Let’s Talk New Mexico 4/2, 9am: Entering into the workforce isn’t easy, and for many youth in New Mexico, a combination of poverty and a lack of education can raise obstacles to attain the training needed to find and keep skilled, well-paying employment.
In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson created the Job Corps to provide at-risk youth with on-the-job vocational training. The Job Corps arrived in New Mexico in 1965, and today, two centers continue to offer their programs to New Mexico’s youth: one in Albuquerque and one in Roswell. Like many federal programs, cuts to budgets have threatened their continued existence, but for now it seems that the Job Corps will remain funded at least through 2027.
This week on Let’s Talk New Mexico, we’ll be checking out the Job Corps program, as well as similar youth-oriented programs that serve different purposes, like the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps. We’ll speak to youth who are currently enrolled in the programs and those who have graduated to find out how their experience has affected their lives.
And we want you, our listeners, to get involved in the conversation! Are you, or someone you know, a graduate of a job corps program, like the Conservation Corps, or even Americorps? What was the experience like? Would you like to see more of these kinds of programs in New Mexico? We’d love to hear your story. You can leave us a message at the link above, email us at letstalk@kunm.org or call in live during the show, Thursday morning at our new time, 9 AM.
