corps; Preliminary Observations on 
          Student Safety and Security Data''.....................   296
        November 2009, DOL OIG, ``Performance Audit of DEL-JEN, 
          Incorporated Job Corps Centers''.......................   296
        March 2017, DOL OIG, ``Review of Job Corps Center Safety 
          and Security''.........................................   296
        December 2017, DOL OIG, ``Job Corps Took Action to 
          Mitigate Violence, Drugs, and Other Student Misconduct 
          at Centers, But More Needs to Be Done''................   296
        March 2018, DOL OIG, ``Job Corps Could Not Demonstrate 
          Beneficial Job Training Outcomes''.....................   296
        September 2019, DOL OIG, ``Job Corps Should Do More to 
          Prevent Cheating in High School Programs''.............   296
        September 2007, DOL OIG, ``Performance Audit of the 
          Laredo Job Corps Center''..............................   296
        March 2009, DOL OIG, ``Performance Audit of Management 
          and Training Corporation Job Corps Centers''...........   296
        September 2009, DOL OIG, ``Performance Audit of Adams and 
          Associates, Incorporated Job Corps Centers''...........   296
        ``Out of School, Out of Work,'' Washington Monthly, April 
          4, 2021................................................   297


                        WORKFORCE INNOVATION AND

                    OPPORTUNITY ACT REAUTHORIZATION:

                       CREATING OPPORTUNITIES FOR

                            YOUTH EMPLOYMENT

                              ----------                              


                         Thursday, May 13, 2021

                  House of Representatives,
                      Subcommittee on Education and
                              Workforce Investment,
                          Committee on Education and Labor,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:15 a.m., 
via Zoom, Hon. Frederica S. Wilson (Chairwoman of the 
Subcommittee) presiding.
    Present: Representatives Wilson, Takano, Jayapal, Manning, 
Bowman, Castro, Sherrill, Espaillat, Courtney, Bonamici, Scott, 
Murphy, Grothman, Stefanik, Banks, Fulcher, Miller-Meeks, Good, 
McClain, Harshbarger, and Spartz.
    Staff present: Ilana Brunner, General Counsel; Rashage 
Green, Director of Education Policy; Sheila Havenner, Director 
of Information Technology; Eli Hovland, Policy Associate; Ariel 
Jona, Policy Associate; Katie McClelland, Professional Staff; 
Richard Miller, Director of Labor Policy; Max Moore, Staff 
Assistant; Mariah Mowbray, Clerk/Special Assistant to the Staff 
Director; Udochi Onwubiko, Labor Policy Counsel; Kayla 
Pennebecker, Staff Assistant; Veronique Pluviose, Staff 
Director; Banyon Vassar, Deputy Director of Information 
Technology; Joshua Weisz, Communications Director Cyrus Artz, 
Minority Staff Director; Courtney Butcher, Minority Director of 
Member Services and Coalitions; Amy Raaf Jones, Minority 
Director of Education and Human Resources Policy; Hannah 
Matesic, Minority Director of Operations; Audra McGeorge, 
Minority Communications Director; Jake Middlebrooks, Minority 
Professional Staff Member; and Chance Russell, Minority 
Professional Staff Member.
    Chairwoman Wilson. The Subcommittee on Higher Education and 
Workforce Investment will come to order.
    Welcome, everyone. I note that a quorum is present. The 
Subcommittee is meeting today to hear testimony on, ``Workforce 
Innovation and Opportunity Act Reauthorization: Creating 
Opportunities for Youth Employment.''
    This is an entirely remote hearing. All microphones will be 
kept muted as a general rule to avoid unnecessary background 
noise. Members and witnesses will be responsible for unmuting 
themselves when they are recognized to speak or when they wish 
to seek recognition.
    I also ask that Members please identify themselves before 
they speak. Members should keep their cameras on while in the 
proceeding. Members shall be considered present in the 
proceeding when they are visible on camera, and they will be 
considered not present when they are not visible on camera.
    The only exception to this is if they are experiencing 
difficulty and inform Committee staff of such technical 
difficulty. If any Member experiences technical difficulties 
during the hearing, you should stay connected on the platform. 
Make sure you are muted and use your phone to immediately call 
the Committee's IT director whose number was provided to you in 
advance. Should the Chair experience technical difficulty or 
need to step away to vote on the floor, Mr. Takano or another 
majority Member is hereby authorized to assume the gavel in the 
Chair's absence.
    This is an entirely remote hearing and, as such, the 
Committee's hearing room is officially closed. Members who 
choose to sit with their individual devices in the hearing room 
must wear headphones to avoid feedback, echoes, and distortion 
resulting from more than one person on the software platform 
sitting in the same room.
    Members are also expected to adhere to social distancing 
and safe healthcare guidelines including the use of masks, hand 
sanitizer, and wiping down their areas both before and after 
their presence in the hearing room.
    In order to ensure that the Committee's five-minute rule is 
adhered to, staff will be keeping track of time using the 
Committee's field timer. The field timer will appear on its own 
thumbnail picture and will be named 001_timer. There will be no 
one-minute remaining warping. The field timer will show a 
blinking light when time is up. Members and witnesses are asked 
to wrap up promptly when their time has expired.
    While roll call is not necessary to establish a quorum and 
official proceedings conducted remotely or with remote 
participation, the Committee has made it a practice whenever 
there is an official proceeding with remote participation for 
the Clerk to call the roll to help make clear who is present at 
the start of the proceeding. Members should listen carefully. 
Members should say their name before answering and announcing 
they are present. This helps the Clerk and also helps those 
watching the platform and the livestream who may experience a 
few seconds delay.
    At this time I ask the Clerk to call the roll.
    The Clerk. Chairwoman Wilson?
    Chairwoman Wilson. Congresswoman Wilson, present.
    The Clerk. Mr. Takano?
    Mr. Takano. Congressman Takano, present.
    The Clerk. Ms. Jayapal?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Ms. Omar?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Ms. Leger Fernandez?
    [No response]
    Ms. Jayapal. Jayapal is present. Sorry.
    The Clerk. Mr. Jones?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Ms. Manning?
    Ms. Manning. Present.
    The Clerk. Mr. Bowman?
    Mr. Bowman. Congressman Bowman is present.
    The Clerk. Mr. Pocan?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Mr. Castro?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Ms. Sherrill?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Mr. Espaillat?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Mr. Grijalva?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Mr. Courtney?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Ms. Bonamici?
    Ms. Bonamici. Suzanne Bonamici is present.
    The Clerk. Mr. Scott?
    Mr. Scott. Mr. Scott is present.
    The Clerk. Ranking Member Murphy?
    Mr. Murphy. Dr. Murphy is present.
    The Clerk. Mr. Grothman?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Ms. Stefanik?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Mr. Banks?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Mr. Comer?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Mr. Fulcher?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Mrs. Miller-Meeks?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Mr. Good?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Mrs. McClain?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Mrs. Harshbarger?
    Mrs. Harshbarger. Harshbarger present.
    The Clerk. Mrs. Spartz?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Ms. Letlow?
    Ms. Letlow. Letlow is present.
    The Clerk. Ms. Foxx?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Chairwoman Wilson, that concludes the roll call.
    Ms. Wilson. Pursuant to Committee Rule 8(c), opening 
statements are limited to the Chair and the Ranking Member. 
This allows us to hear from our witnesses sooner and provides 
all Members with adequate time to ask questions. I recognize 
myself now for the purpose of making an opening statement.
    Today we meet on the first of three bipartisan hearings 
focusing on reauthorizing the Workforce Innovation and 
Opportunity Act. It was last reauthorized in 2014 and is 
commonly referred to as WIOA which is the foundation of our 
Nation's workforce development system.
    The hearing will focus on three youth programs: Youth 
workforce investment activities, YouthBuild, and Job Corps. 
These programs provide low-income, in-school and out-of-school 
young people ages 14 to 24 with job opportunities, pathways to 
further their education or training, and basic support services 
that help them find good-paying jobs.
    This is a timely and important movement. This is a moment 
to invest in our youth-focused initiatives because millions of 
young people in communities across the country are struggling 
to cope with the fallout from the COVID0919 pandemic. Anywhere 
from 6 to 10 million young people were estimated to be 
disconnected from school and work at the height of the 
COVID0919 pandemic, compared to roughly 4 million in 2019. 
WIOA-funded programs are critical tools to create opportunities 
for these young people.
    This bipartisan reauthorization effort is a chance to make 
important improvements to help ensure they can reach their full 
potential. One area of improvement is better allocation of 
youth workforce investments which received just over $920 
million in Fiscal Year 2021. Under current law, no less than 75 
percent of WIOA funds must be used to serve out-of-school 
youth. This effort to target funding to the most vulnerable 
group of young people has unfortunately had an unintended 
consequence. Programs are often forced to wait until a 
struggling student is fully disconnected from schools to offer 
their services. Such a delay creates unnecessary barriers that 
result in missed opportunities to intervene earlier and keep 
students in school.
    Another area for improvement is expanding paid work-based 
learning opportunities. Connecting young people with jobs where 
they can build skills is vital to their long-term success. 
Studies show that teenagers who have a job between the ages of 
16 and 18 are more likely to earn higher wages as adults. 
Increasing the funding for these programs and extending forms 
of work-based learning to include job shadowing, job 
preparation, and youth apprenticeship programs can make a 
meaningful difference in our communities.
    Today we will also explore improvements to Job Corps which 
provides tens of thousands of young people across 50 states 
with residential education, vocational training, and job 
placement services. I have heard from countless community 
leader and residents who credit Job Corps with transforming 
their lives, which is why I have championed this program 
throughout my career in public service. I am extremely proud of 
the Job Corps center in my district, and I have bragging rights 
because it is ranked No. One in the country in programming in 
the 2019 year based on performance indicators.
    Job Corps enjoys widespread bipartisan support, and I hope 
we can find bipartisan agreement to make it even more 
effective. This includes changing the counterproductive zero-
tolerance language enacted during the Clinton administration 
which requires automatic dismissal of young people for alcohol 
abuse, minor drug offenses, and other infractions that would 
instead be met with more reasonable and helpful interventions 
like counseling and treatment. Blanket drug testing with 
followup tests being required even before the chemicals may 
fully have left a student's body have led to roughly 12,500 
expulsions, 91 percent of which were from marijuana use. Today 
recreational marijuana use is either legal or has been 
decriminalized in nearly half of our states.
    As with any organization, Job Corps' success relies on the 
quality and the stability of the staff. Job Corps has struggled 
to retain its best teachers, counselors, nurses, and managers 
because it cannot pay competitive wages in the locality. For 
that reason we should consider whether to remove the exemption 
for Job Corps contractors from the Service Contract Act which 
would set up a wage floor for Job Corps center employees that 
is pegged to comparable local wages. Without that protection, 
Job Corps centers cannot compete for instructional talent with 
local public school districts, which is needed to reduce staff 
turnover, which undermines the performance of the program.
    Of course, the most important improvement we can make to 
all WIOA programs is to increase their funding. Job Corps has 
been underfunded relative to its authorization level by at 
least $120 million each year for the past 5 years and more than 
$239 million in the last year alone. Youth workforce 
initiatives have been underfunded relative to its authorization 
level by an aggregate $150 million since 2016. We get what we 
pay for. No program can be expected to meet the needs of our 
communities while we consistently underfund it every year.
    Today's hearing kicks off a vital effort to give at-risk 
young people the support they need to lead fulfilling lives and 
will make our communities much, much stronger. I look forward 
to working with my colleagues to reauthorize WIOA, and I now 
recognize the distinguished Ranking Member for the purpose of 
making an opening statement.
    [The prepared statement of Chairwoman Wilson follows:]

  Statement of Hon. Frederica S. Wilson, Chairwoman, Subcommittee on 
               Higher Education and Workforce Investment

    Today, we meet for the first of three bipartisan hearings focusing 
on reauthorizing the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. It was 
last reauthorized in 2014 and is commonly referred to as WIOA, which is 
the foundation for our Nation's workforce development system.
    This hearing will focus on three youth programs: Youth workforce 
investment activities, YouthBuild, and Job Corps. These programs 
provide low-income, in-school and out-of-school young people--ages 14 
to 24--with job opportunities, pathways to further their education or 
training, and basic support services that help them find good-paying 
jobs.
    This is a timely and important moment to invest in our youth-
focused initiatives because millions of young people--in communities 
across the country--are struggling to cope with the fallout from the 
COVID-19 pandemic.
    Anywhere from 6 to 10 million young people were estimated to be 
disconnected from school and work at the height of the COVID-19 
pandemic, compared to roughly 4 million in 2019.
    WIOA-funded programs are a critical tool to create opportunities 
for these young people. This bipartisan reauthorization effort is a 
chance to make important improvements to help ensure they can reach 
their full potential.
    One area for improvement is better allocation of youth workforce 
investments, which received just over $920 million in Fiscal Year 2021. 
Under current law, no less than 75 percent of WIOA funds must be used 
to serve out-of-school youth. This effort to target funding to the most 
vulnerable group of young people has unfortunately had an unintended 
consequence. Programs are often forced to wait until a struggling 
student is fully disconnected from school to offer their services. Such 
a delay creates unnecessary barriers that result in missed 
opportunities to intervene earlier and keep students in school.
    Another area for improvement is expanding paid work-based learning 
opportunities. Connecting young people with jobs where they can build 
skills is vital to their long-term success. Studies show that teenagers 
who have a job between the ages of 16 and 18 are more likely to earn 
higher wages as adults. Increasing the funding for these programs and 
expanding forms of work-based learning to include job shadowing, job 
preparation, and youth apprenticeship programs could make a meaningful 
difference in our communities.
    Today, we will also explore improvements to Job Corps, which 
provides tens of thousands of young people across all 50 states with 
residential education, vocational training, and job placement services.
    I have heard from countless community leaders and residents who 
credit Job Corps with transforming their lives, which is why I have 
championed this program throughout my career in public service. I am 
extremely proud of the Jobs Corps Center in my district-and I have 
bragging rights-because it was ranked No. 1 in the country in program 
year 2019 based on performance indicators.
    Job Corps enjoys widespread bipartisan support, and I hope we can 
find bipartisan agreement to make it even more effective. This includes 
changing the counterproductive ``zero tolerance'' language enacted 
during the Clinton administration, which requires automatic dismissal 
of young people for alcohol abuse, minor drug offenses, and other 
infractions that, should instead be met with more reasonable and 
helpful interventions like counseling and treatment.
    Blanket drug testing, with followup tests being required even 
before the chemicals may have fully left a student's body, have led to 
roughly 12,500 expulsions, 91 percent of which were for marijuana use. 
Today, recreational marijuana use is either legal or has been 
decriminalized in nearly half of our states.
    As with any organization, Job Corps' success relies on the quality 
and stability of the staff. Job Corps has struggled to retain its best 
teachers, counselors, nurses, and managers because it cannot pay 
competitive wages in the locality. For that reason, we should consider 
whether to remove the exemption for Job Corps contractors from the 
Service Contract Act, which would set a wage floor for Job Corps center 
employees that is pegged to comparable local wages. Without that 
protection, Job Corps centers cannot compete for instructional talent 
with local public school districts, which is needed to reduce staff 
turnover-which undermines the performance of the program.
    Of course, the most important improvement we can make to all WIOA 
programs is to increase their funding. Job Corps has been underfunded 
relative to its authorization level by at least $129 million each year 
for the past 5 years-and more than $239 million in the last year, 
alone. Youth workforce activities have been underfunded relative to its 
authorization level by an aggregate $150 million since 2016.
    We get what we pay for. No program can be expected to meet the 
needs of our communities while we consistently underfund it every year.
    Today's hearing kicks off a vital effort to give at-risk young 
people the support they need to lead fulfilling lives that will make 
our communities much, much stronger.
    I look forward to working with my colleagues to reauthorize WIOA, 
and I now recognize the distinguished Ranking Member for the purpose of 
making an opening statement.
                                 ______
                                 
