The U.S. Labor Department’s April 22 decision to end a Job Corps enrollment freeze is “a big win for the students, families and communities in Connecticut and across the country who rely” on the program, said Sen. Chris Murphy and other members of the state’s congressional delegation.
The enrollment freeze, which had been in effect since January due to a budget shortfall, impacted students who receive education, training and support services at 125 Job Corps centers nationwide, including two in New Haven and Hartford.
After Congress passed a federal funding bill in late March that allowed the Labor Department to transfer funds to the Job Corps program, Connecticut’s congressional delegation wrote to the department requesting that the enrollment suspension be lifted.
The program, established in 1964, provides free vocational and academic training to low-income individuals between the ages of 16 and 24, helping them to earn a high school diploma or GED and to find work.
Murphy and U.S. Reps. Rosa DeLauro and John Larson, all Democrats, applauded the end of the enrollment freeze in an April 22 joint statement. Murphy said the enrollment freeze “hurt some of the most vulnerable kids in Connecticut.”
“As a member of the committee that oversees Job Corps, I’ve been pushing for months to end this damaging enrollment freeze, and I”™m proud that our work has made a difference and that Job Corps enrollment can resume,” Murphy said.
