Job Corps Center Proposal for Deactivation: Comments Requested, 25071-25073 [2019-11262]

Agencies

• Employment and Training Administration
• DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 104 (Thursday, May 30, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25071-25073]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-11262]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration


Job Corps Center Proposal for Deactivation: Comments Requested

AGENCY: Office of Job Corps, Employment and Training Administration 
(ETA), Labor.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. 
Department of Labor (DOL) is issuing this Notice announcing a new 
criterion for selecting Job Corps centers for deactivation, and 
proposing the deactivation of nine Job Corps Civilian Conservation 
Centers (CCC). The centers are Anaconda CCC in Anaconda, Montana; 
Blackwell CCC in Laona, Wisconsin; Cass CCC in Ozark, Arkansas; 
Flatwoods CCC in Coeburn, Virginia; Fort Simcoe CCC located in White 
Swan, Washington; Frenchburg CCC in Frenchburg, Kentucky; Oconaluftee 
CCC located in Cherokee, North Carolina; Pine Knot CCC in Pine Knot, 
Kentucky; and Timber Lake CCC located in Estacada, Oregon. This Notice 
seeks public comment on the proposed deactivation of these CCCs using 
the discretion provided to the Secretary of the Department of Labor in 
the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).

DATES: To be ensured consideration, comments must be submitted in 
writing on or before July 1, 2019.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket Number ETA-
2019-0003, by only one of the following methods:
    Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
website instructions for submitting comments.
    Mail and hand delivery/courier: Submit comments to Debra Carr, 
Acting National Director, Office of Job Corps (OJC), U.S. Department of 
Labor, Employment and Training Administration, 200 Constitution Avenue 
NW, Room N- 4459, Washington, DC 20210. Due to security-related 
concerns, there may be a significant delay in the receipt of 
submissions by United States Mail. You must consider this when 
preparing to meet the deadline for submitting comments. DOL will post 
all comments it receives on https://www.regulations.gov, including any 
personal information provided. The https://www.regulations.gov website 
is the Federal e-rulemaking portal and all comments posted there are 
available

[[Page 25072]]

and accessible to the public. Commenters should not include personal 
information, such as Social Security Numbers, personal addresses, 
telephone numbers, and email addresses, in their comments if they do 
not wish to make this information public. Comments submitted through 
https://www.regulations.gov will not include the email address of the 
commenter unless the commenter chooses to include that information as 
part of his or her comment. It is the responsibility of the commenter 
to safeguard personal information.
    Instructions: All submissions received should include the Docket 
Number for the Notice: Docket Number ETA-2019-0003. Please submit your 
comments using only one of the available submission methods. Due to 
security concerns, postal mail delivery in Washington, DC may be 
delayed. Therefore, DOL encourages the public to submit comments on 
https://www.regulations.gov.
    Docket: All comments on this Notice of the proposed deactivation of 
the identified CCCs will be available on the https://www.regulations.gov 
website. DOL will also make all of the comments it receives available 
for public inspection by appointment during normal business hours at 
the Office of Job Corps provided above. Upon request, individuals 
requiring assistance reviewing comments will be provided appropriate 
aids such as readers or print magnifiers. Copies of this Notice are 
available, upon request, in large print and electronic file on computer 
disk. To schedule an appointment to review the comments and/or obtain 
the Notice in an alternative format, contact the Office of Job Corps at 
(202) 693-3000 (this is not a toll-free number). You may also contact 
this office at the address listed below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Debra Carr, Acting National Director, 
Office of Job Corps, ETA, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution 
Avenue NW, Room N-4463, Washington, DC 20210; Telephone (202) 693-3000 
(this is not a toll-free number). Individuals with hearing or speech 
impairments may access the telephone number above via TTY by calling 
the toll-free Federal Information Relay Service at (877) 889-5627 (TTY/
TDD).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background on the Job Corps Program

    Established in 1964, Job Corps is a national program administered 
by ETA within DOL. Through its network of 123 centers in 50 states, 
Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia, Job Corps seeks to create 
career pathways and provide access to meaningful employment 
opportunities. Job Corps serves at-risk young people, ages 16 to 24, 
seeking to overcome barriers to employment. These barriers can include 
poverty, homelessness, or aging out of the foster care system. The 
program provides the academic, career technical, and employability 
skills these young people need to enter the workforce, enroll in post-
secondary education, or enlist in the military. The Job Corps program 
is the nation's largest federally-funded, primarily residential skills 
instruction program.
    Various entities, including large and small businesses, manage and 
operate 98 of the Job Corps centers through contractual agreements with 
DOL. These contracts are awarded pursuant to Federal procurement rules. 
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), through the U.S. Forest 
Service (FS), operates an additional 24 Civilian Conservation Centers 
(CCC) through an interagency agreement with DOL. CCCs are located 
predominantly in rural, and sometimes remote, locations. As with other 
Job Corps centers, these facilities provide skills training for 
disadvantaged young people to aid their entry into the American 
workforce, but with additional focus on conserving the United States' 
natural resources and providing assistance during natural disasters.