    Mr. Murphy. Thank you, Chairwoman Wilson. Congratulations 
on your program's Number One ranking. That is fantastic. That 
is fantastic.
    Our conversation today could not be timelier as we know 
that young people ages 16 to 24 are experiencing a decline in 
employment and labor force participation. In fact, last year in 
July, the labor force participation rate for the ages was the 
lowest going back to July 1948 when the Bureau of Statistics 
first began reporting the statistic.
    The aim of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, 
the WIOA Youth Programs, is to prepare young adults to embark 
on successful, fulfilling careers and is necessary for a 
prosperous workforce. As such, I am thankful that reevaluating 
these important programs is a task that House Republicans and 
Democrats are tackling together. Before we jump into 
reauthorizing these programs, we should also carefully examine 
where they can better serve youth, as it appears there is room 
for improvement to live up to the promise of the last 
reauthorization.
    For example, Job Corps is it--Job Corps exists to assist 
disadvantaged youth, providing them with career and technical 
education, and connecting them with the labor force. This 
program was allocated $1.7 billion in fiscal 2021 but has faced 
significant difficulty in the path both in maintaining safety 
and security for program participants and improving their job 
prospects.
    For this program to serve its purpose, we must reevaluate 
where the program has failed in the past and increase 
accountability to ensure that these programs do not persist and 
that the youth who take part in Job Corps are put on a course 
that is successful to their pursuing their years. More broadly, 
the workforce system is too often siloed and disconnected from 
regional economic development needs and is not agile enough to 
adapt to emerging demands from businesses.
    How we allocate money always matters. But when it comes to 
the programs that are preparing our kids for their future, it 
is also much more about dollar signs. For the economy to 
flourish, it is imperative that our Nation's youth are well-
prepared to enter the workforce. For the sake of our taxpayers 
and our children, we cannot blindly funnel money into programs 
without first considering what works best and what is needed by 
employers in the region where the children live. However, if we 
ensure that employers are at the table and the system is 
focused on meeting the needs of America's youth and young 
people, House Republicans believe that the WIOA's youth 
programs will fulfill their promise to our Nation's kids.
    As we begin conversations on a bipartisan reauthorization 
of WIOA, I am asking that my Democratic colleagues continue to 
work with us to ensure that these programs not only are well-
funded but they meet their primary goal of preparing American's 
youth for meaningful years before we figure out if these 
programs need to grow. I know that we all have the best 
interest of America's children at heart, and that gives me 
great hope as we work together to optimize these programs.
    Thank you, Madam Chairman. I will yield back.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Murphy follows:]

 Statement of Hon. Gregory F. Murphy, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on 
               Higher Education and Workforce Investment

    Our conversation today could not be timelier as we know young 
people ages 16 to 24 are experiencing a decline in employment and labor 
force participation. In fact, last year in July, the labor force 
participation rate for these ages was the lowest rate for July dating 
back to 1948, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics first began reporting 
the statistic.
    The aim of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) 
youth programs--to prepare young adults to embark on successful, 
fulfilling careers--is necessary for a prosperous workforce. As such, I 
am thankful that reevaluating these important programs is a task that 
House Republicans and Democrats are tackling together.
    Before we jump to reauthorizing these programs, we should carefully 
examine how they can better serve youth, as it appears there is room 
for improvement to live up to the promise of the last reauthorization.
    For example, Job Corps exists to assist disadvantaged youth by 
providing them with career and technical education and connecting them 
with the labor force. This program was allocated 1.7 billion dollars in 
Fiscal Year 2021 but has faced significant difficulties in the past 
both in maintaining safety and security for program participants and in 
improving their job prospects.
    For this program to serve its purpose, we must reevaluate where the 
program has failed in the past and increase accountability to ensure 
that these problems do not persist and that the youth who take part in 
Job Corps are put on the course to successful careers.
    More broadly, the workforce system is too often siloed and 
disconnected from regional economic development needs and not agile 
enough to adapt to emerging demands from businesses.
    How we allocate money always matters. But when it comes to programs 
that are preparing our kids for the future, it's about so much more 
than dollar signs. For our economy to flourish, it is imperative that 
our Nation's youth are well-prepared to enter the workforce. For the 
sake of our taxpayers and our children, we cannot blindly funnel money 
into programs without first considering what works best and is needed 
by employers in the region.
    However, if we ensure employers are at the table and the system is 
focused on meeting the needs of America's young people, House 
Republicans believe that the WIOA youth programs will fulfill their 
promise to our Nation's kids.
    As we begin conversations on a bipartisan reauthorization of WIOA, 
I'm asking my Democrat colleagues to work with us to ensure these 
programs can meet their primary goal of preparing America's youth for 
meaningful careers before we figure out if the programs need to grow.
    I know that we all have the best interest of America's children at 
heart and that gives me great hope as we work together to optimize 
these programs.
                                 ______
                                 
    Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you, Representative Murphy.
    And without objection, all of the Members who wish to 
insert written statements into the record may do so by 
submitting them to the Committee Clerk electronically in 
Microsoft Word format by 5 o'clock p.m. on Thursday, May 27, 
2021.
    I would like to enter for the record a letter from the 
National Association of Home Builders in support of 
strengthening Job Corps and YouthBuild without objection.
    Chairwoman Wilson. I will now introduce the witnesses. Ms. 
Chekemma Fulmore-Townsend. Ms. Chekemma Fulmore-Townsend is the 
President and CEO of the Philadelphia Youth Network. In this 
role she draws on her experience and research, social work, and 
systems change to lead the creation of coordinated systems than 
promote academic achievement, economic opportunity, and 
personal success.
    Mr. Thomas Showalter is a senior advisor at the National 
Youth Employment Coalition where he leads work on education and 
workforce policy and related areas including disability policy, 
juvenile justice, and poverty programs, as well as Federal 
policy development.
    Ms. Deb Lindner. Ms. Deb Lindner is the human resources 
manager for Precor in Whitsett, North Carolina, where she leads 
the workforce planning and development, organizational 
development, employment relations and leadership development 
for the company.
    Mr. Byron Garrett is the president and CEO of the National 
Job Corps Association, a national organization representing the 
121 active Job Corps campuses and their staff, the youth 
service providers who manage the campuses, and the thousands of 
students who Job Corps annually serves.
    Welcome to every one of you. Thank you so much for joining 
us on this most important forum. We appreciate your taking the 
time to be with us today and to lend all of your knowledge and 
advice to our Committee.
    I want to remind the witnesses that we have you--and all of 
us on our Committee have read your written statements and then 
written statements will appear in full in the hearing record.
    Pursuant to Committee Rule 8(d) and Committee practice, 
each of you is asked to limit your oral presentation to a five-
minute summary of your written statement.
    Before you begin your testimony, please remember to unmute 
your microphone during. During your testimony, staff will be 
keeping track of time. And a light will blink when the time is 
up. Please be attentive to the time. Wrap up when your time is 
over, and then remute your microphone.
    If you experience any technical difficulties during your 
testimony or later in the hearing, you should stay connected on 
the platform, make sure you are muted, and use your phone to 
immediately call the Committee's IT director whose number was 
provided to you in advance.
    We will let all the witnesses make their presentations 
before we move to Member questions. And remember, when 
answering a question, please remember to unmute your 
microphone. The witnesses are aware of their responsibility to 
provide accurate information to the Subcommittee and, 
therefore, we will proceed with their testimony.
    I will now recognize Ms. Fulmore-Townsend. Welcome.

            STATEMENT OF CHEKEMMA FULMORE-TOWNSEND, 
         PRESIDENT & CEO, PHILADELPHIA YOUTH NETWORK, 
                        PHILADELPHIA, PA

    Ms. Fulmore-Townsend. Chairwoman Wilson, Ranking Member 
Murphy, and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the 
opportunity to speak today.
    My name is Chekemma Fulmore-Townsend, and I am the 
president and CEO of the Philadelphia Youth Network, known as 
PYN. Our vision is to use education and employment experiences 
to interrupt the cycle of poverty. We connect young people 12 
to 24 years old to the skills and mindsets needed to thrive in 
school, career, and ultimately life.
    Our work promotes equity in access and outcomes especially 
for the most vulnerable in Philadelphia. We value youth voice 
and seek to empower young people to shape their destiny. We use 
collective impact to drive results and are not shy about our 
beliefs that all young people are full of potential, powerful, 
and capable of great progress.
    At PYN, we do not work in a silo. Together with our 
partners, PYN has provided more than 225,000 opportunities. We 
have learned a lot about sustaining scalable results.
    Madam Chair, life has been very difficult over the past 15 
months for all of us including young people. The expectations 
of work have changed which means our strategies and approaches 
must advance to meet the needs of the next generation. 
Disruptive events like the global pandemic, economic and health 
disparities, and the racial awakening we are all facing forces 
us to confront systemic and institutional bias with swift 
action to close gaps in educational achievement and economic 
earnings for vulnerable youth.
    Across the Nation local workforce boards and youth-serving 
organizations are employing new strategies and strengthening 
partnerships. I know from personal experience the courage it 
takes to be a cycle breaker in your family. I am a social 
worker today because at 14 in my first job I learned that 
helping was actually a career. For many young people the first 
step to a prosperous future lies in the programs that WIOA 
supports. I am truly humbled to share my thoughts here today.
    My first, communities are unique, and policy works better 
with flexibility. Reconsider the requirement of 75 percent 
funding threshold required for disconnected youth. Holding to 
this ratio means we must wait until youth are disconnected to 
serve them, rather than take preventative measures to keep them 
engaged and on track to meet their education and employment 
goals. Let's simplify the enrollment process by using a set of 
risk indicators for disconnection. Youth served should meet at 
least one of the risk indicators, rather than overemphasizing 
in-school or out-of-school status because the needs are 
similar, despite the definitions.
    Prioritize quality and continuous improvement. Consider 
incentivizing approaches that imbed literacy and numeracy 
skills, along with industry-specific instruction. Research 
shows this strategy connects classroom learning to the demands 
of the workplace.
    Professional development for youth workers is a priority. 
Too often the adults who are responsible for coaching students 
do not receive the professional development needed to truly 
prepare young people for the future of work. Employ innovative 
strategies like our Opportunity Youth Fund to address barriers 
including physical and mental health, housing stability, 
transportation and childcare assistance, and food insecurity. 
You cannot learn or grow when your basic needs are not met.
    During the pandemic our Youth Opportunity Fund helped 
nearly 1,000 young people stay connected to their programs. We 
intentionally simplified the process to ensure emergency funds 
were received in a way that best fit young people.
    Invest more and followup services in early work 
experiences, especially summer jobs. Adequate funding for 
followup provides sustained employment for young people. WIOA 
investments have declined since 2014. Current funding levels 
will not be adequate to keep pace with the rapidly changing 
world of work. Summer jobs needs specific attention. While WIOA 
allows for summer youth employment, it is not enough. Since 
1998, there has been no direct Federal support for summer jobs 
other than the ARRA funding in 2009 and the Summer Jobs+ 
initiative in 2016. Summer comes every year, and so should the 
support. We applaud Congressman Scott's Opening Doors for Youth 
Act that would have authorized support for summer jobs which 
has numerous benefits for young people, employers, and the 
local community.
    Philadelphia has invested more than $7 million annually for 
summer and year-round jobs. Even during the pandemic, PYN with 
our network of local policymakers provided more than 6,100 
young people with summer jobs. Imagine what we could do with 
consistent funding.
    Everywhere youth workers are helping young people to 
succeeds. Effective data collection, payment systems, are 
career framework, and virtual intern toolkit have been 
replicated in other cities.
    Thank you to the Subcommittee Members for your interest and 
bipartisan leadership in this work. Together we can create 
high-quality opportunities that young people need and, more 
importantly, deserve.
    [The prepared statement of Ms. Fulmore-Townsend follows:]

            Prepared Statement of Chekemma Fulmore-Townsend
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]




    Ms. Wilson. Thank you, Ms. Fulmore-Townsend.
    And we will now hear from Mr. Showalter.
    Mr. Showalter.

        STATEMENT OF THOMAS SHOWALTER, SENIOR ADVISOR, 
             NATIONAL YOUTH EMPLOYMENT COALITION, 
                         WASHINGTON, DC

    Mr. Showalter. Good morning.
    I am going to begin with the voices of young adults and a 
practitioner connected to programs authorized by the Workforce 
Innovation and Opportunity Act.
    ``Being part of this program really changed how I saw 
myself. Just having support from other people made me want--
made me feel more important and more worthy of success.'' --
Bethany.
    ``Staff give us opportunities for jobs. They tell us who is 
hiring. They talk directly with employers at real jobs. This is 
just a steppingstone really.'' --De'Mauria.
    ``During the pandemic we strive to keep engaged with the 
youth who are able to participate. We were very fortunate to 
identify a few tribes able to work with youth and provide safe 
work sites, allowing youth to gain basic skills and work 
experience.'' --Christina.
    As Members consider updating this legislation, now is a 
good time to consider the job prospects of today's young 
people. Chairwoman Wilson, Ranking Member Murphy, and Members 
of the Subcommittee, I am so grateful to be here with you 
today. My name is Thomas Showalter. As the Chairwoman said, I 
am a senior advisor at the National Youth Employment Coalition. 
I am also and a senior fellow at the American Youth Policy 
Forum and a consultant. In the past, I served Chairman Edward 
M. Kennedy and Tom Harkin on the staff of the Senate Health, 
Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.
    I am from Stillwater, Oklahoma, where I benefited from a 
wide array of jobs in my teenage years: Scooping ice cream, 
walking dogs, plating seeds in a botany laboratory, plus 
numerous work study jobs and externships while I was in 
college. These are the kind of early work experiences that all 
young people need and that we can work together to make 
possible.
    As a Nation, we desperately need a new vision for the 
transition to adulthood. In the years following World War II, 
public policies mapped such a vision. Radical disparities 
largely based on race were always present. But these policies 
defined a path into the middle class and beyond for millions, 
including my parents who grew up in those postwar years.
    Most Americans are millennials, like yours truly, 
Generation Z, or younger. We face a long-term decrease in good 
jobs, a scarcity of career pathways for people without 
bachelor's degrees, and a youth labor market that no longer 
bounces back from recessions. In short, we need more good jobs 
and more pathways to good jobs, and we need them now. Today as 
many as one in three 16-to0924 year olds are disconnected from 
education or employment. That is 10 million people. I 
appreciate the Ranking Member for alluding to how low labor 
force participation rates are now.
    These opportunity youth, as they are often called, are 
seeking opportunities and offer an opportunity to our Nation. 
Many have already been touched by schools, the child welfare 
and juvenile justice systems, or behavioral health programs but 
they need a little more help getting connected to education or 
employment. These are the young people targeted by WIOA 
programs. Research tells us that opportunity youth want to 
work, wish to attain higher education, and take responsibility 
for their future achievement.
    Even before the pandemic, there were huge gaps in who 
becomes disconnected by race, by geography, by socioeconomic 
status. The good news is that it is possible to prevent and 
repair youth disconnection in the United States because some 
places are doing it. WIOA reauthorization can begin to 
articulate a new vision for the transition to adulthood. From 
decades of research and practice, we know what strategies are 
effective for connecting all kinds of young people to school 
and work. Chekemma alluded to many of these.
    In my written testimony I propose an alternative way to 
think about the WIOA youth in-school youth, out-of-school youth 
distinction and I agree with the Chairwoman we need better pay 
and education for youth workers across the system.
    In a knowledge economy, social capital, access to mentors, 
executive skills, and an entrepreneurial mindset are critical 
for upward mobility, but programs funded by WIOA and other 
Federal programs do not prioritize. The law can also do more to 
drive equity by race, by gender, by ability and to ensure that 
lawmakers target resources to those who most need services. We 
can do this. We have done this before. We can do it again.
    I will close with some words from Emmanuel. I call 
YouthBuild my stepping stool, the biggest step I have ever 
taken in a positive direction. YouthBuild helped me realize 
that my neighborhood, my community is more than just where I 
live. My community is the world.
    Thank you. I look forward to your questions.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Showalter follows:]

                 Prepared Statement of Thomas Showalter
                 
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


    Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you, Mr. Showalter. Thank you very 
much.
    Next, we will hear from Ms. Lindner.

