ResCare Going Green with Job Corps

ResCare is the nation's leading provider of residential, training, education and support services for persons with special needs and at-risk youth, and the nation's second largest operator of Job Corps operations. We currently operate 15 Job Corps Centers, training more than 9,200 students across the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Administered by the U.S. Department of Labor and federally-funded, the Job Corps program was founded in 1964 and has helped to prepare over 2 million young people to enter and succeed in the work force.

To provide for the increased demand for green programs, and a skilled workforce to realize the plans, we are researching and developing opportunities for our Job Corps participants to learn sustainable, career-level green skills. Our program objectives align with Department of Labor directives and state legislation, and focus on replicable programs, development of transferrable skills, expansion of employment opportunities and promotion of green lifestyles.

Our Job Corps program boosts local economies, cultivates sustainable jobs, and creates green literacy. We train eligible youth ages 16 through 24 in sustainable green job skills through carefully researched partnerships that support local economies. Courses in independent living, employability skills, and social skills provide the underpinnings that help students transform their lives and build brighter futures, while many of our vocational programs focus on green skills, such as conservation and reuse, and teach our students creative ways to partner with the community. Students learn the importance of green products, green construction and retrofitting, and clean energies, such as wind, alternative fuels, and solar power. Our Job Corps instructors are specially trained and certified by the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) to use the Green Advantage Program, and many of our Job Corps training opportunities lead to state and national certifications.

ResCare's inventory of green programs is steadily increasing with new ideas, and each program carries with it ResCare's commitment to help create a greener future and to serve our communities with skill, compassion, respect and care.