WADA rallies community support for Pinellas County Job Corps Center

Good neighbors look out for each other.

So when St. Petersburg’s Warehouse Arts District Association found out its neighbor across the street, the Pinellas County Job Corps Center, was being shuttered by the Trump administration’s Department of Labor, the nonprofit arts group organized a community rally in support of the students, faculty, and staff. 

After all, as WADA Executive Director Markus Gottschlich points out during the Tuesday, June 10th community rally, Job Corps students have routinely helped out during the monthly Second Saturday ArtWalk. A few weeks back, they helped plant a tree on the lawn next to the stage where the rally was taking place.  

“We’ve been very fortunate as the Warehouse Arts District Association to have your support for the last couple of years,” Gottschlich tells the crowd. “But I’m not speaking in terms of our organization and community partnership, I’m speaking as a neighbor today. And I’ve been around long enough to know the difference between a program that checks off a box and a program that’s really trying to do something. And Job Corps does more than something; it saves lives.”

Job Corps is a 61-year-old federal program that offers free residential job training and education for economically disadvantaged teens and young adults ages 16 to 24. In late May, the Department of Labor announced it was pausing operations at approximately 120 contractor-run Job Corps centers across the country, including Pinellas County, by June 30th, citing a low graduation rate, financial deficits, and thousands of “serious incident reports” involving student behavior.

“No one wants to talk about the success stories but everyone wants to talk about the failures,” longtime Pinellas Job County Job Corps instructor Debbie Grant says during the community event.

Several current and recent students shared their success stories. Imani George says she came to Job Corps nine months ago with “three dollars and fifty sense, a short temper, and a terrible mouth, and mindset.” George says she found people to guide her and leaves the program with her high school diploma and a pharmacy tech license. 

Nina Brown came to Job Corps in March and is now a certified medical assistant (CMA). Tamia Martin came last July and is now a CMA.

“This program has been a life changer for me,” she says. 

St. Pete City Councilman Corey Givens Jr. says he worked in various roles at Pinellas County Job Corps for four years and saw the program’s impact firsthand.

“Job Corps is more than just a school,” Givens says. “It’s a home away from home. “It is a safe haven.”

A federal judge in New York has temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s plan to shut down the Job Corps program but the long-term future is uncertain. During the June 10th event, St. Petersburg City Council member Mike Harting suggests students, staff, faculty, and community supporters engage in some grassroots advocacy and urge local governments like the city, Pinellas County, and Pinellas Technical College to step up and keep the local program going. 

“This campus is important to the community,“ he says. “This campus changes lives.”