  STATEMENT OF DEB LINDNER, HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER, PRECOR, 
                          WHITSETT, NC

    Ms. Lindner. Chairwoman Wilson, Ranking Member Murphy, and 
distinguished Members of the Higher Education and Workforce 
Investment Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to speak 
with you all today.
    My name is Deb Lindner, and I am the H.R. manager and at 
Precor, located in North Carolina. I have served as the 
executive board Members with both NC local and State workforce 
boards. I am also a part of the National Skills Coalition and 
Business Leaders United Manufacturing Industry Recovery Panel.
    Companies like Precor are actively engaging in efforts to 
build a skilled pipeline of young workers in our industry. I am 
urging Congress to support industry or sector partnerships that 
bring together education and industry partners to support on-
the-job learning and incumbent worker training that helps us 
upskill existing workers and create entry-level positions for 
the next-generation workers appeared to support costs 
associated with transportation and childcare that too often 
serve as barriers to young people's success.
    Today the workforce landscape has changed, and we have lost 
a year of developing the next-generation workers. Workers that 
we furloughed were forced to find jobs in other industries or 
manufacturing subsectors or have left the area. Partnerships 
that were the foundation of our hiring pipeline, those with 
workforce boards, high schools, community organizations are not 
producing the number of candidates we are used to.
    We invest in workforce partnerships for two key reasons. 
First, public investments in the infrastructure that bring 
together small- and mid-sized companies enable us to scale our 
impact. No single company can succeed alone, but the 
infrastructure of these partnerships make it possible. Many 
workers will need short-term training at the local community 
college to get back up to speed on skills necessary to be 
successful on the job, but Precor alone does not hire enough 
workers for the community college to run a dedicated program 
for our needs. We rely on organizations within these 
partnerships including the local workforce board, Triad 
Goodwill, and the community college to identify potential 
applicants and help us hire young people who will be our 
workforce of the future.
    At Precor, consistently the most challenging aspect of 
hiring new workers, especially young workers, is their access 
to reliable transportation. Our plant is off any public 
transportation routes. We have young adults who do not have 
reliable transportation and must rely on others to get to and 
from work.
    For example, I hired a great candidate as a welder. Within 
the first week, he started having attendance problems. In 
speaking with him, he revealed that a family Member promised to 
get him to and from work, decided all of a sudden to stop 
providing the ride. So we as a company, we decided to book and 
pay for a hotel room close to within walking distance so that 
he could get at least two paychecks and purchase a vehicle.
    I applaud the Committee's bipartisan efforts to modernize 
the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and for taking 
time to identify the diverse strategies necessary to ensure our 
public workforce system serves both businesses like Precor and 
youth, people of color, and people without a high school 
diploma who have been the hardest hit by the current crisis. 
Job training will not solve our current crisis, but it is part 
of the solution and critical to ensuring an inclusive economic 
recovery.
    First, ensuring public support for partnerships that bring 
together small- and mid-sized companies like Precor and our 
partners in the manufacturing council and community and 
technical college and the public workforce system would make a 
huge impact in our community. WIOA currently supports these 
industry and sector partnerships but provides no dedicated 
resources to empower states and local areas to invest in this 
strategy.
    For Precor, dedicated resources to support industry 
partnership through WIOA reauthorization, National 
Apprenticeship Act reauthorization, and any response or 
recovery to the current crisis is critical to our ability to 
support the infrastructure we already have established. These 
partnerships should bring together employers, as well as 
community organizations, that have historically served youth, 
in particular opportunity youth, who are not connected to 
school or employment.
    We are making the investment in our workers and can invest 
leverage and scale investments like ours when matched with 
robust public investment. These investments would also support 
costs of providing incumbent worker training of helping our 
workers develop digital skills and upskilling on the job 
training opportunities for young people.
    Finally, to effectively reach the most robust and diverse 
pipeline of young people in our communities, Precor needs 
Congress to support investments in transportation and support 
services as part of WIOA reauthorization.
    Thank you for the opportunity to speak today, and I look 
forward to answering any questions.
    [The prepared statement of Ms. Lindner follows:]

                   Prepared Statement of Deb Lindner
                   
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]



    Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you. Thank you so much, Ms. 
Lindner.
    And now we will hear from Mr. Garrett.

STATEMENT OF BYRON GARRETT, PRESIDENT & CEO, NATIONAL JOB CORPS 
                  ASSOCIATION, WASHINGTON, DC

    Mr. Garrett. Thank you, Chairwoman Wilson, Ranking Member 
Murphy, and all the Members of the Subcommittee for inviting me 
to testify today.
    My name is Byron Garrett, and I serve as president and CEO 
of the National Job Corps Association. As a long-life education 
advocate including prior stints as a former school principal, 
education commissioner for the city of Phoenix, CEO of the 
National Parent Teacher Association, and co-convener of the 
Helping America's Youth Initiative led by former First Lady 
Laura Bush, it is a distinct honor to contribute to 
conversations that will impact the lives of millions of our 
Nation's youth.
    I joined the Job Corps community in the summer of 2019, 
motivated by the program's mission: To offer opportunity to our 
Nation's most marginalized youth.
    A little more than 6 months into my tenure, the COVID0919 
pandemic made clear the importance of that mission. Millions of 
Americans lost jobs, faced eviction, and turned to food banks 
to fend off hunger. Congress created the Job Corps program 
specifically to serve these students who are most impacted and 
affected, the one in three who are disconnected in the ages of 
16 to 24 who lack ample education and employment opportunities.
    At over 120 campuses including one in every State, Job 
Corps has the capacity to support tens of thousands of young 
Americans. Job Corps provides opportunities to earn a diploma 
or equivalency, career preparation for over 100 high-demand 
professions, earn industry-recognized credentials, participate 
in pre-apprenticeships and work-based learning, and the 
opportunity to dually enroll in college. We do a lot. Some 
programs such as the Benjamin L. Hooks campus in Memphis, 
Tennessee, that Secretary Walsh and Second Gentleman Emhoff 
visited last week, Job Corps even offers childcare and Head 
Start programs.
    And we have seen the proof in Job Corps. From homelessness 
to Harvard, from a child of an incarcerated father and high 
school dropout to celebrated tech entrepreneur and investor on 
Shark Tank, from dropout to two-time heavyweight champion of 
the world, and from the homeless child of farm-working 
immigrants to become the chief judge on the Idaho State Court 
of Appeals, these stories share the beginnings as millions of 
disadvantaged youth whose futures can be brighter because of 
Job Corps.
    While most of our students did not go to Harvard or become 
heavyweight champion of the world, by and large our students 
achieve incredible outcomes under the guidance of our dedicated 
educators and staff. The average Job Corps enrollee enters the 
program reading below the eighth-grade level but advances two-
and-a-half grade levels after less than a year in the program. 
In the last complete year before COVID, 92 percent of our 
enrollees earned an industry-recognized credential with more 
than 85 percent of graduates transitioning into employment, 
post-secondary education, or enlisting in the military.
    We are proud of the success of our students and what they 
achieve in Job Corps and their lives after the program. But 
they are also opportunities, some highlighted by the COVID 
pandemic, to better orient our program to meet the needs of 
marginalized youth and the employers who need skilled workers 
to grow the American economy and our communities.
    In recent years Job Corps has consistently had empty beds 
and classroom seats across the country, while homeless shelters 
were full and millions of young Americans were out of work and 
out of school. Each year we expel thousands of students for 
behaviors such as marijuana use that can instead be addressed 
by our staff and enable those students to grow and become 
productive Members of society.
    Our staff are frontline essential workers who house, feed, 
education, and care for young people during this pandemic who 
had nowhere else to go. We have seen their wages fail to keep 
pace with local school districts and even decrease in some 
cases, making it impossible to retain our best staff. I would 
offer the following four recommendations and priorities for Job 
Corps reauthorization to help more socially and economic 
disadvantaged young Americans.
    One, reduce barriers to enrollment so that we can ease the 
documentation process for entry. Two, allow a system of 
positive behavioral interventions and supports and a 
progressive disciplinary system to maintain campus safety, 
while enabling more students to become responsible, employable 
citizens. Three, enable flexibility to take a student and 
employer-centered approach to Job Corps campus operations. And, 
four, ensure that Job Corps teachers and staff are compensated 
appropriately.
    The COVID0919 pandemic has made clear the extraordinary 
need for Job Corps. Since the start of the pandemic, about 
20,000 struggling young Americans have applied to enroll. And 
the stories that we see on public forums like Reddit are 
absolutely heartbreaking. They are pleading for our support. 
Many are homeless, hungry, or concerned about how to support 
their children and Job Corps offers hope in a desert of 
desperation and we consider this an investment in the future. 
Any young person should be able to walk through the door of a 
one-stop center or engage in the homeless support services and 
be immediately referred to a Job Corps admissions counselor.
    We look forward to engaging in this robust discussion. And 
as I tell people all the time, if the mind can conceive and the 
heart can believe it, then the hands can achieve it, because it 
all begins in the mind.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Garrett follows:]

                  Prepared Statement of Byron Garrett
                  
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]




