Mr. KELLY. We made just such a comparison, Congressman Brademas, on page 86 of your booklet and Dr. Gottlieb has a comment on that. Mr. GOTTLIEB. There are several comparisons made comparing Job Corps enrollees, Neighborhood Youth Corps, MDTA, private vocational education, and public vocational education wherever we were able to get data from these other programs to make comparisons. In addition, on page 88 there is a triangle which shows the clientele that are handled by the various programs. In every comparison that we have been able to do it is clear that our youngsters are most deprived from an educational point of view, from a medical point of view, and in terms of the poverty backgrounds they come from. One thing is apparent, that long before we even put our youngsters into vocational training there is so much more that has to be done first. We have youngsters that we cannot enroll in our own vocational training because they can't read a blueprint, don't know what a ruler is and how to handle it. You don't put these people into a vocational training program. Mr. KELLY. On page 86 you will note that this private vocational education, 84 percent of the youngsters that go into that program have completed high school where only about 10 percent of our young sters have completed high school that come into the Job Corps. think that is an important measure. I was up at Camp Kilmer not long ago and one of the difficulties we were having there is that we had a number of youngsters there that before they could get into the welding program-and they indicated they wanted to be welders-they could not read well enough to read the very elemental welding manual that we had put together and they were discouraged because they had seen other kids with torches and tanks who were cutting metal and they could not understand why they could not do that until basic education was upgraded. Mr. BRADEMAS. In this committee we are also considering right now Vocational education legislation to improve and strengthen the quality of the traditional vocational education in our country because we find that it is not doing an adequate job in terms of meeting job requirements. I have another question, Mr. Chairman. We have heard a lot of testimony in the past and read newspaper stories about Job Corps enrollees getting into trouble in the various communities where Job Corps centers are located. I would like to ask if you find this a continuing problem and if you are still receiving widespread complaints? Mr. KELLY. Let me say, Congressman Brademas, that I was very curious about that when I became Director of the Job Corps and one of the things I did in the late spring was to write a letter to law enforcement officers all over the country that were adjacent to Job Corps centers. I also wrote the same kind of letter to mayors of towns and cities. I also wrote the same kind of a letter to the chambers of commerce that were located in these places and the overwhelming response that I got was that the Job Corps was a good neighbor, that the Job Corps problem incidents with the police were very low. As a matter of fact, I got a number of these letters. Here, R. A. Miles, the chief of police of Austin, Tex., says: "I might add that I do believe that it is an excellent thing. One of the staff at Camp Perry made the remark they had a 24-percent dropout rate and I pointed out to him that since their group had about a 90-percent dropout rate from school that I believe that instead of looking at the 24-percent dropout rate it should be looked at as a 26-percent retention rate," as a matter of fact rather than reading all of these could I put them in the record as this point. Mr. BRADEMAS. I ask unanimous consent that that be done. Mr. KELLY. We will put in the negative letters, too, five generally negative letters. (The letters to be supplied follow :) The basic policy objectives of Job Corps community relations and \public affairs ... are to: Develop understanding and good will on the part of the support communities towards the Job Corps Center community and its program. Channel community interest into positive support and assistance by means of more effective and meaningful liaison with community officials and agencies, news media, private groups and their leadership, and individual citizens. Strengthen the center's basic program for the Corpsmembers' social development and citizenship training by means of complementary programs on and off the center, including whenever possible the integration and coordination of center activities and community life, development of person-to-person exchange, and practice of community service. (From the Men's and Women's Centers Policy Manual, 1967.) Job Corps COMMUNITY I. Community Relations Councils II. III. A. Purpose B. Number of Councils and Composition C. Types of Councils and Legal Status D. Minutes of Typical Council Meeting Community Attitudes.. Letters to the Director of Job Corps A. 54 Support Program B. 17 Previous Apprehension-Now Support C. 1 Strong Opposition D. 5 Generally Negative but not Opposed E. 17 Non-Committal F. Supplementary Letters "Salute To Communities Week" A. Proposed Activities B. Results IV. Community Service Projects A. Nebraska Centennial B. Flood Control Assistance C. Preservation of Wildlife D. Community Clean-Up/ Beautification OEO Release: "Job Corps Youth, Neighboring Communities |