Cascades Job Corps

Federal Program Gives Challenged Students a Leg up in Vocational Education

by Michael Barrett

Entering the old Northern State Hospital campus just east of Sedro-Woolley, one is immediately taken by the enormous trees that line the narrow, winding roadway. Beyond these tall poplars, birches and oaks, resplendent with colors in fall and so green much of the rest of the year, are a number of conspicuous pre-World War I buildings that once served the mental institution before its closure in 1973. Today, they are home to about 325 young people who have qualified to learn a trade through the federally funded Job Corps program.

There are 118 Job Corps centers in the country — four of them in this state and two in Puerto Rico — and Cascades Job Corps, which occupies 40 acres off Fruitdale Road, was last year deemed the fifth best in the nation and best overall within the Western Division. Started by President John F. Kennedy’s brother-in-law, Sergeant Shriver, in 1964 and designed to help at-risk youth through high school- and college-level vocational programs, Job Corps now serves about 60,000 kids a year, many from financially challenged families. About two-thirds are males.

“We’re licensed for 327 students and are always at capacity,” says Kim Shillinger, director of Cascades Job Corps Center. These are kids the majority of whom haven’t finished high school and are in danger of falling through the cracks. Others are here for financial reasons.”

About 90 percent are from this state, a few are from Oregon because of course availability and several more are immigrants.

“An interesting feature is the diversity of students,” Shillinger, a Sedro-Woolley native, explains. “We’ve had kids from Russia, Ukraine, Bosnia, Ethiopia, the Marshall Islands, Somalia and places in South America. It’s very diverse, and it’s a very rich experience.

“We offer a holistic approach to education. The students really have an opportunity to grow and develop. It’s geared toward leadership, where they can earn even more privileges, setting them on a better career path,” he states.

 

Wide range of courses

Cascades Job Corps Center offers courses in baking, building and apartment maintenance, business occupations, carpentry, cement masonry, culinary arts, dental assistance, medical-office assistance, nursing assistance, painting and plastering. More than that, the students are provided with basic academic training in math and reading — enough for them to earn their high school diploma — and social and “employability” skills: how to dress, show up on time and get along with other workers.

At some stage, the students receive hands-on training, either at the center or off-campus, which explains why the center is so important to Skagit County. According to Shillinger, more than 100 of the current population are involved in work-based training with local businesses, where they can be observed “on the job.”

In addition, students earn privileges by providing valuable community service — more than 14,000 hours last year alone — at senior centers, the U.S. Forest Service and such nonprofits as the Lincoln Theatre in Mount Vernon. “We want them to know we are part of the community,” Shillinger declares.

Recently, the DoL began looking for other sites for Cascades, with the idea of saving money. So far, the search has included a site farther up Highway 20, three in Oak Harbor, one in Bay View and even one as far away as Tacoma. “It’s a 50-50 chance (we’ll stay put),” predicts Shillinger.

“The community on a whole is tremendously supportive,” explains Brian Hurst, the center’s business and community liaison.. “This includes the governments, the community itself and the majority of the agencies such as EDASC (Economic Development Association of Skagit County) and others.” He also includes the many businesses that use the program and Skagit Valley College (SVC), which provides training to college-age students and classes not offered on the Sedro-Woolley campus.

 

‘Linkage and partnerships’

“There’s a lot of linkage and partnerships, and this continues to expand,” Hurst continues. “It adds benefits to students” — and to the business community.

Job Corps is administered through the U.S. Department of Labor. Cascades is one of 24 centers run under DoL contract by the Management and Training Corp. (MTC), which employs Shillinger and Hurst and a staff of 130.

It costs the federal government an average $26,000 per year per student for education, food, housing, health and dental services, and pocket money (up to $100 a month), but Shillinger points out that it’s a bargain. “For every $1 invested by the government, $2.01 comes back to the economy, according to the figures,” he says, adding that some youngsters not accepted by the program could wind up in jail or on welfare, “costing the government even more.”

It’s important to note that anyone who doesn’t have a clean criminal record of six months or more can be denied entry to the program, and once in, bad behavior can spell expulsion. “We have a zero tolerance for violence and drugs on campus. Anyone caught is out,” says Shillinger.

“Some members of our community think kids come directly from jail. Not true. We do have a few problem kids here, but nothing serious. Part of our success is believing that the kids can be successful,” he adds.

Five levels, or phases, determine students’ position on campus, based on performance. He or she enters as a “Purple” and can progress up or down. The low end are “Bronze” and “Red,” which may involve disciplinary issues. As students earn community-service credits, they move up the ladder to “Teal” and finally “Platinum,” the highest level, which carries with it more incentives, freedom and status.

 

Earning high honors

One of the top students at Cascades Job Corps, and an “ambassador” who greets new enrollees and visitors, is Maria Gutierrez, 23, who grew up in Royal City near Moses Lake. Her parents, migrant farm workers, now live near Hermiston, Ore., with her four siblings.

“What I knew about Job Corps was little. I thought it was for troublemakers,” Gutierrez recalls. “I was going to Big Bend Community College (in Moses Lake) and Job Corps was across the street. When I hurt my back working part-time as a certified nurse’s aide, I couldn’t afford to go to college, so I looked into Job Corps.”

Gutierrez learned she qualified for the program even though she already had a high school diploma and some college experience, and by coming to Sedro-Woolley, she joined a handful of students who are bused daily to SVC. She’s pursuing a degree to be either a medical-lab technician or dental hygienist.

“I know what I’m here for,” she says. “I have a lot of goals. My parents have supported me; they push me. I don’t want to end up like my parents.”

On the road to platinum is Anthony Jacobson, 18, of Puyallup, who serves as an “adviser” in one of Cascade’s four dormitories. “I teach new students how to clean their rooms and do other things,” he says.

“I wasn’t doing well in high school. I saw an ad for Job Corps on TV and my younger brother said I should check it out,” he explains. Although he first considered going to an Oregon campus, he learned about Cascades’ popular culinary-arts program and decided to enroll here; since then, he’s switched to the painting program. “It’s helped me a lot and I’ve learned a lot.”

He will graduate in March and is eager to “get out and work,” Jacobson adds.

“Cascades is a place where more people should go,” he concludes. “It’s so nice.”