    Chairwoman Wilson. Well, thank you so much, Mr. Garrett.
    And I just want to stay that in my respective community, 
the president of the NAACP is a product of Job Corps and she 
actually said to me that if it were not for Job Corps, she 
would either be dead or she would be in prison because she was 
a rebellious teenager and immigrant from Haiti and rebelled 
against the grandparents that were raising her and Job Corps 
saved her life. Thank you so much.
    Under Committee Rule 9(a) we will now question witnesses 
under the five-minute rule. I tell be recognizing Subcommittee 
Members in seniority order. Again, to ensure that the Members' 
five-minute rule is adhered to, staff will be keeping track of 
time and the timer will show a blinking light when time has 
expired. Please be attentive to the time. Wrap up when your 
time is over, and remute your microphone. And as Chair of the 
Committee; I now recognize myself for 5 minutes.
    Mr. Garrett, how have the 2016 updates to the Job Corps 
zero-tolerance policy impacted student retention in Job Corps? 
And what reforms would you recommend to this policy to help 
students stay connected to the Job Corps program?
    Mr. Garrett. Thank you for that question, Chairwoman 
Wilson, and thank you for that example.
    We hear stories of students just like your NAACP present 
who recognize the value of having benefited from the program. 
We see that one in four Job Corps students are mandatorily 
expelled. This accounts for the majority of students who don't 
graduate. Many of those expulsions are for substance use or 
minor behavioral infractions.
    I was visiting the Milwaukee center 2 years ago and when I 
was there on the ground, visiting a center, a student broke a 
glass because they threw a ball. They broke a window. And that 
was considered a major infraction, even though of us there saw 
what happened. Had we not engaged at that point in time, the 
way the policy is designed, that student could have been 
immediately expelled.
    And so the zero-tolerance policy, we ask that in 
legislation that we have greater flexibility. We understand the 
need for greater accountability, but we need greater 
flexibility.
    One final example is that each year over 6,000 students 
enroll, test positive for marijuana use and, as a result, drop 
out or they are expelled in less than 1091/2 months. But we 
also find that when students go through our full program, we 
are able to support them in getting the right behavioral 
supports they need to change their behavior and, therefore, in 
getting their academic needs met, as well as their 
employability. And so we recognize that there are major changes 
that need to shift within the way the current ZT policy, or 
zero-tolerance policy, is structured.
    Chairwoman Wilson. OK. It is my understanding that, as a 
result of COVID0919, Job Corps now only has about 15,000 
students enrolled, when they have the capacity of 60,000. What 
challenges does Job Corps face in enrolling more students, and 
what are some ways that we could address the eligibility 
challenges Job Corps faces as a Congress?
    Mr. Garrett. Thanks for that question as well, and you are 
correct. The capacity is right around 60,000. And actually in 
2012, it was lowered due to budgetary concerns about 18 
percent. And even if we were at full capacity, because of that 
lowering, there would still be additional space in many centers 
across the country. And during the pandemic there was a slow 
shift to move to virtual and distance learning. Distribution of 
laptops took greater time than anticipated. Because of the 
Federal process, the Department of Labor had to officially 
procure those programs versus the actual youth service provider 
being able to do that onsite. And we believe we could have 
expedited getting more students engaged and connected from a 
distance perspective.
    I think the second piece, as you think about this 
particular work and how we look where students need to be going 
forward, we have a different type of responsibility in this day 
and age. When we look at our population and we know who they 
are, they oftentimes, Chairwoman Wilson, it is more difficult 
for a Job Corps student or a student wanting to be in Job Corps 
to apply for this program, because of the burden of paperwork, 
than it is to apply for college. And we know that this process 
must be streamlined to become much more efficient so that a 
student can walk in 1 day, be referred the next, and not have 
to wait weeks or months to officially enter the program. So we 
strongly recommend really streamlining the applications and 
admissions process to make it more readily available.
    The last thing I would say is that many of our students, as 
you know, coming from disadvantaged backgrounds, the health 
information, finance information, being homeless or transient, 
they don't even have the documentation required. And we know 
that Congress has already designated opportunity zones which 
tells us their economic condition. So if a student came from 
that environment or were homeless, they should automatically be 
eligible without having this additional hurdle to prove or 
overcome that they belong in the program.
    Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you so much.
    Mr. Showalter, I am concerned about youth who have become 
disconnected during the pandemic. How can we ensure that this 
population does not fall between the tracks--the cracks?
    Mr. Showalter. Chairwoman, I really appreciate that 
question.
    In our field we have been doing a lot to try to keep track 
of adaptations and innovations that have been happening during 
the pandemic. My organization, the National Youth Employment 
Coalition, as well as the Aspen Institute Opportunity Youth 
Forum, have done some great jobs in documenting some of the 
adaptations that programs have made.
    Unfortunately, there are still a lot of young people that 
the disconnection rate has increased markedly and at this 
point, you know, WIOA-funded programs only serve a little over 
200,000 people each year out of, as several of us have alluded 
to, the 10 million that are out there and, as I think you are 
alluding to, the number of young people who school districts 
may not even have counted as dropouts yet.
    So programs are doing everything they can to find young 
people, and for most programs they have a waiting line of young 
people who want to get into the program.
    Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you so much.
    And now I am going to recognize Ranking Member, Dr. Foxx.
    Ms. Foxx. Thank you, Madam Chairman. I appreciate this, and 
I thank all our witnesses for being with us.
    Mr. Garrett, you have painted a very, very rosy picture of 
Job Corps but reports like these paint a very different picture 
of Job Corps and show it at being almost totally dysfunctional.
    We have over 30 different government reports and audits 
raising concerns over the safety and security of Job Corps 
participants. While the program is meant to be an outlet to 
help disadvantaged youth gain the skills necessary to achieve a 
good education, the past failures of the program do a 
disservice to students, staff, and hardworking taxpayers who 
fund these programs.
    And I am very concerned about your saying you are at 25 
percent capacity right now, and I am wondering how much of that 
money is going to be recovered for the hardworking taxpayers 
who continue to work during COVID and receive nothing from the 
money they are giving to Job Corps.
    A 2017 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office 
found that Job Corps centers reported 61 deaths of students on 
Job Corps campuses, another 204 that occurred offsite, a 
quarter of which were reported as homicides. In 2018, GAO 
reported there had been 13,673 incidents involving students in 
just 1 year in which over 2,500 were reported cases of assault. 
That same year the Department of Labor Office of the Inspector 
General reported that of randomly sampled participants with a 
documented employment history, over 50 percent were placed in 
jobs similar to those they held prior to their participation in 
the program and a number even returned to the same employer.
    I would also like to submit for the record these reports, 
along with the recent article in Washington Monthly, outlining 
many of these same concerns.
    Madam Chair.
    Chairwoman Wilson. So noted.
    Ms. Foxx. While I understand there are Job Corps students 
who find some benefits to the program, there is clearly room 
for substantial improvement. As we begin discussions about a 
reauthorization of WIOA and the Job Corps program, how can we 
increase accountability for center contractors and ensure that 
performance improves going forward to better serve students and 
we don't rely just on anecdotal stories from you?
    Mr. Garrett. Thank you, Dr. Foxx, for that question and the 
additional commentary. And I am well acquainted, as we all are 
now, with both the OIG and the GAO reports.
    What I would tell you is that, given the student population 
we serve, what you identified, most of those deaths or centers 
were actually medical. Almost all homicides and suicides were 
off-center.
    Our students, what we know, given their background, the 
situation and circumstances that they come from, they are safer 
in our care and on campus then they are in their respective 
homes, even right now in the middle of the pandemic. We know 
for a fact, as we have talked with students, as we have talked 
with their families, the environments that they come from. Many 
of them are literally homeless at this particular point in 
time, just trying to get back into a center.
    And so while there is room for improvement and there always 
will be, as we see on college campuses that have incidents that 
are similar and also quite alarming, we know for a fact that 
the opportunities that we are providing young people to get 
back to where it is they need to be, we know for a fact that 
the program is highly effective and highly successful.
    As it relates to what we can do with the youth service 
providers in shifting their approach and their greater 
accountability, we, too, share your concern in terms of 
accountability and flexibility. We believe our Members and the 
youth service providers need a greater flexibility for how they 
operate their program, while at the same time the Federal 
department, the Department of Labor, continues to offer the 
level of accountability that is necessary. So this dual idea of 
flexibility but also greater accountability is necessary.
    The last thing I would say is this. As we think about young 
people in this particular day and age in society as it has 
adjusted and it has changed and the growing needs of our young 
folks, the healthcare issues they have, the mental health 
issues that go unaddressed, the Job Corps program meets the 
total needs of those young people. And, again, while there is 
room for improvement, we know for a fact that they are better 
off in this particular program as we see from the successes 
than if they were not.
    Ms. Foxx. Well, I think we keep trying to put Band-aids on 
programs. And until we look at what is causing these young 
people to be in the situations they are in, then I think we are 
doing nothing to improve our culture.
    And, Mr. Showalter, we have run out of time. But I will 
submit a question to you for a response relative to comments 
that you made in your testimony.
    This is a deeply trouble situation that we have here with 
Job Corps. And it is unacceptable to the taxpayers, as well as 
to the people who are participating in the programs and the 
expectations that we have for it.
    With that, Madam Chairman, I apologize for going over. And 
I yield back.
    Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you, Dr. Foxx.
    And the last statement you made, you said that we needed to 
look at what happens and causes children to be eligible for Job 
Corps. And you and I started on a quest like this my first year 
on the Committee. So I am saying to you in the public arena 
that we are going to be having conversations, Dr. Foxx, about 
what you said and that we are on the same path. And I 
appreciate your comments.
    And now we are going to have questions from Mr. Takano.
    Mr. Takano. Thank you, Madam Chair.
    I appreciate a hearing on this very important topic for our 
youth.
    Ms. Fulmore-Townsend, from your experience at the 
Philadelphia Youth Network, how have you seen work-based 
learning programs such as internships, pre-apprenticeships, or 
youth apprenticeship programs support student success?
    Ms. Fulmore-Townsend. Thank you so much for that question?
    There are several ways in which we have seen internships, 
pre-apprenticeships and youth work experience programs support 
student success. First and foremost, it expands the world of 
thinking for young people, and so they are able to make real-
world connections to what they are learning in the classroom.
    Second, it exposes them to a greater social capital. They 
actually connect with adults who support their goals. Our data 
shows that 90 percent--almost 90 percent of the young people 
who participate in our summer jobs program respond that they 
feel more prepared for school and more prepared for a future 
career after participating in our program.
    Additionally, young people earn real dollars when they work 
in the summer. And guess what they do with that money? They 
reinvest it right back into the community. They use that money 
to support their basic needs and prepare to return back to 
school. And so we have seen students' success be bolstered by 
employment experiences.
    Mr. Takano. So, Ms. Fulmore-Townsend, let's unpack that 
word ``social capital.'' It has been used several times by 
witnesses. It simply just means these young people make 
connections to contacts, adult contacts, or other contacts, 
that will connect them to other opportunities. Is that the way 
we think of social capital?
    Ms. Fulmore-Townsend. I think about it a little bit more 
deeply than that. So not just contacts but understanding the 
behaviors and the expectations of the workplace, understanding 
how relationships can be maximized to advance your goals, 
becoming more comfortable with asking questions and seeking 
help which are critical to any person's success. None of us 
here today got to where we are alone and our young people need 
an army, a village of adults to help them achieve their goals 
as well. So it is more than contacts. It is about relationship 
and true engagement.
    Mr. Takano. Relationships that will often persist and 
become a part of that young person.
    Tell me, why is it so important that these opportunities be 
paid?
    Ms. Fulmore-Townsend. It is critical that the opportunities 
be compensated. Young people have to learn the value of their 
talents. And it is important because, again, as I share, young 
people invest those dollars back into the community. And so we 
are teaching them, by compensation, that not only is their 
talent valued but what to expect from the workplace and how to 
use that money to change community.
    Mr. Takano. Well, thank you.
    From your experience as the president and CEO of 
Philadelphia Youth Network, as well as your role on the board 
of the Community College of Philadelphia--I was a community 
college trustee for 22years before I became a Member of 
Congress--what insights or recommendations could you provide on 
strengthening alignment between the workforce system and the 
K0912 education system as well as community colleges?
    Ms. Fulmore-Townsend. Sure. I am proud to be a trustee at 
the Community College of Philadelphia, where Dr. Guy Generals 
is the president. And there are a few strategies that we are 
employing locally that I think are worth mentioning.
    The first is that we ensure support through our Catto 
Scholarships so that young people can have early exposure to 
the academic content for college.
    We have dual enrollment programs, which are common across 
the country. And I urge you to consider funding that adequately 
so that young people are able to prepare for college while they 
are still in high school--and not just prepare, but to acquire 
credits during that time.
    We also see opportunities for alignment with teachers and 
college professors around math curriculum, literature skills, 
as well as exposing both K0912 and college professors to the 
industry needs.
    And so there is great opportunity to close the gaps between 
those systems by creating more early college programs, like our 
Middle College--which, this year, we graduated our first class 
of 90 students, who will not just graduate with a high school 
diploma but will also have an associate's degree. That type of 
innovation can be commonplace in America if we choose to invest 
in it.
    Mr. Takano. Thank you so much for that answer.
    Madam Chair, I am such a big fan of dual enrollment and 
middle colleges. And I know that my colleague Suzanne Bonamici 
and the Ranking Member of the Committee, the full committee--I 
hope that we are able to get some resources to have Members go 
and visit these programs. And Philadelphia is so nearby; I hope 
we can do that.
    I yield back.
    Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you, Mr. Takano. And that whole 
dual enrollment is such a wonderful phenomenon that we are 
experiencing all over the Nation.
    And now we will hear from our Ranking Member, Dr. Murphy.
    Mr. Murphy. Thank you, Madam Chairman.
    Let me just echo Representative Takano's statement. I think 
dual enrollment has been a game-changer for young adults, that 
they can actually pursue two different lines of education in a 
much more efficient and productive manner. So I agree with him 
completely.
    Let me just turn my question to Ms. Lindner at first.
    Ms. Lindner, your story is one that I hear over and over 
again from employers in my district and from across the Nation, 
that there is a disconnect between the need to get individuals 
back to work and the skills that businesses like yours are 
looking for in their future employees.
    So it is one thing to give our youth a skill, but it is 
quite another thing that it actually is a skill that local 
employers need. But it seems far too often that businesses are 
either not aware of the services that are provided by the 
workforce system or that the system itself doesn't fit their 
particular needs.
    So tell me, what benefits has your company seen in 
partnering with the workforce system to engage young people and 
provide them with the experience to work?
    Ms. Lindner. That is a great question.
    Pre-COVID, you know, we had successful partnerships with 
the workforce boards, Triad Goodwill, and a few others. But I 
think, ultimately, I am seeing more challenges post-COVID, 
meaning that I don't think that the workforce boards and some 
of the partnerships out there--they are struggling just as well 
as we are struggling, and I don't think they have a good 
understanding of what a company like mine needs. And I think 
that it might be that they are not tasked, or they are not 
federally funded or what have you.
    But, at the same respect, when you talk about the 
successes: on-the-job training. Precor was one of six founding 
companies for the Guilford Apprenticeship Program for high 
school students. While it is very successful today, for me at 
Precor, we struggled because a lot of the high school students 
did not have transportation to come to my side of the county. 
So that was a problem. So we ended up just doing our own 
incumbent workforce upskilling training and just taking it on 
ourselves.
    And I think that is where I sit today, unfortunately. You 
know, I have a lot of questions. Where do I need to go? I have 
reached out to my business partners, and they are struggling.
    So, while I don't know if I am actually answering your 
question about success, I know it is out there, and I am 
actually restarting everything. Because you have to remember, 
we downsized, we furloughed last year, and now we are just 
trying to build back better again. And so it is like I have to 
restart all of my programs again with my community partners.
    Mr. Murphy. Right. Well, thank you, Ms. Lindner. I do think 
that the American businesses are struggling now because of the 
effect of COVID, and even more so now because there seems to be 
a large propensity of folks that are needed in the workforce 
who are staying home--an entirely different thing that we are 
dealing with and something that I think, with training, will 
take a long time to pick back up.
    In my time remaining, I am going to ask Ms. Townsend just a 
question.
    I appreciate you sharing your experience that your 
organization does to support youth in and around Philadelphia. 
And I hear the constant disconnect between employers and 
individuals looking for work due to the vast and growing skills 
gap, and obviously which has been exacerbated by COVID.
    How have you developed relationships with the employers in 
your area? And what do you think those businesses value when 
bringing young people on board through your program?
    Ms. Fulmore-Townsend. Thank you so much, Congressman 
Murphy.
    With our employers, we learn quite a bit. First, employers 
value ease, and they value options. So, when you are creating 
an employer engagement system, you have to have a tiered and 
customized approach to building relationships, understanding 
their talent needs, ensuring that training is well-connected to 
those talent needs, giving them space and voice in the 
curriculum development, and building strong partnerships 
between the youth-serving agencies and the organizations.
    For us, our employers, it is more than just being civically 
responsible; it is about building the next generation of 
talent. And so we work together to create solutions like our 
Career Development Framework, which is endorsed by our 
employers, which translate the employer expectations to basic 
skills that anyone can understand--a young person, a family 
Member, an educator--so that we are all on the same page, 
working together.
    When employers told us they needed help with virtual 
internships, we responded. We created a Virtual Internship 
Toolkit. We provide coaching for their staff so that they can 
be effective supervisors with young people.
    We will stop at nothing in order to ensure our employers 
are successful, because we know that helping them be successful 
is the gateway to ensuring young people are employed.
    Mr. Murphy. Great. Thank you so much. I think my time is 
up. Thank you very much for your response.
    Madam Chairman, I will yield back.
    Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you so much, Dr. Murphy.
    We will now hear from Representative Jayapal.
    Ms. Jayapal. Thank you, Madam Chair, for this very 
important hearing.
    The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act is a powerful 
tool to equip working people with the education and training 
services that they need for today's labor market. As we 
approach reauthorization recovering from the pandemic, we have 
to address unique barriers to employment that are faced by 
young people of color in this country. That means grappling 
with the reality of systemic racism in today's labor market and 
prioritizing support for jobs that pay people a living wage.
    In my home State of Washington, lawmakers and civil society 
organizations have long highlighted the specific issues facing 
young people that are disconnected from education and the 
workforce. Research shows that young people of color are less 
likely to be employed between the ages of 16 and 29 and that 
these early impediments leave Black, Latinx, and indigenous 
students worse off when it comes to long-term career prospects 
and economic security.
    Despite the fact that racial discrimination claims are 
among the most commonly filed claims with the EEOC, they have 
the lowest rates of success, with only 15percent of cases 
resulting in some form of relief in 2019.
    Ms. Townsend, how can this Subcommittee use WIOA 
reauthorization to address barriers to employment for young 
people of color, such as employment discrimination?
    Ms. Fulmore-Townsend. Thank you so much for that question.
    I alluded to some of the areas that I think are really 
critical. The first is, we have to make sure that young people 
of color are connected to training that is connected to a 
sustainable wage. So we have to focus on growing industries, we 
have to be very cognizant of STEM-related fields, and we have 
to support any gaps in education and academic attainment that 
will allow them to be successful.
    But it is not just on the part of programs and young 
people. We have to work with our employers to address hiring 
standards, to uncover bias, and to support them in thinking 
through what is actually needed for the position and how young 
people can demonstrate competence for those positions.
    Succinctly said, there is a bar on the hiring side that 
every employee must clear, and we have to put the supports in 
place so that our young people who have been traditionally 
disadvantaged are able to clear that bar.
    Ms. Jayapal. Thank you. Very helpful.
    And as we think about the youth opportunity funds and the 
importance of those funds, are there specific features of the 
programs that we should be focused on improving to address the 
unique needs of youth that have left the traditional classroom?
    Ms. Fulmore-Townsend. Certainly. I think focusing on 
outcomes and being very specific--because what works for some 
will not work for all, and we have to employ flexibility when 
we think about how we measure success. Progress is equally as 
important as the ultimate goals. And we often measure the 
success of a program only by the end game, and there is a lot 
of work in between the outcome, and that should be valued as 
well.
    I think, additionally, rethinking that 75 percent set-
aside. It really forces restrictions and, as Chairwoman Wilson 
said earlier, unintended consequences. Intervention, prevention 
is cheaper.
    So we should be prudent with the economic resources that we 
have and allow communities the ability to decide which strategy 
is going to be most effective. They are closer to the problem; 
