President Donald Trump released his proposed federal budget recently, and it includes cutting funds for Job Corps. The program is the largest residential education and job training program for young adults and it has served over 2 million people since 1964 at its job centers, including two in New Mexico. On Let’s Talk New Mexico today/yesterday, recent Job Corps grad Jadelynn Relaford told host Ty Bannerman about the impact Job Corps has had on her life, and what originally sparked her interest in learning welding.
JADELYNN_RELAFORD: Have you ever seen “Flashdance”?
KUNM: A long time ago yeah.
RELAFORD: So that was it. And then there's this other show called “Shameless.” The girl, Debbie, she became a welder. So, like, welding, kind of, like, I don't know how to do that. I think it's cool, you know, putting metal to metal.
KUNM: What did you learn that was sort of surprising to you about that trade?
RELAFORD: That it was male-dominated. There was a lot of females in there, but I guess you had to have a really tough skin. It’s not frowned upon for women to be in a male-dominated trade, but they kind of give you a hard time about it. They really put a lot on you. But my instructors there, they were really cool. And they were like, “if you have any problems, let me know, we'll handle it.”
KUNM: And then, once you graduated, I understand that they help you find job placement. Was that something that happened for you?
RELAFORD: Yeah, they give you resources be able to find a job that like fits your trade. And it's kind of still all up to you, because they also teach you how to be independent. And so I got this card from one of my friends that had graduated before me, and it was to Aerotek. It was like a company you go through, and they help you find a job. She found me a job in Albuquerque, and then I worked there for a couple months.
KUNM: Where do you work now?
RELAFORD: Los Alamos National Lab.
KUNM: It's pretty impressive.
RELAFORD: Thank you.
KUNM: You mentioned learning skills that were maybe not directly job-related, but more about kind of independence and life skills. Can you tell me which ones of those you think you learned from Job Corps?
RELAFORD: I went through a hard time and so my instructors really stepped in, and they weren't just there just to get a paycheck. You can tell they were there to be able to be there for us. Actually, they walked me through a lot of stuff that was going on. It's like how to handle my emotions and not let things get the best of me. You know, life throws curve balls all the time, sometimes, and so to manage it mentally and be able to move forward without, I guess, self-destruction, you know. And so they were really big on cleanliness, and hygiene, which I already knew before, but it really helped me step it up a bit, you know, doing laundry when you needed to do laundry, or clean everything. And we had stuff super clean on Mondays. When I was a leader at my dorm, it was cool to see it from the other side, because when I first got there, l we were the ones cleaning the rooms and doing super clean, and then my leaders would come and check the rooms and make sure everything was all nice and neat and everything like that. And so when I became a leader, it was nice to see it from that point of view too, because I can see how much I've grown in that process.
KUNM: And how do you think your life might have gone differently if you never joined the Job Corps?
RELAFORD: I'd be at home still with my moms. They were raising a lot of dogs at the time, so I'd still be home taking care of a lot of dogs, and probably working somewhere in Los Lunas. To be honest, I never really saw myself outside of that. And so joining Job Corps, it's hard, but it's so worth it. It definitely changed my life for the best. I never thought I'd be here today. I just got a new car. It's my dream car. I'm about to get my own apartment. And so it just, it all fell into place, even when it feels like you want to give up so bad, and you're just like, “I just want to go home, forget about this.” Don’t, just don't. That's my advice to people. Just keep pushing through.
KUNM: So more of a long term kind of view it seems.
RELAFORD: Yeah.
