Cohen: $42 Million Federal Contract Awarded for Ben Hooks Job Corps Center

[MEMPHIS, TN] – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today announced the Department of Labor (DOL) has awarded a five-year $42,167,173 contract to help the Dr. Benjamin L. Hooks Job Corps Center in Memphis provide no-cost career technical and academic training to nearly 300 students each term. The federal funding will be used to support 232 students aged 16-24 living at the Memphis Job Corps Center, which is one of the nation’s best-performing Job Corps Centers, and 55 non-residential students.

“The Job Corps is an incredibly important training program for our nation’s youth, and the Benjamin L. Hooks Job Corps Center in Memphis has successfully helped prepare thousands of Memphians for successful careers in good-paying jobs,” said Congressman Cohen. “This multi-million dollar infusion of federal funds will help the Memphis Job Corps Center keep its doors open for hundreds more young people who have dropped out of school.”

The Dr. Benjamin L. Hooks Job Corps Center first opened in 1998 as the Memphis Job Corps Center, and was renamed in honor of the civil rights leader in 2006. The Job Corps program helps students around the nation learn the skills they need to win and keep good jobs in several sectors of our economy. Last year, United States Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Job Corps by visiting the Dr. Benjamin L. Hooks Job Corps Center.