they have the better solutions.
    Ms. Jayapal. And last question for you: What difference 
does it make for the long-term earnings potential of young 
people of color when they are matched with jobs that pay a 
living wage?
    Ms. Fulmore-Townsend. Significant difference.
    And so what we have seen from the work that we have done in 
surveying our alumni and collecting qualitative research as 
well as quantitative research is that what young people--the 
skills that they acquire they continue to apply. They are more 
likely to keep their jobs. They are more likely to earn not 
just a self-sustaining wage, they have better connections with 
their family. They tend to be more civically engaged.
    And so, in short, what we are building is more civic-
minded, prepared young people when they engage in WIOA 
programming and succeed. It is important for us to reinforce 
the things that work so that young people have a greater 
opportunity to connect to the workforce but, more importantly, 
to live their very best life.
    Ms. Jayapal. That is a beautiful way to end. I think if we 
want to truly serve young people, we have to equip them with 
the skills and the resources that they need to flourish over 
the course of their lives. And, you know, that is everything 
from the counseling, the intervention that you talked about, 
the counseling, the case management services, and the unique 
employment barriers that young people of color face.
    So I look forward to working with all of my colleagues to 
meet the needs of all young people, including young people of 
color, as we work to reauthorize WIOA this year.
    Thank you, Madam Chair. I yield back.
    Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you. Thank you so much.
    I would like to remind everyone that, pursuant to the 
Office of the Attending Physician and Committee RuleTwo, 
everyone, every single person in the Committee room, whether on 
camera or not, is required to wear a mask, pursuant to the 
instructions distributed by the Office of the Attending 
Physician. If it is not your turn to speak, please wear your 
mask for the health and safety of everyone else in the room, 
including yourselves. Thank you.
    If you are in the Committee room, please put on a mask so 
that we can continue the meeting.
    I now recognize Representative Grothman.
    Mr. Grothman. OK. Can you all hear me? Thank you.
    My first comment is just really a comment for Mr. 
Showalter. He said something I was a little bit disturbed 
about. ``Those without bachelor's degrees face a scarcity of 
career pathways for young people without such credentials.''
    At least in my district, and I think nationwide, there is a 
plethora of people with bachelor's degrees who wind up deeply 
in debt and don't have any skills that make them any more 
employable. Meanwhile, whether you talk to the medical 
community, the manufacturing community, the construction 
community, there are so many great jobs out there that don't 
require a 4-year bachelor's degree.
    And I am a little bit concerned because you apparently are 
in the area of employment. This advice, the ``bachelor's 
degree, bachelor's degree, bachelor's degree,'' has allowed so 
many people to wind up so in debt. And, frequently, they find 
themselves--they go back and get a skill when they are 28 or 
29years old.
    I think some of this is driven by snobbery of people who do 
have a college degree and think somehow their job makes them 
better than people without a college degree. But I encourage 
you to go to some construction sites, go to some medical 
facilities, go to some manufacturers, and you will find great 
jobs and, quite frankly, a lot more employment security than 
people who have some vague degree in social work or something.
    So now I want to switch over to Mr. Garrett.
    Mr. Garrett, I had the privilege of visiting one of the 
Milwaukee Job Corps centers outside my district with former 
Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia prior to the pandemic. It was 
very illuminating.
    But, in addition to technical skills, what can we do to 
better prepare young workers to meet employers' expectations 
and to give employers confidence that these youth will be 
responsible workers?
    Mr. Garrett. Thank you, Congressman. First and foremost, 
thank you, certainly, for visiting the center with Secretary 
Scalia. We always try to tell folks, when you get to visit and 
engage with students and also talk with staff, oftentimes their 
perspective changes when you hear the real-life stories of how 
the program benefits young people.
    But, specifically to your question, there are a number of 
things that we currently do and additional things that need to 
be done.
    So the whole notion as we talk about having positive 
behavioral interventions and support in helping young people, 
outside of their technical skill for their trade, gain the 
actual soft skills, as some people refer to them, in business 
that are still necessary. What does it mean to be responsible, 
to show up on time, to dress and be prepared, to have 
conversation and be able to engage, and follow and see things 
through?
    Many young people, as you know, especially coming from the 
Milwaukee area or other areas across the country, oftentimes 
they lack that type of structure and discipline and really rely 
upon the program to allow them to be in a structured, safe 
environment.
    The other piece specific to employers is, they value the 
soft-skills piece in addition to the trades and certifications, 
because it creates a more well-rounded employee that comes to 
work, and they understand that they are capable. That is why we 
support work-based learning opportunities, to really show and 
not just tell employers that students are capable.
    Mr. Grothman. OK.
    I have a general question for you. And this is kind of a 
followup on what Representative Foxx said.
    We talk about priority populations and people who come to 
Job Corps without structure and discipline in their lives. What 
type of background causes somebody to grow up without structure 
and discipline in their life?
    Mr. Garrett. Well, sir, I would say there are a host of 
factors that come into that. I wouldn't say that there is some 
broad, stereotypical generalization that I would make.
    Oftentimes, economic conditions certainly exacerbate 
challenges. If you come from an impoverished background or if 
you are a 16-or 17-year-old young person who is literally 
homeless and transient, you lack the structure, because you are 
trying to figure out how do I just simply navigate day-to-day 
living, literally hand-to-mouth every single day. Or if you 
have--
    Mr. Grothman. I guess what I am trying to get at, what type 
of family background would lead someone to be homeless or lead 
someone to not have any structure in their home? What type of 
family background would--
    Mr. Garrett. Well, there are a variety of family 
backgrounds. And I would say, as one of the Members just 
alluded to, systemic racism has created significant issues 
geographically, depending on where you live.
    But what we see is that students in our programs hail from 
rural communities, urban communities, suburban communities, 
come from a zero-parent household because they have lost family 
Members. We see students who come from a dual-parent household. 
We even see students that come from an educated household.
    So folks want to say that you can cast this wide net and 
then minimize it to say, this is the only factor that 
contributed to this particular student's behavior or for them 
to become so marginalized. And there are a number of factors, 
depending upon where you are geographically in the country.
    I would say, as the research shows, poverty is usually the 
leading indicator, because you don't have access to the same 
level of supports and resources, whether that is mental health 
issues, whether it is education opportunities.
    So there are a number of contributing factors that really 
allow someone to end up in a position that they really need the 
benefit of Job Corps.
    The last thing I would tell you is that, also, our 
traditional educational system, the way it is designed and 
structured, does not meet the needs of every single young 
person, and some people need an opportunity that they can just 
focus. ``I want to focus on my academic career so I can 
complete that.'' Or some say, ``I just really need to focus on 
getting a great trade or a great certification so I can earn a 
higher wage,'' and they want to be in a program that is really 
going to position them to do that.
    And if they are in a residential center, they don't need 
the additional distractions and noise of the environment that 
could allow them to be grouped with someone else, where they 
can really focus on their trajectory and their dedicated 
success.
    And so there are a number of factors that contribute to how 
a young person ends up at a Job Corps center.
    Mr. Grothman. Either for you or anyone else, if I have a 
couple seconds: Are we doing things to make sure that people, 
when they have children themselves, have a more structured 
environment for their children? Does anybody deal with that?
    Chairwoman Wilson. You are over time.
    Mr. Grothman. I am over time. Well, OK. That is OK. Thank 
you.
    Chairwoman Wilson. We will now go to Ms. Manning, 
Representative Manning.
    Ms. Manning. Thank you, Madam Chair.
    My first question I will direct to my fellow North 
Carolinian, Ms. Lindner.
    In your testimony, you discuss the challenges that youth, 
especially low-income youth, face in accessing employment 
opportunities. And we have talked about that a little bit. But 
I was struck by your example of how youth couldn't access 
employment opportunities if they didn't have access to 
transportation. And I appreciate your recommendation that we 
expand access to supportive services for youth.
    What additional supports do you see youth needing to come 
prepared for the employment opportunities that your company 
provides?
    Ms. Lindner. You know, there is probably a lot of barriers 
that I probably can't even begin to touch on. But, for me 
personally, in my organization, besides transportation, 
childcare. I would love to do youth apprentice programs, but, 
you know, the dedicated staff that they require at my 
organization, you know, is burdensome to a certain extent.
    But, at the same respect, I think soft skills, tech skills, 
access to technology. You know, as an employer whose 
application process is done online, that is huge. I know one 
thing that--you know, they may have a smartphone, they may be 
able to do everything, but they may not have a computer. I know 
that is--when I do get potential candidates, I send them to 
Triad Goodwill, I send them to a lot of my workforce partners 
that I know have the access or give them the training. But, 
again, they have to be able to get there.
    Most recently, due to COVID, Triad Goodwill that had a 
career center right by our office, or our location, had to 
downsize, and now it is 20miles away.
    So I think you have to get a buy-in with employers. I think 
you have to engage, you know--we have to kind of just redo it, 
because it is different post-COVID, if that makes any sense. A 
lot of things pre-COVID, you know, were working well, but this 
has just changed. I don't know where everybody has gone, from a 
candidate perspective.
    Ms. Manning. Thank you.
    Mr. Garrett, one of the criticisms of Job Corps is that 
there is a wide variation in performance of programs across the 
country, with some programs providing life-and career-changing 
opportunities for individuals, with the performance of others 
indicating that some students just go back to similar jobs they 
have had before they started the program.
    What can be done to improve performance across all centers? 
And what are current barriers to improving performance?
    Mr. Garrett. Ms. Manning, thank you for that question. And 
I also wanted to share with you, I am a fellow North 
Carolinian, hometown of Greensboro, from Guilford, and graduate 
of formerly High Point College, now High Point University. Go 
Panthers.
    Ms. Manning. Well, I am from Greensboro as well, so glad to 
have that connection.
    Mr. Garrett. And we look forward to having you visit the 
Kittrell Center if you have time.
    I think, in relation to your question, as it relates to 
performance across the board and across the country, we favor 
the idea--and there are a number of challenges, right? So you 
have students who have to complete a certain amount of academic 
requirement, whether that is what they signed up for or whether 
they came to the program, coupled with their career. And so we 
believe that we need to have a more personalized experience for 
each student regarding what their particular career outcomes 
are and the desires for them to be engaged in the program.
    And, also, on the youth service provider end, those who 
actually operate the campuses across the country, we want to 
ensure that we have a performance-based contracting process so 
that we are ensuring that we are hiring the best staff that are 
available and that folks who are operating campuses are those 
who have the strongest track record for performance. And so we 
continue to work with the Department of Labor, who issues 
continuous guidance and great insight around how do we improve 
those performance metrics.
    But I will tell you, at the end of the day, just like a 
K0912 system or higher-education system, it really involves us 
more personalizing the experience for the student on what their 
needs and goals are to really direct them on the right pathway 
and not burden them with things that they don't find the 
necessary priority.
    If I dropped out of high school, the last thing I want to 
hear, necessarily, is that you are telling me I need to 
complete this 60-hour academic component, when I am really 
saying, ``Look, I have two kids, I may be getting ready to get 
married or not, and I am 20 or 19. I need a skill and trade 
that will allow me to do better and perform better and make a 
higher wage than if I just went to apply to a local employer 
without actually having a recognized industry-level credential 
or certification.''
    Ms. Manning. Thank you, Mr. Garrett. And the Kittrell 
center is now on my list for my next district visit.
    Mr. Garrett. Outstanding. We will see you there.
    Chairwoman Wilson. That is great. Thank you so much.
    And now Mr. Fulcher.
    Mr. Fulcher. Thank you, Madam Chair.
    I wanted to just acknowledge what Mr. Garrett said just a 
little bit ago. He acknowledged Sergio Gutierrez, who went 
through a Job Corps program. He was a justice in the Idaho 
Court of Appeals. And so we are proud of him.
    And, Mr. Garrett, thank you for that acknowledgement.
    Also, Job Corps is a major pathway to help young people 
connect in the labor workforce in my State--forestry 
management, wildfire management, other jobs. And so I want to 
leverage that to make my sales pitch. I am a sponsor of the 
Forestry Education and Workforce Development Act, which is a 
$20million discretionary grant program to provide degrees or 
certificates in forestry and forestry-related fields. So I 
wanted to just leverage that talking point with my sales pitch 
on that bill.
    But, anyway, thank you, Mr. Garrett. I do have a question 
for you. You talked about the need for Job Corps to be flexible 
enough to adapt to the skills offered for emerging industries. 
How and what can be done to engage the business community more? 
Can you speak to that, Mr. Garrett?
    Mr. Garrett. Yes. And great question and thank you for 
that.
    And I will just highlight, just for a moment, the Job Corps 
Civilian Conservation Centers. As we know, students through 
those programs, for example, have earned over $6million in 
wages in recent years fighting wildland fires and preserving 
Federal lands. And we see those dollars going directly back in 
the community. And, as we know, these aren't just opportunities 
to learn skills, but those earnings are crucial to graduates as 
they successfully make the transition from being housed and fed 
and transported by Job Corps.
    On each center, or on each campus, you will find that there 
is usually a business community liaison position who is working 
hand-in-hand with the local business community, the local 
workforce investment board, to really determine how not only do 
they place students but how do they identify opportunities, but 
also what are the emerging career opportunities or trades that 
are being projected, so that we could then align our program 
and certifications to be able to produce graduates who could 
move seamlessly into that.
    And we see great partnerships like that across the country. 
We want to see more of those replicated and certainly enhanced, 
because we know that the demand is great and that we have 
individuals who are willing to do that.
    I will say, we have also been working with the Department 
of Labor on trying to figure out how we shorten the timeline 
for, when a new trade is introduced that may be market-specific 
that is not nationwide, how can we accelerate the approval of 
that to really meet the local needs of the local workforce 
investment board in that particular emerging market.
    Mr. Fulcher. Thank you for that, Mr. Garrett.
    And I would like to also ask a question of Ms. Chekemma 
Fulmore-Townsend.
    And, in your comments, you talked about how your 
partnerships with local workforce boards and employers have 
assisted you in preparing young people for future careers.
    How do you get the word out? How do you advertise what you 
do? How are those programs known? Promotional, if you could 
speak to that, please.
    Ms. Fulmore-Townsend. Sure. Thank you, Representative 
Fulcher.
    We do a couple of things to ensure that the program is 
well-known in the community. The first is that we partner with 
other nonprofit organizations that are housed in various 
communities throughout Philadelphia. We support those 
organizations in recruiting young people. We ensure that they 
have adequate data collection. And we make sure that they have 
all of the laws and regulations required for youth employment. 
And so our nonprofit partners are a critical component.
    We also partner with our local city government. And so we 
are part of a larger initiative. It is not just summer jobs; it 
is summer jobs connected to our Office of Children and Family 
Services, and we are a part of a nexus to surround families in 
need.
    Third, we use social media very effectively in order to 
inform parents. We have created videos so that young people 
would understand what is needed for the world of work. We have 
a call center so that if families are struggling to get through 
the process, they can reach out to someone who can help 
navigate them.
    And we have also employed technology. We have a program 
locator so that if you are in a community, you can find the 
organizations that are providing those services for you.
    All of those things help us get the word out. And then we 
have 22years of performance and a track record of outcomes, and 
the community knows us for delivering on our promises to young 
people.
    Mr. Fulcher. Great. Thank you.
    And thank you to those who provided information today.
    Madam Chair, I yield back.
    Chairwoman Wilson. Well, thank you so much.
    And now Mr. Bowman, the vice Chair of our Committee, of the 
entire Education and Labor Committee.
    Mr. Bowman. Thank you, Chairwoman Wilson.
    And thank you to our witnesses for your testimony. This 
hearing has been very informative and very powerful.
    Ms. Fulmore-Townsend, can you speak to how you make 
connections and build relationships with the K0912 system, if 
at all? How are those relationships created, built, and 
strengthened so there could be a streamlined effect from the 
K0912 system into your program? Can you speak to that a bit?
    Ms. Fulmore-Townsend. Absolutely. We have a thriving 
relationship with our local K0912 system, where Dr. William 
Hite is the superintendent.
    So it starts at the top. First, we look at partnership on 
multiple levels. So not only am I in direct contact 
consistently with the superintendent, but my staff have 
multiple points of connection in the research office, in the 
high school planning office, and we work intentionally to 
design interventions and maximize local policy.
    An example of that: Young people who are engaged in career 
and technical education programs are supported through our Work 
Ready Summer Program, and we help to connect them to employers 
in the industries in which they are studying. So it makes the 
classroom learning more important to the young people, and it 
also gives employers a chance to advance curriculum.
    We also provide school-year internships, and we could not 
do that if we did not have good partnerships with our K0912 
system.
    We also, with our Career Development Framework, educators 
were a huge part of developing a common framework so that we 
could all approach career preparation in the same way. And so 
they helped us build that framework, and, in turn, they apply 
that framework to their approach to career readiness and 
thinking through, what are the expectations of a high school 
graduate?
    We also monitor data together. So, when the information 
indicates that there is a challenge, it is not one person's 
problem; it is our problem collectively. And we use data to 
inform and instruct rather than to criticize and convict. And 
that has made us all more willing to work together, to be 
vulnerable, and to plan for innovation.
    Mr. Bowman. That is amazing. I would love to connect with 
your office and learn more about that curriculum that you speak 
of, because it seems like a really necessary and powerful, 
powerful tool.
    Mr. Garrett, can you respond to the same question, just 
your relationship and connection to the K0912 system?
    Mr. Garrett. Yes. Thank you, sir. And, you know, we do 
great work in the South Bronx, just as an FYI. And we look 
forward to you--I am going to always extend the invitation to 
come to a center, given the number of students we serve--about 
700 or so just in the last 2 years prior to COVID, as an FYI 
for you.
    As it relates to our connection to the K0912 system, that 
varies across the board from campus to campus, but, in most 
cases, again, our business community liaison, the center 
directors, and many of the staff have robust partnerships with 
the school districts.
    So where we find that a student is not making their way 
through the traditional K0912 system and they are looking for 
an opportunity, how can they be placed directly in our program? 
But we have to, again, streamline the process, because, again, 
as you can imagine, if you are a student who is at your wits' 
end in the K0912 system and you are looking for an immediate 
opportunity, you don't have months to capture that student's 
attention. The fact that they even expressed interest in the 
first place or they were referred by their guidance counselor 
or social worker or case management, depending upon their 
status, we need a more expeditious process to get them directly 
enrolled in days, not weeks or months.
    And so we partner with school districts, we partner with, 
again, local workforce investment boards and community partners 
to ensure that they have a full understanding that Job Corps is 
still relevant, the nature of the work that we do, the types of 
opportunities that are available for students, and really work 
with them ongoing, from beginning to end, what is the process 
to get them in the door from their current situation to being 
on campus.
    Because we know, when a student successfully completes the 
program, it doesn't just change the trajectory of their life, 
but it really changes the trajectory of the lives of all of 
those that they are connected to.
    Mr. Showalter. Congressman could I also respond to that 
question?
    Mr. Bowman. Uh-huh.
    Prior to coming to Congress, I worked in education for 
20years as a teacher, school counselor, and middle school 
principal. And what I have seen is a disconnect between what we 
are teaching and how we are teaching and what we expect of 
young people when it comes to post-secondary opportunities. And 
it just seems like the work that you all are doing--and I will 
focus on workforce development--needs to be not just an 
intervention but needs to be part of core curriculum within the 
K0912 system.
    I think we can be doing a lot more in that space than we 
are currently doing. And, you know, your testimony is really 
important, and I think we need to continue to think about what 
it looks like in our K0912 spaces. So thank you all for sharing 
that.
    Madam Chair, I yield back.
    Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you, Mr. Bowman.
    I had that exact conversation with the Committee staff 
yesterday on an issue just as you referenced. There is a huge 
line of demarcation that should not be there between K0912 and 
post-secondary. It should be a smooth transition. And there are 
so many issues that we need to address to make sure that that 
transition is much smoother. And we have to educate our K0912 
curriculum and superintendents and State legislators as to what 
they need to be teaching to make it smoother.
    So we will get to that in our Committee and thank you 
again.
    And now we go to Representative Miller-Meeks.
    Welcome.
    Mrs. Miller-Meeks. Thank you so much, Madam Chair, Ranking 
Member Dr. Murphy, and all the panelists presenting here today.
    My congressional district is very fortunate to have the 
Ottumwa Job Corps Center in my home community, which is one of 
the newest and highest-performing centers in the country and 
enjoys a very productive relationship with nearby Indian Hills 
Community College. And as Dr. Murphy alluded to in his opening 
remarks, this relationship and partnership does not exist 
adjacent to or with every Job Corps center.
    This partnership allows my constituents and the students at 
a time when there is a study that has a plethora of trades 
available at Indian Hills, such as advanced manufacturing, 
while still benefiting from the wraparound support services and 
