Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Workforce topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Blue Ridge Job Corps urges Smyth County leaders to boost outreach after abrupt federal shutdown notice
Summary
Blue Ridge Job Corps staff told supervisors the center was placed in limbo after a sudden national shutdown notice but has received extensions; the center currently enrolls about 34'5 students and leaders asked the county to help with recruitment and local outreach to demonstrate demand and preserve the program's local offerings.
Heather Goodpasture, outreach and admissions/career transition services manager at Blue Ridge Job Corps (speaker 8), updated the Smyth County board on the program nd an abrupt shutdown notice from the National Job Corps office. She said the center, which is residential and historically small and mostly female at the Marion site, received a rapid closure directive that was later paused by a legal injunction but left local centers "in limbo."
"We got notice from our national office that Job Corps had to be shut down... The program closed and done with within 4 days," Goodpasture said, describing the sudden timeline that forced staff and students to scramble. She told the board Blue Ridge had about 34'5 students currently enrolled and that the center lost its LPN program seats when the shutdown disrupted the course partnerships.
Goodpasture asked county leaders to help with outreach and recruitment. "We need your help supporting the program, getting the word out there," she said, noting the center's small advertising budget and the urgency of demonstrating local enrollment to the Department of Labor and the National Job Corps Association.
Board members and residents asked whether the center partners with local community colleges for remote or bridge instruction; Goodpasture said some training (for cybersecurity and the LPN program) was provided through Highlands Community College and Appalachian partnerships and that the center provides stipends, transitional support and placement assistance for students.
No board action was taken; staff and members discussed coordinating local outreach and sharing literature and contacts to help recruitment efforts.
