This week Ms. Lenita Jacobs-Simmons, National Director of Job Corps and 4 Representatives from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) were guests of Woodland Job Corps Center where they were able to take a closer look at the daily operations of the center in the form of a center tour.

Jobina Brown, Business and Community Liaison for Woodland Job Corps said, “the goal of the day was to expose our OIG guests to the importance of our center and our mission. In most cases Woodland Job Corps Center serves as a safety net for those individuals who might slip through the cracks of a regular school system.”

Tanisha Nixon, Center Director for Woodland Job Corps, spoke to the guests about the importance of continued exposure for the center and the impact that Woodland Job Corps has on the community.

“People often say, ‘children are our future’, well they are our present too,” Nixon said. “When students exit out of high school, we find that they still have needs. Many high school graduates are reading at a sixth-grade reading level.”

Nixon said the program at Woodland Job Corps is able to help those students achieve their GED, learn a trade, find employment or seek higher education after a year in the program.

Woodland believes that after having their guests tour the center that they have a better understating of what the staff and students do and that the center is essential in helping students who could not succeed in traditional high schools become productive and educated citizens within the community.