residential environment at the Job Corps campus.
    For Indian Hills, it allows them to send more remedial 
students to Job Corps who might not be ready for a community-
college environment and to get the needed education, training, 
and support services before they eventually matriculate back to 
college.
    Mr. Garrett, it is my understanding that these types of 
community-college partnerships exist elsewhere, and Job Corps, 
but may not be to the same degree as this one. How might we 
improve the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act so that 
these types of partnerships are easier to build and to 
encourage more innovation at the local level?
    Mr. Garrett. Thanks for that, Congresswoman Miller-Meeks. 
And you are exactly right; the Ottumwa Job Corps Center is a 
true beacon of hope, I think, for the entire country. The 
partnership between Ottumwa and the Indian Hills Community 
College represents the gold standard for the Job Corps-
community college partnership across the country, and we are 
figuring out ways to really replicate that quickly.
    As some may know, our former board Chair, Dr. Jim 
Lindenmayer, was president of Indian Hills Community College. 
And he really sought to help replicate the model, because he 
was able to forecast and say, this is what is going to be 
necessary, that we should be working in tandem and in 
partnership.
    And just to go a little further, for those that may not be 
familiar, the Job Corps Scholars Demonstration Program, which 
Indian Hills is currently participating in, it demonstrates 
that the model works best when there is this unique partnership 
between the Job Corps center and Indian Hills. And a prime 
example is that it allows students to transfer not only from 
the Job Corps center to Indian Hills, but it also allows for 
students from Indian Hills who have remedial issues or 
challenges to be referred to a Job Corps program where those 
student's career goals could also be met.
    And so the statute right now in the Department of Labor 
should really be structured in a way that it encourages these 
partnerships, but not separate grants in isolation. And we have 
seen over recent years that we have seen funding come out or 
opportunities come out that are separate and apart, and we all 
need to do a better job to make sure that they are better 
integrated.
    The last thing I would say is just this notion of credit 
transferability and credit for prior learning. College 
partnerships really give our students access to college 
credits. Similar to a high school student that is dually 
enrolled, students in Job Corps centers also have that unique 
opportunity. And then it lowers the barrier for college 
completion by improving that credit transferability and the 
credit for prior learning.
    So we look forward to figuring out how we continue to 
advance that partnership and showcase that, for others to then 
also take advantage and follow in your stead in the State of 
Iowa.
    Mrs. Miller-Meeks. Well, thank you for that. And I have had 
the opportunity to visit the center, and so I would encourage 
others to do the same thing.
    And, with that, you know, one of the policies--and I think 
you discussed this, Mr. Garrett, in your remarks--is the impact 
of the Job Corps' zero-tolerance drug policy. And you 
recommended moving to a more positive behavioral intervention 
model.
    And I understand that there may be some nuances, you know, 
that are not allowed in a zero-tolerance model. But I also 
believe that we cannot lose track of accountability and that 
there must be consequences for poor decisions.
    How do you recommend we strike a balance so that we can 
truly improve outcomes for these young individuals?
    Mr. Garrett. Yes. Make no mistake about it, and you are 
exactly right: Students will still be expelled who don't rise 
to the occasion, who cause harm, or put the overall program or 
other students in jeopardy.
    And so no one is saying that, because we shift the zero-
tolerance policy, that we negate the notion of accountability. 
In fact, you will find that students on campus and staff on 
campus are all in agreement that we need to ensure that folks 
who really want to be in this environment are doing their very 
level-best, because no one wants the program to be jeopardized 
in that way.
    But when you think about positive behavioral interventions, 
we look at our success rate for students that have tested 
positive for marijuana use or substance use that go through the 
program. Four out of five of them end up with a negative test 
when they test the second time. So we know for a fact that, 
once staff have the opportunity to work with students to change 
their behavior, to help them understand why they need to shift, 
that we see a significant outcome and a significant turn.
    And so, in this process, our campuses are fully aware of 
the need for accountability but also acutely aware that we need 
a different approach than just simply saying, ``Oh, you tested 
positive.''
    I will use this quick example. If I were going to a center 
next weekend and I was in an area where I may have used 
marijuana or whatever I was doing that weekend, like any 
student who would go to college, we would end up having a great 
time that particular weekend, and then you show up on Monday 
and all of the things you did you are now paying for in that 
test, and we say, ``I am so sorry. This no longer works for 
you.''
    We have to think differently about the approach, which I 
believe folks are in agreement with. It is a matter of how do 
we nuance the language in a way that protects the 
accountability but also provides flexibility, accounting for 
who our students truly are and the backgrounds that they come 
from.
    Mrs. Miller-Meeks. Thank you so much.
    And I yield back my time, Madam Chair.
    Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you so much, Mrs. Miller-Meeks.
    And now Representative Castro.
    Mr. Castro. Thank you, Chairwoman.
    I wanted to ask you all how you help students navigate, 
those who are trying to attain a degree, a credential, what 
often is a work-school tug-of-war, particularly for low-income 
students who come from backgrounds where their families can't 
just pay the full bill for them to go to college and yet 
financial aid is not enough, so they are having to work, 
sometimes many hours at a time, and that work is sometimes 
interfering with their ability to complete their schooling.
    And how do we navigate that? How do we help them navigate 
that? And what should we do about it?
    Mr. Showalter. Congressman, if I could jump in here, I 
think one thing that we are lacking in this country is a real 
continuum of work-based learning opportunities.
    Apprenticeship is a very familiar model of an earn-and-
learn model. Summer youth employment is another way that we 
think about it.
    But we need a much more integrated continuum, starting in 
middle school, that includes our higher-ed system, that 
includes our workforce system, that gives young people agency 
in choosing the kind of program where they can earn, where they 
can learn, where they can take care of family Members.
    There are lots of examples of this in another countries, 
and there are some cities that are doing this well. So we just 
need to replicate those kind of models.
    Mr. Castro. Because we never--you know, for folks that are 
trying to complete their degree, for example, you don't want 
them to be so engaged in work that work becomes a distraction 
from the goal that they are trying to achieve, right, which is 
ultimately to get their 2-year degree or their 4-year degree 
and then go into their career field.
    But in my hometown of San Antonio over the years, I have 
seen many people who have been stuck in this work-school tug-
of-war for quite a while, and ultimately work ends up winning 
out, and they give up on their ultimate dream of being a nurse 
or a doctor or an engineer or whatever it is, because they were 
never able to get out of that work-school tug-of-war. And so I 
raise that issue just because I have seen a lot of students who 
are stuck in it.
    I believe, for example, that we ought to expand Pell 
grants, as I think a lot of us on this Zoom call believe; that, 
also, we should make things like community college free, that 
we should cancel some student debt, and so forth. But, you 
know, we are not there yet on those policies.
    And so I wanted to get you all's perspective on how we deal 
with that very real situation that so many students are facing.
    Mr. Garrett. And, Congressman Castro, if I could--and thank 
you for being a caucus Member for us for Job Corps. I realize 
you are speaking about it in the context of post-secondary and 
going on to higher ed.
    Mr. Castro. Sure.
    Mr. Garrett. I just want to call out a clear example, too, 
for students who are on the other end of the spectrum, who are 
not quite there yet. That is one of the reasons we see that our 
centers provide childcare and, like, Head Start programs, so 
that the student is able to focus on their academic 
requirement, whether that is getting their credential or their 
GED or diploma, while at the same time getting their career 
piece.
    And we have seen that model work really well because 
students grapple, to your point, with so many different issues 
in trying to navigate the space. On our end and for the 
students that we really serve, we have found that being able to 
look at the totality of the students and trying to figure out 
how do you support their needs across the board, it makes a 
fundamental difference for them to stay focused on what they 
need to do academically while they are also pursuing their 
career opportunity.
    I just wanted to add that for folks who may not have that 
level of awareness. And we certainly appreciate your continued 
support.
    Mr. Castro. No, absolutely--
    Ms. Fulmore-Townsend. Congressman Castro, I would also like 
to--
    Mr. Castro. Please.
    Ms. Fulmore-Townsend. I would like to offer an example from 
the community college that I think could be particularly 
instructive.
    We have a single-stop model, where students are able to get 
multiple needs met and also maximize public benefits toward 
their education. So I do think that one strategy to managing 
this tension is to make students more aware of the resources 
that are available with them to help alleviate some of those 
burdens so that they can navigate their basic needs while they 
pursue their education.
    And, additionally, as a student who worked two part-time 
jobs and graduated a year early from an Ivy League institution, 
I understand how challenging it can be. We have to empower 
students and help them plan and navigate toward the end game, 
which is achieving the diploma.
    So enhanced case management, support for professional 
development--those are the types of recommendations that will 
equip adults to support students very differently as they 
travel along this path.
    Mr. Castro. No, well, thank you all. I am a caucus Member 
and thank you for all the work that you all are doing for folks 
around the country.
    Ms. Lindner. Could I speak as an employer, if you don't 
mind, real quick?
    Mr. Castro. Yes, of course.
    Ms. Lindner. This is where short-term Pell grants come into 
play.
    We, as an employer, have most recently started some part-
time work. That is nontraditional. We stepped out of the 
regular, you know, 40910 schedule. We went to the community 
college when we needed skilled welders, and we said, ``You are 
in school. What is your school schedule? What can we do to work 
around it?''
    Mr. Castro. That is great.
    Ms. Lindner. So we just thought out of the box.
    So short-term Pell grants, definitely, that has to be 
expanded.
    Thank you.
    Mr. Castro. No, thank you. Wonderful.
    I yield back, Chairwoman.
    Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you. Thank you so much.
    And now Representative Good.
    Mr. Good. Thank you, Madam Chairman.
    And thank you to all of our witnesses. It is a privilege to 
engage with you all today on these topics.
    We obviously have issues, as a country, with youth 
unemployment, especially among those most disadvantaged, most 
at risk, and most vulnerable. We also have major issues, as a 
country, with out-of-control government spending that is 
excessive, to say the least, poorly targeted to address real 
issues, terribly mismanaged, and, at best, so often shows 
little to no positive results.
    The real issue plaguing our society is the breakdown of the 
traditional family structure, which is the number-one cause of 
poverty and other social ills. More government spending does 
nothing to improve this and often incentivizes the wrong 
things, the wrong behaviors, and, therefore, makes things 
worse. So many government policies undermine marriage, the 
family, our founding Judeo-Christian values, and even important 
fundamentals such as work ethic, self-reliance, and personal 
responsibility.
    I have people close to me who work as employment 
consultants for disadvantaged and at-risk individuals, and they 
are extremely inhibited in their ability to help those who 
won't take a job as long as Democrats keep giving them enhanced 
unemployment. This is just another example of Democrat spending 
that makes the problem worse instead of better. Business owners 
will tell you, along with the ``help wanted'' signs that we see 
posted everywhere and the nationwide backlog in manufacturing--
all tell us that this enhanced unemployment is making things 
worse and keeping people from taking jobs.
    The Democrat policies that caused our $30trillion deficit, 
runaway inflation that we are starting to experience, 
including, specifically, soaring education and healthcare 
costs, and energy costs that are skyrocketing because of 
reduced American energy production, these crazy climate and 
environmental restrictions on the industry--and this is all 
before the recent cyber-attacks on our infrastructure. All of 
this increased cost, increased inflation, increased energy, 
healthcare, and education costs, this all disproportionately 
impacts these lower-income youths who we say that we want to 
help.
    Of course, my friends across the aisle have the same answer 
for everything: more money, taken from the hardworking-
taxpayer-money tree, regardless of the lack of evidence of 
results achieved other than isolated, anecdotal examples. I 
share Ranking Member Foxx's already-expressed concerns about 
the problems with these programs and the lack of demonstrated 
results achieved.
    The aforementioned by Representative Foxx, the 2018 GAO 
report, which showed that Job Corps had nearly 14,000 safety 
and security incidents in 1year. That breaks down to an average 
of more than 100 per 120 centers throughout the country. So 
more than 100, on average, for each of the 120 centers 
throughout the country, with half of those being drug-related 
incidents and assaults.
    Of course, the Democrats want to therefore make the drug 
offenses legal. And I hope they won't also make the assaults 
legal too, after they eliminate our police and our correctional 
facilities.
    Furthermore, in a 2018 Department of Labor evaluation, 
YouthBuild was shown to have a negligible effect on obtaining a 
college degree or work participation despite $100million in 
annual funding.
    Of course, Democrats will say, ``We just need to spend more 
money,'' since that is their measure of success. ``The more 
money we spend, the more successful we are. Look what we are 
doing for people. We are spending more money.''
    I do have a question for Mr. Garrett, because the Old 
Dominion Job Corps Center is just outside my district, and they 
have highlighted some of their successes with my staff.
    But I know how difficult, Mr. Garrett, it can be for a Job 
Corps center to be nimble and shift trade offerings to respond 
to employer needs. Often, bureaucrats in Washington are making 
those decisions.
    Can you speak to how we can help in Washington your ability 
to shift trade offerings and training offerings to meet the 
needs of employers?
    Mr. Garrett. Thanks for that, Congressman Good.
    And you are exactly right; the Old Dominion Job Corps 
Center just outside of Lynchburg, as you know, has a phenomenal 
relationship. And many employers that--you talk about folks 
going back to work--like McLaren Corporation and Winnbo 
Electric, directly in the area, they have already expressed the 
need for highly skilled and motivated employees, which 
oftentimes they receive from the Old Dominion Job Corps Center.
    And this notion, how we can become more flexible, agile, 
and nimble so that we can meet the needs of those employers in 
our market, are one of the things we hope that the Subcommittee 
and the ultimate Committee will tackle to lessen that 
requirement of how DOL has to make the final authority and 
offer the local campus that ability to really make the 
adjustment, working in tandem with the local employer to meet 
their needs, where students are ultimately going to be placed.
    And I used this example earlier, and I will cite it again 
for reference. We know that if a corporation approaches a 
center, we shouldn't wait 9months to get an approval for an 
official trade when we know that jobs are going to be available 
in 6 to 9 or 12months. Instead, that local campus should have 
the authority and autonomy and then be judged based upon their 
performance, right?
    But they are doing that in partnership to meet the local 
demands in the communities so that those students, when they 
complete their program, can go directly to work and be a 
valuable, contributing citizen in that respective market.
    Mr. Good. My time has expired. Thank you for your answer.
    And I yield back, Chairman.
    Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you. Thank you so much.
    Mr. Courtney? Representative Courtney?
    Mr. Courtney. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.
    And, again, I think the kickoff of the reauthorization of 
WIOA today is, again, a really exciting opportunity for good 
bipartisan support. And I don't just say that, you know, as a 
sentiment. I was around in 2014 when we had the bill-signing 
ceremony at the Executive Office Building when the last WIOA 
was authorized. And we had Virginia Foxx and we had John Kline, 
the Republican Chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, 
and we had Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and it was a bipartisan 
lovefest when that bill was signed into law.
    And, you know--but it was not the Ten Commandments. We 
certainly need to revisit some of the provisions. And I want to 
thank all the witnesses today for their really thoughtful 
input, because, you know, I am very optimistic that we move 
forward.
    By the way, with the job numbers that came out last week, I 
think it is important to drill down a little bit deeper into 
the data. And, actually, if you look, it was low-wage workers 
where had the highest number of job growth in that report.
    In fact, the cohort which was where I think the biggest 
sort of frustration was, and I think all of us was frustrated, 
was actually more higher-skilled, higher-wage jobs that were 
not filled in the economy.
    And that is precisely what we are talking about today, 
which is trying to close that gap with a job-training system 
that will get people the skills they need to succeed at a 
higher level.
    Madam Chairwoman, you have talked a little bit about the 
well-intentioned language which was in the 2014 bill to 
allocate 75 percent for out-of-school youth. Again, it was 
well-intentioned. I think, you know, we thought that that was 
really where the need was the greatest.
    But, obviously, I am hearing from my workforce board that 
that really has been pretty clunky, in terms of trying to get 
the help out to, you know, the broadest number of people that 
could benefit from the workforce programs that they have.
    And, Mr. Showalter, maybe--you know, I know you talked 
about it a little bit in your testimony as well. But, I mean, 
at some point, we actually do have to put pen to paper. I mean, 
can you give us a little more, sort of, input about how you 
would fix that problem?
    Mr. Showalter. Congressman, I would love to help you put 
pen to paper.
    As you may know, I was on the staff for Chairmen Kennedy 
and Harkin when we were initially negotiating what became WIOA. 
And the in-school-youth/out-of-school-youth distinction is a 
carryover from previous laws. That was the framework within 
which we could move at the time.
    And I do think it is critically important that we stay 
focused on the fact that this is one of the only Federal 
funding streams designed to connect young people with barriers 
to employment, to education, and work. So I think the most 
important thing is to maintain that intent.
    In my written testimony, I provide a way of kind of getting 
past the in-school-youth/out-of-school distinction, which is 
clunky and makes eligibility too complicated. We propose a 
simpler ``priority populations framework,'' is what we called 
it, where it is purely based on types of young people.
    And the other critical part of that is allowing for self-
attestation, which DOL has already issued guidance on, many 
States allow. Allowing young people to say, ``I am experiencing 
homelessness,'' ``I am connected to the justice system,'' 
without having to bring 15 documents with them, would also make 
work so much easier for providers and workforce boards to 
implement this law.
    Mr. Courtney. Great. Well, thank you.
    And, Ms. Fulmore-Townsend, I don't know if you maybe wanted 
to comment on that, about how we can make this, you know, 
again, a much more flexible sort of program to get, you know, 
the furthest success.
    Ms. Fulmore-Townsend. We definitely support Mr. Showalter's 
recommendations regarding the priority population, but also 
simplifying eligibility. It is triggering and traumatizing to 
constantly relive your pain in order to get help. And I think 
that we could do a better job of making services more available 
to young people faster by having less eligibility restrictions 
for the use of the services. And self-attestation would help 
when they have challenges to secure some of the documentation 
that is currently required.
    Mr. Courtney. Great.
    And one quick question for you. Again, our workforce board, 
which just got an award last year as a pioneer for their 
manufacturing pipeline program for the shipyard, they work with 
unions. The metal trade unions were part of the curriculum that 
was developed that has been so successful.
    I mean, can you talk about the value of reaching out to 
unions as we sort of, you know, develop--yes.
    Ms. Fulmore-Townsend. Absolutely.
    Congratulations on your award. I think innovative 
partnerships like the one you described is a firm step forward 
in making sure that young people are prepared for jobs.
    It is important to look at the requirements of an industry 
and to engage those industry leaders in the process to prepare 
young people, in terms of training, in terms of opportunities 
for work, and especially in the advanced space. And so I do 
think that it is a critical strategy that we should see more of 
throughout this country.
    Mr. Courtney. Great. Thank you.
    I yield back, Madam Chairwoman.
    Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you so much.
    Now Mrs. McClain of Michigan.
    Mrs. McClain. Good morning or I should say good afternoon 
to everyone.
    Thank you so much, Madam Chair, and I do have to tell you I 
love your hat. It always make me happy.
    A couple of comments. First is, as you know, I am new to 
Congress but it is so refreshing to hear the business 
community, as well as the young people's program, actually 
working together and having a partnership of togetherness with 
the youth community programs, as well as the businesses. So 
often I think we look as businesses as our enemy as opposed to 
these are the people and the entities that actually provide the 
opportunities.
    So I can't tell you how refreshing that is, as well as it 
is very refreshing to hear, again, how important it is we are 
focusing on what outcomes do we need for our youth, because as 
a former business owner, it is very important to make sure that 
when we get people, employees, that their skills match our 
needs. So, again, I am happy to hear this.
    My biggest question is for you, Mr. Garrett, is coming out 
of this pandemic, there is thousands of young Americans who can 
benefit from Job Corps right now and need meaningful 
employment. Many are likely single parents from whom there is 
as desperate urgency to be able to enroll in Job Corps so they 
can be housed and begin their career development. I am 
questioning is: Have you resumed in-person learning? Are you 
open for in-person development?
    Mr. Garrett. Yes, and great question, Congresswoman 
McClain.
    So Job Corps centers have resumed operations at most sites 
and returned many of our existing students. In some cases we 
are awaiting approval from the Department of Labor to 
officially enroll new students, but I am understanding we are 
almost about to turn that particular corner.
    The other thing you should know is that every Job Corps 
center has also submitted a plan to begin virtual enrollment, 
expediting that process to help students who were not already 
on the books but new students begin to transition into in-
person learning as well.
    I would just tell you that, you know, the Federal 
Government's policy approval process though, it can be 
laborious and slow moving at times. And you know as a former 
business owner, that doesn't help anyone when you got a student 
saying, I don't have months to wait. I need an immediate 
solution now. And you have a bed and space. We shouldn't have a 
Federal process in place that prevents that student from 
getting to where they need to be.
    But, yes, resumption has begun in most cases. And many of 
the students have returned.
    Mrs. McClain. Good. It is so refreshing, again, and I keep 
using that word, and hopeful, in terms of we can figure out how 
to keep everyone safe and--and that is the operative word--and 
be productive.
