Bamberg Job Corps Center students have been afforded the opportunity to work with the community in community projects and events. We have taken on two community projects to include—Assisting the Cheeze and Cracker Box and Mama’s Animal Shelter. Students gave toiletry items to Cheeze and Cracker Box to include tissue, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, lotion, and cologne. Students gave bags of Dog food to the Mama’s Animal Shelter, walked the dogs, and cleaned the dog cages.

Students will be donating food items and/or toiletry items each month to the Cheeze and Cracker Box. Students will also donate Dog Food monthly but will be assisting with clean-up and walking of the dogs weekly. Job Corps students and staff log many hours of volunteer service every year, just one of the ways Bamberg Job Corps Students are giving back to the community.

Carlisle Military School was established as the Carlisle Fitting School of Wofford College in 1892. The Bamberg Job Corps Center was opened on the old Carlisle Military Academy campus. The school was named in honor of Dr. James H. Carlisle, who was the president of Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina for many years. The Carlisle Academy was later brought by the federal government by be the Bamberg Job Corps Center in 1978. The school has been opened now as Job Corps for 33 years.

Bamberg Job Corps Center is one of 126 centers across the country. A unique national program, Job Corps provides a safe, residential environment for at-risk youth ages 16-24 to learn career trades or pursue further education. Job Corps gives hope to about 60,000 young people each year, many of whom get little support or encouragement to complete traditional academic programs.

Without Job Corps, many of these young people would be high school dropouts, unprepared for the workforce and reliant on government subsidies. Instead, they receive hands-on training and life skills they need to be successful and financially independent. About 86% of Job Corps graduates across the country go on to find and keep jobs, pursue higher education or enlist in the military.

Job Corps is also an important economic engine. Nationally, the average Job Corps center supports 228 local jobs. For every dollar invested in the program, almost $2 is returned to the local economy.

Local employers that partner with Job Corps receive significant benefits: employer tax incentives; low-cost labor through internships; the freedom from costs of expensive staffing agencies; the ability to help develop customized training; and the chance to teach students how to adapt to specific workplace expectations.

A high-performing Job Corps center like ours is also attractive to employers looking for a new community to call home, because it signals that potential employees have had additional opportunities to develop their skills and working maturity. They know Job Corps is a quality education and career-development program that trains industry-certified employees ready to get to work on day one.

Students will continue to be successful at Bamberg Job Corps Center because of its unique public-private partnership. A key to this relationship is the ongoing support of business leaders and local officials, including Congressman James Clyburn, Congressman Joe Wilson, Governor Nikki Haley, SC State Representative, Bakari Sellers, Mayor Alton McCollum of Bamberg, and others.

We look forward to continuing to work with them to support our local center and ensure that “Job Corps Works.”