Job Corps Center Invites Community to Signing Day Event

*Excelsior Springs Job Corps Center Director Lori Sams hands a training certification to student Lauren Tracy.*

EXCELSIOR SPRINGS, Mo. (September 4, 2022) – Excelsior Springs Job Corps Center will host a Signing Day event for students committing to the training program Thursday, Sept. 15, from 1–4 p.m. and welcomes any community member to attend. The Department of Labor and National Job Corps Office are featuring Signing Day events across the country to relaunch their programs, connect with their communities, and to encourage their students after a prolonged pandemic absence. “We are celebrating our new students the same way colleges celebrate their new student-athletes because the rewards are the same,” Job Corps National Director Rachel Torres said. “It’s about commitment, learning, and the drive to succeed. Our students are super motivated to skill up, join the workforce and live their best lives.”

“For decades this community has supported the mission of our Job Corps Center and provided us with long-standing partnerships,” Center Director Lori Sams said. “Since COVID impacted the status of our center and the lives of our students, those partners have stood by us and supported us despite the difficulties COVID presented. Now, on the first Signing Day our center has ever hosted we are welcoming back our partners and our community. It means so much that they have stood with us through this difficult time and we can’t thank them enough for their participation in celebrating these young men and women. I speak for the entire center when I say we are all looking forward to our partners joining us as we continue to carry out our mission of lifting up youth and providing skilled workers to the workforce.” Featured guests at the Excelsior Springs event will include Mayor Sharon Powell, JE Dunn Community Relations Coordinator GG Owens, and Center Director Lori Sams. The event will be moderated by Business and Community Liaison Sean McNabb.

Guests at the event will receive a brief tour of the 26-acre campus before the ceremony begins with the singing of the national anthem led by a Job Corps student. Trade students will craft centerpieces for the tables that will be offered as guest door prizes and hors d’oeuvres and beverages will be served by Culinary Arts students.

The Job Corps program was founded in 1964 by R. Sergeant Shriver during the Johnson administration as part of an effort to bolster the workforce and help those with barriers find livable wages and employment. Funded by the Department of Labor, the program serves young people ages 16 to 24 who have barriers to the workforce. Students who enter the program get extensive and credentialed training in an offered trade of their choice, as well as high school education and diploma if they don’t have one already, and driver’s education if they enter the program without a driver’s license. It is the country’s largest, free youth skills-training program and produces thousands of work-ready individuals every year.

Students enrolled are most frequently residents at their respective Job Corps centers and live in dorms while being provided all meals, transportation, education, and training for free. These amenities are offered to non-residential students too; however, non-residential slots are reserved for special circumstances like single parents or students who are still attending high school. Each center not only provides the education and training necessary to make each student as hirable as possible but also builds partnerships with employers and places each student into a job related to their trade. Job Corps also provides a year of support after graduation through their Career Transition Services team, which helps the graduate find resources to help them be successful as well as additional job opportunities and placements.

There are 121 Job Corps centers across the country and at least one in every state. Missouri has three centers, one in Excelsior Springs serving the entire state, one in St. Louis serving the St. Louis area, and a final location in Puxico, which focuses predominantly on training students in conservation work. Excelsior Springs Job Corps Center is settled on 26 acres of land and features 11 skilled trades, as well as the only Junior Naval ROTC program that is located at a Job Corps center. Between the 11 trades, the center offers a well-rounded pool of opportunities through construction careers and service careers, as well as an advanced training program.

The construction trade options at Excelsior Springs are Carpentry, Painting, Welding, Facilities Maintenance, and Cement Masonry. The service trades are Culinary Arts, Medical Office Support, Certified Nursing Assistant, Clinical Medical Assistant, and Security. The Excelsior Springs Center also offers an advanced training program facilitated by the Transportation Communications Union that teaches students to work on trains. Students who have already completed their first trade at any Job Corps center, have demonstrated dedication and good behavior, and are interested in furthering their skills can apply for an advanced training program at any center in the United States. If accepted, Job Corps provides transportation for those students to the program they’ve selected for their advanced trade. Students who complete their trade are also invited to apply for the Job Corps college program. This program provides the first two years of expenses paid to a community college program, in addition to continued room and board for students who are accepted into the program. If that weren’t enough, Job Corps also pays students a biweekly stipend during their training and upon completion, they receive a lump sum of money to use in helping set themselves up for their future.

To attend you must register for the event, visit https://forms.gle/D5bpyBQ5er1PUXnk9

Guests will be asked to park their cars in the public parking lot in Excelsior Springs behind/next to Dubious Claims located at 451 S. Thompson Ave. They will then board an Excelsior Springs Chamber Shuttle and be brought to the Center, receive a brief tour of the 26-acre campus, and be dropped off at the event space located at the Social Hall. Guests will be transported back to their vehicles following the event.

Per federal guidelines, all guests must accommodate the following requirements to enter the campus:
1.     Proof of vaccination or proof of a negative COVID test within the last three days.
2.     No drugs, alcohol, or weapons are allowed on the center. Please ensure you do not have medicine, weapons, or any alcohol on your person when coming onto the center.
a.     Security will ask to look inside your bags and request you walk through a metal detector.
*** Those who do not follow the outlined regulations will be asked to leave immediately. ***
This is an effort to keep our students and staff safe, and we apologize for any inconvenience.