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Show Vwtilft Li Jm$m By MARK D. MICKELSEN SOUTH WEBER - Like hundreds of other federally funded organizations, the Weber We-ber Basin Job Corp has been forgotten by many Davis County people, an unfortunate irony, according to Corp Administrator Clayton Hufetling, who says the project pro-ject pumps millions of dollars to revenue into the local economy eco-nomy every year. ON ANY given day, the bperation supplies food, residence resi-dence and education to about 225 teenagers, most of whom are "drop-outs from the local communities," according to Head Counselor Gordon Christensen. The average stay is about 6'2 months, but Mr. Christensen notes that "some stay two years, others two days." The ultimate hope, though, in the eyes of the two men, is that the boys will be able to learn a trade they can use later in life. THE JOB Corp is located near the mouth of Weber Canyon, Ca-nyon, a large operation with sleeping quarters, kitchen facilities, faci-lities, construction vehicles, a school, bricklaying stations, cement finishing rooms and a medical dispensary completer with dentists and doctors. Out-of-state and in-state parents pa-rents as well send their children chil-dren to the project, hoping, according to Mr. Christensen, that the Corp is a better alternative alter-native than shipping the boy to some legal detention school. ADMIN. Hufteling said that after the boys leave, "some are qualified to go into the service," ser-vice," because of the trades they have learned at the Corp. Unfortunately, Hufteling said, "some are never traceable." The entrants are watched carefully. According to Mr. Hufteling, the Department of Labor screens the boys first hand before they are accepted by the Weberpeople. Than, after af-ter the entrants are assigned to the project, the screeners are required to follow their progress, prog-ress, not only while they attend the Weber Corp, but even after they have left and are on their own. MR. HUFTELING said that because the organization if federally supported, the government gov-ernment wants to know, demands de-mands to know what has hap pened to the boys and whether or not their stay at the Corp was a success. Screeners who are unable to locate former Corp entrants can be in a great deal of trouble, he added. Once a boy gets out of the job corp, having completed both an educational and trade related course, he is supposedly supposed-ly ready to enter the regular work forces. But some problems prob-lems exist, according to Mr. Hufteling. "Sometimes after they get out," he said, "they don't thing they have to do. anything, that the jobs will just be there for them." HE ADDED that a lot of the boys do eventually get the positions they are seeking, but some have to wait years. In the meantime, Hufteling said the graduates take another less related re-lated job just to make some money and support themselves. them-selves. "When a youngster is set out as a carpenter," the administrator admi-nistrator said, "he isn't guaranteed a job," emphasizing emphasiz-ing the need for the boys to be able to handle interview after interview until they succeed. "But everybody now knows," Hufteling added, "that an interview in-terview doesn't necessarily mean a job." MR. CHRISTENSEN said these situations are a minority in number, though, and added enthusiastically the the Weber Corp has a 94 percent placement place-ment record. "Placement bothers all of us," Mr. Hufteling said, irritated irri-tated that the placement statistics statis-tics they receive show graduates gradu-ates working in service trades like restaurant cooks, bus boys, rather than union trades like carpentry and bricklaying. "IT TURNS me off to see the list," Mr. Hufteling said. "But we can't guarantee the kids a job, we can only offer them the training." He and Christensen both agreed that the government, govern-ment, who spends about $2 million on the project every year, Ls worried about the placement averages and therefore there-fore wants quick statistics. "If it takes two years, they want to prove the the job corp helped get the boy ajob," Hufteling Huf-teling said, adding that 'most of the kids, if they want to work, can get a job somewhere." some-where." MR. CHRISTENSEN, who watches the statistics as well, said that in the last ten years 75 percent of all the students there w ho studied and worked on union trades did get jobs in their chosen area. He emphasized that once the boys are accepted by the union, the union is responsible for placement, and "the union does a better job (placement) than the state can." BOTH MEN are happy with the cooperation the unions have given the corp over the last 15 years. Mr. Hufteling emphasizing that "without union un-ion trades, the job corp would have fallen apart years ago." Mr. Christensen, whose counseling job offers a look at boys from all over the country. said he has seen a lot of the entrants go on to better jobs because of the corp. He specifically speci-fically recalled one boy several years ago who came to the service ser-vice with nothing, learned to operate some heavy equipment equip-ment there and is now working as a foreman on a chemical project near Salt Lake City. THE MEN realize that everyone who attends the corp-school corp-school won't turn out like this, but it is their hope that most of them will be able to find jobs afterwards. And up to now. the averages say this is a certainty. "You've got to be realistic," realis-tic," Mr. Hufeling said, "you just can't win them all." |