    Mr. Showalter, I have a question for you as well. As one of 
the problems you discussed earlier was the--in your testimony 
was that of rural opportunity deserts where the disconnection 
rates among young people, they are almost four times greater. 
What are the primary drivers of this rural urban divide? 
Because I am very much a rural community in my district. And 
how can we improve it? How can we help?
    Mr. Showalter. Thank you for the question, Congresswoman.
    As you might or might not know, I am actually from a small 
town in Oklahoma. When I was a kid there, one of the biggest 
employers was Mercury Marine which makes motorboat engines. 
They left when I was a kid, and I've seen what has happened to 
a lot of our rural communities.
    As a side note, I think, like a lot of us, we will all be 
very interested to see kind of what happens as remote work 
picks up and whether that results in kind of some increases in 
population in some rural parts of our country.
    But something to underline that a quote that sticks with me 
is one of my former board Members who is a youth director at a 
workforce board, who works in a large city. She said we talk 
about this system like it is a system. But once you get outside 
the large systems in a lot of our states, it is not a system. 
There is a patchwork of programs, but there aren't a lot of 
opportunities.
    And the workforce board, there isn't enough funding for it 
to act as that convener that is really needed to knit together 
all the different kinds of service offerings to build strong 
relationships with employers, to work with economic 
development, to bring in new employers.
    So there is really a lack of infrastructure in a lot of 
areas. We have over 500 workforce boards. A lot of those are 
operating with one, $2 million, $3 million budget.
    Mrs. McClain. Is it more of an employer issue where we need 
to bring more employers to those rural areas?
    Mr. Showalter. Yes. And I think we can do that, especially 
with the rise of remote working. I would love to see that.
    Mrs. McClain. Thank you.
    With my time, I yield back.
    Chairwoman Wilson. OK. Thank you so much.
    And now Representative Bonamici.
    Ms. Bonamici. Thank you. Thank you, Chair Wilson. Thank 
you, Ranking Member Murphy, but truly thank you to our 
witnesses for this important conversation today.
    It has been a really tough year and during, throughout, in 
fact, this economic turmoil our workforce system has been 
nimble and important and a way to support workers. I have had 
many conversations with local workforce boards, community 
colleges, labor unions, community-based organizations from 
across northwest Oregon. You know, they are working on 
supporting displaced and underemployed workers and getting them 
the skills they need.
    And they are striving to provide those workers, 
particularly those with barriers to employment, with the skills 
they need for meaningful employment. But we know that far too 
many workers including many opportunity youth really lack 
adequate housing, childcare, transportation, and other 
supportive services they need to succeed to get through the 
training but also these--once they get into these good-paying 
jobs.
    So we know that our workforce system has been chronically 
underfunded and I don't know if Mr. Courtney is still with us 
but I was there as well on that day, the bipartisan day in July 
2014 when the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act was 
signed into law. And as we reauthorize it, finding these 
investments in workforce programs and the support services will 
be--will help us truly build back better.
    So I want to ask Ms. Fulmore-Townsend. You were talking 
about this in your response to Mr. Courtney's question. But 
what barriers do the students typically face in the WIOA youth 
programs, and how does Philadelphia Youth Network help the 
students overcome these barriers?
    Ms. Fulmore-Townsend. Thank you for that question.
    In our experience the barriers range, depending on 
circumstances, but some that we see are lack of childcare 
assistance. Sometimes they need approval for the childcare 
substance and that approval doesn't come in time for the 
enrollment courses. Courses operate in 6, 8, or 12-week 
increments. And you might in is the start of a next class 
because you don't have the adequate childcare.
    We definitely see insecure housing and so what we see is 
not necessarily what you would define as traditional 
homelessness but really a lot of couch surfing and it takes a 
little while to discover that. Right?
    Ms. Bonamici. Right.
    Ms. Fulmore-Townsend. ``I am staying with my friends.'' You 
don't have a problem until your friend's parents say you can't 
stay here any longer. ``I am staying with my cousin.'' So it is 
a pattern of behavior that the professionals have to be really 
keen to observe in order to understand that this housing 
insecurity is really a challenge.
    One of the things that I am proud of is that the Community 
College of Philadelphia, they are working with our housing 
authority to provide housing for those students. And we also 
see independent living programs through our Department of Human 
Services be really helpful in this space.
    Additionally, we do see the need for enhancements of health 
services and sometimes emotional supports and so being able to 
connect young people with substance abuse treatment and support 
for their mental health needs is another thing that we see.
    Ms. Bonamici. So important
    Ms. Fulmore-Townsend. And how do we close the gap between, 
you know, behavioral health entities and their requirements and 
the requirements of the program? We should--
    Ms. Bonamici. I appreciate that and I don't mean to really 
cut you off, but I want to get a question in for Mr. Garrett 
and my time is running out.
    Mr. Garrett, I represent Tongue Point Job Corps in Astoria, 
as well as the PIVOT, Partners in Vocational Opportunity 
Training, in northwest Portland. And at these centers we know 
students who have faced challenges in the traditional education 
system can really thrive academically and earn credentials and 
practical skills, welding, seamanship, which is really 
important on the coast, landscaping, and others.
    On the Committee we frequently hear about the need to 
prepare for the future of work and technological changes in our 
workplaces likely require the majority of workers including 
youth to reskill or upskill to remain competitive. What 
resources would Job Corps centers need to better help students 
prepare for the future of work, and what are the current 
barriers to Job Corps programs offering opportunities for the 
sort of in-demand skills?
    Mr. Garrett. Great question. Thank you for your continued 
support, Congresswoman Bonamici.
    And as you know, the students in Tongue Point and from the 
Pivot satellite center, we have seen about almost a little less 
than 80 percent of them have success rate being placed in 
employment and higher education--
    Ms. Bonamici. Right.
    Mr. Garrett [continuing]. going into the military.
    Ms. Bonamici. And they are very supported by the 
communities.
    Mr. Garrett. Yes. And I was going to say so at the local 
level we really believe that the partnership with the business 
community, trying to determine what are the future needs and 
trends and then working with the center to then identify what 
trades need to be structured to meet that projection.
    Again, I will just reiterate this notion that at times the 
slowdown process at the Department of Labor and getting the 
approval for a new trade or a new opportunity sometimes can 
pose a barrier. They work through it, but sometimes we miss the 
window. Right? You miss the curve, because the employer is 
going say either I need to pick another market, or I need to 
pick another partner to help deliver this.
    And so our students recognize it as well because they, too, 
want the new in-demand jobs that are also high-wage and so we 
continue to work in partnership and hope the Committee 
continues to urge the notion of figuring out how we streamline 
that approval process for new trades and opportunities.
    Ms. Bonamici. Thank you, Mr. Garrett.
    My time has expired, but I know that we are all willing to 
work on breaking down those barriers. So I yield back.
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
    Chairwoman Wilson. OK. Thank you.
    Mrs. Harshbarger of Tennessee.
    Mrs. Harshbarger. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Madam 
Chair and Ranking Member Murphy and all the witnesses.
    It is a big deal, and I am very involved in workforce 
development and getting these young people trained. That is 
most imperative, especially those that don't have an 
opportunity.
    We want to give them an opportunity to be contributing to 
the workforce. I mean, we need them. And, you know, these 
programs will do that if employers are on board and at the 
table and the system is focused on meeting those young people's 
needs.
    While we are discussing the WIOA youth programs, I would 
like to bring attention to the importance of occupational 
licensing reform. There is this licensing requirements affect 
approximately 25 percent of employees nationwide, and that 
number is far higher for wage occupations. Many of these 
professions are taught at programs like Job Corps and they 
require an occupational license and the burden of acquiring 
that license keeps a lot of those people out of the workforce.
    Since these licensing requirements is a barrier for 
entrance into the workforce, we are spending money on programs 
to get Americans to work without fighting these licensing 
requirements. We are really kicking ourself in the foot.
    And I do have a bill, I want you to know. It is called the 
Freedom to Work Act. It is H.R. 3145 that amends WIOA by 
requiring states to include their plan to reduce and how to 
reduce occupational licensing burdens as part of the WIOA State 
plan. Any WIOA reauthorization bill should include those 
provisions to reduce occupational licensing burdens on those 
workers.
    And I do have a question for Ms. Lindner. I know that one 
of the challenges, as we have already spoken about, is many 
employers are faced with school closures and it has forced 
parents, who would otherwise be looking to reenter the 
workforce, they have to stay at home and take care of that 
child or their children. In particular, this has adversely 
impacted women.
    Has your company faced difficulties with recruiting those 
women workers, because they have been forced to home school 
their children or stay at home with those children?
    Ms. Lindner. Good question. Good point.
    Currently I am not seeing it per se but I know that when--
back in 2020, when we were coming back from, you know, we were 
ramping back up after furloughing a majority of our workforce, 
we knew that we would have, whether it be men, women, father, 
mothers, or what have you, that they may not be able to come 
back. So we put out a program, you know, asking: Do you have an 
issue working full time? And we had several people come forth, 
and so we worked around part-time work. We worked around to 
make it work.
    Now that we are actually full-scaling back up, there are 
technically probably I would say less females and some single 
fathers on top of it coming back--not coming back to the 
workforce and we are recognizing that.
    That is why I think I have said I have got to be out-of-
the-box thinking when it comes to hiring future candidates into 
our workforce. The traditional isn't working. I am reaching out 
to my workforce partners, asking for help. I don't know if I 
have the exact one answer, but I know that what I was doing 
pre-COVID isn't working and I have got to change as an 
employer. I have got to think differently. Hopefully that 
helps.
    Mrs. Harshbarger. Yes, absolutely. It is not just you. It's 
everybody. We are looking for people. It doesn't matter what 
profession you are in either and, you know, we are trying to 
get people into the workforce to teach them a skill, to make 
them productive, to give them a future in a trade and something 
they can carry on and it is hard. I mean, I am pharmacist. And 
it is hard to get people to work in the pharmacy because in 
some instances with certain jobs, you know, they are staying 
out so--and especially women because they do have to take care 
of those children. But it is an ongoing need and it is good 
that you are thinking differently and when you find that 
answer, please report back to us. That would be fantastic and 
know we are working for you, too.
    OK. Thank you. Madam Chair, I yield back.
    Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you. Thank you so much.
    And now we will hear from the distinguished Chair of our 
entire Committee, the Education and Labor Committee, Dr. Scott.
    Mr. Scott. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair, and Ranking 
Member Murphy.
    I would like to start my questions with Mr. Garrett. Mr. 
Garrett, the Ranking Member of the full Committee asked you 
about all the deaths that were happening on campus and in the 
Job Corps program. And I am looking at a chart that confirms, 
in fact, people do die.
    Per 100,000 people on a Job Corps site, who live on a Job 
Corps site, about 4.26 per 100,000 die. If you are at the Job 
Corps program but not onsite, it is 25.5. But the national 
average--this is mortality rate--is 74.9, which suggests that 
you are 6 percent--you are 6 percent as likely to die if you 
are on campus than if you are just in the community. And the--
and the homicide rate, if you are in a Job Corps program, this 
chart says it is 4 per 100,000 but 11.9, almost 12, almost 
three times more in the community.
    Is that what you meant by Job Corps is one of the safest 
places you could be?
    Mr. Garrett. Thank you, Chairman Scott.
    And you are exactly right. And I appreciate the additional 
statistics because you are right. A person is three times more 
likely to potentially die from a homicide by not being on-
center.
    We know for a fact the severity of the situations that many 
of our students face who are either homeless, transient, or 
their immediate family environment and going from pillar to 
post that they are safer being on our campus. That does not 
mean we don't have issues and challenges like programs do.
    But what we know not only from anecdote but from the data, 
as you just shared, the students not only are safe and secure 
but they are also getting the education needs that they have, 
the behavioral management in place so that they can then be an 
employable citizen and we see significant differences as the 
student matriculates throughout our program.
    Mr. Scott. Thank you. And, Mr. Garrett, the appropriations, 
the program is getting about $200 million less each year than 
is authorized under WIOA. How does the shortfall affect your 
ability to fulfill your mission?
    Mr. Garrett. Well, sir, we have a number of issues.
    As I talked about getting trade approval or new materials 
and requirements or equipment as required, that is one piece of 
it.
    One of the more alarming pieces that affects almost every 
campus in this country is the continued underfunding from a 
construction perspective in terms of the requirements that are 
needed to either update centers or to upskill them so that our 
students cannot only continue to be safe, if it is fencing that 
is required, but also have access to the appropriate equipment 
they need. And so it has gone for a period of time.
    The other piece of that conversation is also, because of 
the enrollment pause or freeze in 2012 where we lowered the 
number of available slots by 18 percent, even if we were at 
full capacity, meaning we meet the DOL number, we still have 
space and so there is still an opportunity for us to figure out 
a better solution for that to actually get back to our original 
numbers so that we can fulfill the mission and have more 
students actually available and avail themselves of the 
opportunity.
    Mr. Scott. Thank you.
    And Ms. Fulmore-Townsend, do you have any statistics about 
the impact summer youth employment has on violent crime rates?
    Ms. Fulmore-Townsend. Yes, we do. We just recently received 
a report from Dr. Heller about our work in 2017 and 2018. And 
the research is showing that it not only encourages productive 
behavior, it decreases incidents of violent crime and exposure 
to risk factors for violence in Philadelphia.
    Mr. Scott. Is it significant enough to show cost savings? 
The one study in Chicago said they saved so much with the 
summer jobs program, that they reduced crimes so much, that 
they saved so much in future prison and whatnot that they paid 
for the whole program.
    Ms. Fulmore-Townsend. We don't quite boast those statistics 
as Chicago because our sample size was a little bit smaller and 
our strategy is a little bit different than Chicago. However, 
we are working with Dr. Heller to estimate the cost savings of 
our approach.
    Mr. Scott. You showed--thank you for mentioning the Opening 
Doors for Youth Act. We are about to introduce that in a few 
days. But you indicated a little frustration about the 75 
percent being required for out-of-school, out-of-work rather 
than for prevention. Can you say a word about that?
    Ms. Fulmore-Townsend. Sure. We endorse the priority 
population format that Mr. Showalter talked about which would 
allow us to look at different groups of young people and make 
them eligible, rather than forcing communities to limit their 
approach based on the 75 percent funding split.
    Mr. Scott. Thank you.
    And thank you, Madam Chairman. My time has expired.
    Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you.
    Now we will hear questions from Ms. Letlow of Louisiana. 
Welcome.
    Ms. Letlow. Chairwoman Wilson, Ranking Member Murphy, 
Members of the Subcommittee, and witnesses, thank you for 
taking the time to discuss opportunities for youth employment 
under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.
    It is important that WIOA has dedicated resources aimed at 
preparing young adults for fulfilling years. Programs like 
YouthBuild are benefiting individuals in my district, providing 
education and workforce development for out-of-school youth. 
Northshore Technical Community College in Bogalusa hosts a 
YouthBuild program that focuses on teaching carpentry skills. 
Students are able to gain two industry-recognized 
certifications. While participating in the programs, students 
obtain a GED and have the opportunity to learn important life 
and leadership skills.
    Congress should ensure our youth are well-prepared to enter 
the workforce. I believe that employers must be part of the 
discussion when it comes to workforce education. Having input 
from businesses on their needs creates meaningful workforce 
development which will lead to higher employment rates.
    My question is for Ms. Fulmore-Townsend. You mention that 
Philadelphia Youth Network's career development framework was 
designed to translate the expectations of employers into 
attainable skills and incorporate it into other organizations' 
programming. PYN chose not to make this framework industry-
specific and instead focused on providing skills that all 
employers are looking for when hiring young people.
    What feedback have you gotten from employers on what those 
general skills include? Is there a particular model you use to 
impart those skills to young people? Is this a model that other 
programs beyond Philadelphia could adopt?
    Ms. Fulmore-Townsend. Thank you so much for your questions.
    So the first answer is, yes, our career development 
framework can be applied in other communities and has been. We 
took our approach and our cues from employers directly who 
consistently told us we will teach our employees our employer-
specific skills. We will teach them how to it our way. We need 
them to show up, ready to learn those things. And the things 
that they wanted them to show up with are self-direction and 
initiative, the ability to communicate with others, the ability 
to work in a team, the ability to negotiate and be persuasive.
    And so with that feedback, we looked at it and said every 
industry is willing to teach you how to be the best employee 
for company X. What they want you to do is show up ready to be 
that. And we focus on what are the skills to show up ready to 
do that.
    Additionally, with the framework I will add it is divided 
into developmentally appropriate strategies. So we 
differentiate between early work experience, intermediate level 
work experience, and advance training and work experiences for 
young people so that we can match the activity to the 
developmental needs and that leads to higher result itself.
    Ms. Letlow. Great. Thank you so much for your comments.
    Chairwoman, I yield back.
    Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you. Thank you so much.
    I believe we have exhausted all of our questioning. And so 
I want to remind my colleagues that, pursuant to Committee 
practice, materials for submission for the hearing record must 
be submitted to the Committee Clerk within 14 days following 
the last day of the hearing, so by close of business on May 27, 
2021, preferably in Microsoft Word format. The materials 
submitted must address the subject matter of the hearing. Only 
a Member of the Subcommittee or an invited witness may submit 
materials for inclusion in the hearing record.
    Documents are limited to fifty pages each. Documents longer 
than fifty pages will be incorporated into the record by way of 
an internet link that you must provide to the Committee Clerk 
within the required timeframe, but please recognize that in the 
future that link may no longer work.
    Pursuant to House rules and regulations, items for the 
record should be submitted to the Clerk electronically by 
emailing submission to 
[email protected].
    Again, I want to thank our fabulous witnesses. I mean, this 
has been a very informative Committee hearing. I want to thank 
each of you for your participation today. Members of the 
Subcommittee may have some additional questions for you, and we 
ask the witnesses to please respond to those questions in 
writing. The hearing record will be held open for 14 days in 
order to receive these reports.
    I remind my colleagues that, pursuant to the Committee 
practice, witnesses' questions for the hearing record must be 
submitted to the Majority Committee Staff or Committee Clerk 
within seven days. The questions submitted must address the 
subject matter of the hearing.
    I now recognize the distinguished Member, Representative 
Murphy, for a closing statement.
    Dr. Murphy, are you still with us?
    Mr. Murphy. I am right here. I am right here.
    Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you.
    Mr. Murphy. Thank you so much. Thank you, Madam Chairman.
    And I want to thank all the Committee Members and our 
witnesses again for sharing more about the wonderful and hard 
work that you are doing and offering recommendations on how we 
can best serve our Nation's youth through the workforce system. 
There is clearly an issue that has been problematic and worse 
and even made worse by COVID with closures of businesses and 
schools across the country.
    Let me take this off because then I can actually speak.
    Chairwoman Wilson. Dr. Murphy is a medical doctor. You all 
must know that.
    Mr. Murphy. Sorry for that delay.
    I am encouraged that the conversation today was done in a 
wholly bipartisan manner that we discuss the reauthorization of 
WIOA. However, there clearly remains work that needs to be done 
improving the operation of these programs so that we can keep 
our youth safe and begin them on pathways for successful 
careers. I appreciate that we will discuss this with the need 
for increased employer engagement so that our Federal dollars 
are going toward programs that actually meet the needs of 
industry partners.
    The business engagement and voice, along with the renewed 
focus on accountability and performance for taxpayer dollars, 
will serve our young people well. We cannot simply just pour 
money after programs that are not accountable, that are not 
working, and improve. There is always room for improvement and 
refinement in getting these programs successful.
    Thank you again to our witnesses and to the Chair for 
convening this very wonderful and very productive bipartisan 
hearing. Thank you, Madam Chairman.
    And I will yield back.
    Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you, Dr. Murphy.
    I now recognize myself for the purposes of making my 
closing statement.
    I want to thank you again to all of our wonderful witnesses 
for your testimonies and for helping launch a series of 
bipartisan hearings on reauthorizing the Workforce Innovation 
and Opportunity Act.
    As we discussed today, WIOA is the foundation of our 
Nation's workforce development programs, particularly for young 
people. In communities across the Nation, these programs play a 
critical role in creating opportunities for young people to 
succeed both in the workforce and throughout their life.
    But as we heard from our expert witness today, many of 
these programs face chronic underfunding and structural 
obstacles that prevent them from achieving their full 
potential. Now is the time for us to build on the broad support 
of the WIOA and strengthen these critical services for the 
millions of young people who urgently need them, particularly 
now during this pandemic.
    To that end I am grateful to my colleagues for contributing 
to a productive and fruitful hearing. Today we not only 
established that WIOA reauthorization must include investments 
in youth workforce activities, YouthBuild, and Job Corps but we 
also laid a strong foundation for our forthcoming hearings to 
discuss principles for this reauthorization.
    I look forward to continuing today's discussion with all of 
my colleagues as we work toward providing all young people with 
the support, they need to lead fulfilling lives and strengthen 
our communities.
    If there is no further business, without objection, the 
Subcommittee stands adjourned. And thank you.
    [Additional submission by Chairwoman Wilson follows:]
    