II. Criteria for Proposing a Different Approach

    As part of the Department's ongoing efforts to ensure that Job 
Corps' resources are used to deliver the best possible results for 
students, it may determine that a different approach will allow Job 
Corps to serve its students effectively.
    The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), directs DOL to 
``establish written criteria that the Secretary shall use to determine 
when a Job Corps center supported under this part is to be closed and 
how to carry out such closure[.]'' 29 U.S.C. 3211(c). Consequently, DOL 
previously published criteria for making this determination:
    1. A methodology for selecting a center for closure based on its 
chronic low performance, first described in an August 2014 Federal 
Register Notice (FRN) (79 FR 51198), and updated in a March 2016 FRN 
(81 FR 12529);
    2. An agreement between the Secretaries of Labor and Agriculture to 
close a CCC, as described in the March 2016 FRN; or
    3. An evaluation of the effort required to provide a high-quality 
education and training program at the center, as described in the March 
2016 FRN.
    Through this Notice, the Department is announcing a fourth 
criterion--program reform and streamlining operations. The Department 
is engaged in an effort to reform and strengthen the overall management 
and operation of the Job Corps program, including USDA's recently 
announced decision to withdraw from the role of operating Job Corps 
centers. The deactivation of a center or group of centers may advance 
these efforts by focusing program resources on higher performing 
centers and improving student access to these centers, increasing cost 
efficiency, and enhancing the geographic match between student demand 
for the program and center availability. While the Department will 
continue to use the existing criteria to close centers when 
appropriate, the Department may propose a center for deactivation or 
repurposing when doing so furthers the Department's broad reform and 
streamlining efforts. In applying this criterion, the Department will 
not consider the Additional Considerations first discussed in the 
August 2014 notice and amended in a September 2017 FRN (82 FR 44842). 
These considerations do not appropriately reflect the importance of 
operational and structural management, financial management, cost 
efficiency, and long-term program priorities when pursuing broad agency 
program reform and streamlining of operations.
    DOL may make its closure determination based on any one of the four 
criteria, and it may apply a single criterion independent of the 
others. Thus, while a center may qualify under more than one criterion, 
DOL may choose to rely on only one criterion when making its 
determination. The written criteria were previously established; 
therefore, DOL is not seeking comments on them in response to this 
Notice. The Department is also not seeking comment on the new, fourth 
criterion.
    Prior to making a decision under any one of the first three 
criteria, DOL also applies the Additional Considerations first 
discussed in the August 2014 notice and amended in a September 2017 FRN 
(82 FR 44842).

III. Job Corps Centers Selected for Deactivation

    On May 24, 2019, DOL received a letter from USDA expressing its 
intent to terminate its role in operating Job Corps CCCs to allow the 
Forest Service to prioritize its core natural resource

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mission to improve the condition and resilience of the nation's 
forests. Moreover, the letter established an expectation that by 
September 30, 2019, each FS Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center will 
be transitioned out, or on an established plan to transition out, of 
the Job Corps program.
    As part of the CCC phase-out activities, DOL plans to continue Job 
Corps center operations at all CCC locations except nine. The nine 
centers proposed for deactivation are Anaconda, Blackwell, Cass, 
Flatwoods, Fort Simcoe, Frenchburg, Oconaluftee, Pine Knot, and Timber 
Lake. While the existing second criterion identified above provides for 
closures based on the mutual agreement of the Secretaries of Labor and 
Agriculture, it does not pertain to the Department's broader interest 
in program reform and how that can be executed through center 
deactivations, repurposing, consolidations/mergers, and other measures.
    The proposed deactivation of the nine CCCs is pursuant to the 
program reform and streamlining criterion. In light of the USDA's 
decision, the Department considered several factors to determine how to 
move forward, including how to provide the highest quality services to 
students; how to leverage efficiencies to serve more students; and how 
to maximize the capacity of higher performing centers, including those 
formerly operated by the USDA.
    Based on that review, the Department determined that deactivating 
these nine centers would advance broad program reform and streamlining 
of operations, while also serving more students. Some of the centers 
suffer from a variety of problems, including operating under-capacity, 
not achieving long-term student outcomes, and operating in an 
inefficient manner. Others are located in close proximity to other 
higher-performing centers where increasing the student capacity of the 
nearby center would better serve students. Deactivating these centers 
would give Job Corps participants access to higher quality services, 
allow the program to serve more students, streamline and make effective 
use of existing facilities, reduce student transportation costs, and 
eliminate the need for costly facility construction and rehabilitation 
activities. Accordingly, the Department proposes to deactivate the nine 
CCCs identified above.

IV. Request for Public Comments

    Because it is using the fourth criterion, DOL is not applying the 
Additional Considerations as amended in the September 2017 FRN. 
However, DOL contemplated the Additional Considerations and concluded 
that, if applied, they would not preclude the proposed deactivation of 
the identified CCCs.
    DOL requests public comments on its proposal to deactivate the 
Anaconda CCC in Anaconda, Montana; Blackwell CCC in Laona, Wisconsin; 
Cass CCC in Ozark, Arkansas; Flatwoods CCC in Coeburn, Virginia; Fort 
Simcoe CCC in White Swan, Washington; Frenchburg CCC in Frenchburg, 
Kentucky; Oconaluftee CCC in Cherokee, North Carolina; Pine Knot CCC in 
Pine Knot, Kentucky; and Timber Lake CCC in Estacada, Oregon.

V. The Process Under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

    The process will follow the requirements of section 159(j) of the 
WIOA, which include the following:
     Announcing the proposed decision concerning a particular 
center in advance to the public through publication in the Federal 
Register or other appropriate means;
     Establishing a reasonable comment period, not to exceed 30 
days, for interested individuals to submit written comments to the 
Secretary; and
     Notifying the Member of Congress who represents the 
district in which the center is located within a reasonable period in 
advance of any final decision concerning the status of the center.
    This Notice serves as the public announcement of the proposals 
associated with the following CCCs: Anaconda, Blackwell, Cass, 
Flatwoods, Frenchburg, Fort Simcoe, Oconaluftee, Pine Knot, and Timber 
Lake. DOL is providing a 30-day period--the maximum amount of time 
allowed for comment under WIOA sec. 159(j)--for interested individuals 
to submit written comments on the proposed decision. DOL will announce 
its final decision following the conclusion of the comment period.

    Signed in Washington, DC.
Molly E. Conway,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training, Labor.
[FR Doc. 2019-11262 Filed 5-24-19; 4:15 pm]
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