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    [Additional submissions by Ranking Member Foxx follow:]

July 2006, DOL OIG, ``National Park Service Has Not Assured the Safety 
 and Health of Students and Staff at the Oconaluftee Job Corps Center''
 
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                                ------                                


 March 2007, DOL OIG, ``Performance Audit of the Oconaluftee Job Corps 
    Center for the Period July 1, 2004, through September 30, 2005''

    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-117hhrg44535/pdf/
CHRG-117hhrg44535-add19.pdf

    November 2006, DOL OIG, ``Top Management Challenges Facing the 
   Department of Labor: Ensuring the Effectiveness of the Job Corps 
                               Program''
                               
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    November 2007, DOL OIG, ``Top Management Challenges Facing the 
   Department of Labor: Ensuring the Effectiveness of the Job Corps 
                               Program''
                               
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    November 2008, DOL OIG, ``Top Management Challenges Facing the 
   Department of Labor: Ensuring the Effectiveness of the Job Corps 
                               Program''
                               
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    November 2009, DOL OIG, ``Top Management Challenges Facing the 
   Department of Labor: Ensuring the Effectiveness of the Job Corps 
                               Program''
                               
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    November 2010, DOL OIG, ``Top Management Challenges Facing the 
   Department of Labor: Ensuring the Effectiveness of the Job Corps 
                               Program''
                               
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    November 2011, DOL OIG, ``Top Management Challenges Facing the 
   Department of Labor: Ensuring the Effectiveness of the Job Corps 
                               Program''
                               
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    November 2012, DOL OIG, ``Top Management Challenges Facing the 
   Department of Labor: Ensuring the Effectiveness of the Job Corps 
                               Program''
                               
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    November 2013, DOL OIG, ``Top Management Challenges Facing the 
   Department of Labor: Ensuring the Effectiveness of the Job Corps 
                               Program''
                               
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<


  November 2014, DOL OIG, ``Top Management and Performance Challenges 
 Facing the U.S. Department of Labor: Ensuring the Safety of Students 
                    and Staff at Job Corps Centers''
                    
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  November 2015, DOL OIG, ``Top Management and Performance Challenges 
                 Facing the U.S. Department of Labor''
                 
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  November 2016, DOL OIG, ``Top Management and Performance Challenges 
                 Facing the U.S. Department of Labor''
                 
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  November 2017, DOL OIG, ``Top Management and Performance Challenges 
                 Facing the U.S. Department of Labor''
                 
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                                ------                                


  November 2018, DOL OIG, ``Top Management and Performance Challenges 
                 Facing the U.S. Department of Labor''

    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-117hhrg44535/pdf/
CHRG-117hhrg44535-add9.pdf
                                ------                                


  November 2019, DOL OIG, ``Top Management and Performance Challenges 
                 Facing the U.S. Department of Labor''

    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-117hhrg44535/pdf/
CHRG-117hhrg44535-add10.pdf
                                ------                                


  November 2020, DOL OIG, ``Top Management and Performance Challenges 
                 Facing the U.S. Department of Labor''

    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-117hhrg44535/pdf/
CHRG-117hhrg44535-add11.pdf
                                ------                                


 March 2010, DOL OIG, ``Performance Audit for ResCare, Inc., Job Corps 
                               Centers''

    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-117hhrg44535/pdf/
CHRG-117hhrg44535-add1.pdf
                                ------                                


  March 2010, DOL OIG, ``Performance Audit for Education and Training 
                 Resources, Job Corps Center Operator''

    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-117hhrg44535/pdf/
CHRG-117hhrg44535-add2.pdf
                                ------                                


 August 2010, DOL OIG, ``Performance Audit of MINACT, Inc., Job Corps 
                           Center Operator''

    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-117hhrg44535/pdf/
CHRG-117hhrg44535-add3.pdf
                                ------                                


December 2012, DOL OIG, ``Job Corps Needs to Improve Timeliness of and 
        Accountability for Maintenance Repairs at Its Centers''

    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-117hhrg44535/pdf/
CHRG-117hhrg44535-add4.pdf
                                ------                                


 February 2015, DOL OIG, ``Job Corps Needs to Improve Enforcement and 
 Oversight of Student Disciplinary Policies to Better Protect Students 
                         and Staff at Centers''

    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-117hhrg44535/pdf/
CHRG-117hhrg44535-add5.pdf
                                ------                                


 June 2018, U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), ``Job Corps: 
   DOL Could Enhance Safety and Security at Centers with Consistent 
                Monitoring and Comprehensive Planning''

    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-117hhrg44535/pdf/
CHRG-117hhrg44535-add6.pdf
                                ------                                


   August 2019, GAO, ``Actions Needed to Improve Planning for Center 
                         Operation Contracts''

    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-117hhrg44535/pdf/
CHRG-117hhrg44535-add7.pdf
                                ------                                


    June 1995, GAO, ``Job Corps: High Costs and Mixed Results Raise 
               Questions about Program's Effectiveness''

    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-117hhrg44535/pdf/
CHRG-117hhrg44535-add8.pdf
                                ------                                


 November 1998, GAO, ``Job Corps: Links With Labor Market Improved but 
              Vocational Training Performance Overstated''

    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-117hhrg44535/pdf/
CHRG-117hhrg44535-add12.pdf
                                ------                                


June 2017, GAO, ``Job Corps: Preliminary Observations on Student Safety 
                          and Security Data''

    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-117hhrg44535/pdf/
CHRG-117hhrg44535-add13.pdf
                                ------                                


 November 2009, DOL OIG, ``Performance Audit of DEL-JEN, Incorporated 
                          Job Corps Centers''

    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-117hhrg44535/pdf/
CHRG-117hhrg44535-add14.pdf
                                ------                                


March 2017, DOL OIG, ``Review of Job Corps Center Safety and Security''

    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-117hhrg44535/pdf/
CHRG-117hhrg44535-add15.pdf
                                ------                                


 December 2017, DOL OIG, ``Job Corps Took Action to Mitigate Violence, 
 Drugs, and Other Student Misconduct at Centers, But More Needs to Be 
                                 Done''

    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-117hhrg44535/pdf/
CHRG-117hhrg44535-add16.pdf
                                ------                                


 March 2018, DOL OIG, ``Job Corps Could Not Demonstrate Beneficial Job 
                          Training Outcomes''

    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-117hhrg44535/pdf/
CHRG-117hhrg44535-add17.pdf
                                ------                                


September 2019, DOL OIG, ``Job Corps Should Do More to Prevent Cheating 
                       in High School Programs''

    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-117hhrg44535/pdf/
CHRG-117hhrg44535-add18.pdf
                                ------                                


 September 2007, DOL OIG, ``Performance Audit of the Laredo Job Corps 
                                Center''

    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-117hhrg44535/pdf/
CHRG-117hhrg44535-add20.pdf
                                ------                                


  March 2009, DOL OIG, ``Performance Audit of Management and Training 
                    Corporation Job Corps Centers''

    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-117hhrg44535/pdf/
CHRG-117hhrg44535-add21.pdf
                                ------                                


 September 2009, DOL OIG, ``Performance Audit of Adams and Associates, 
                    Incorporated Job Corps Centers''

    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-117hhrg44535/pdf/
CHRG-117hhrg44535-add22.pdf

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    [Whereupon, at 12:45 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]