Local Issue; 8; The Job Corps

The following program is from NET, the National Educational Television Network. The following program is from NET, the National Educational Television Network. The National Educational Television Network, the National Educational Television Network, the Job Corps, and the town.

This is Astoria, Oregon, located near the mouth of the Columbia River at the extreme northwest border of the state. Across the river to the north is the state of Washington. 100 miles inland is Oregon's largest city, Portland. It was in this area that the Lewis and Clark expedition reached the Pacific Ocean in the fall of 1805 to complete its 16-month journey of exploration. Settled in 1811 by members of John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company, Astoria is the oldest continuously occupied English-speaking settlement west of the Rockies. Many of its present 10,000 inhabitants are the descendants of the trappers, loggers, and fishermen who came here by boat and overland trails during the 19th century. Between 1939 and 1961, a significant factor in the area's economy was a naval air base, three miles from downtown Astoria, a complex of 320 buildings, homes, and hangars, valued at over $50 million. During its most active period, some 3,000 sailors and civilians employed at the base helped to funnel much of a $360,000 per month payroll into the Astoria business community.

When this base at Tung Point was deactivated in the summer of 1961, the result was a severe setback to Astoria's economy and a major reason for the area's designation as an economically depressed area. The sale of the base, to private interests, was postponed several times, while various state and federal uses were proposed. One of the proposals had been for its use as a Job Corps training center, and President John F. Kennedy inspected the location during a trip to the western states in the fall of 1963. This was shortly after the New Frontier's Job Corps legislation had been passed in Congress. Despite its remote location, Tung Point offered the advantages of a well-built and well-maintained permanent installation, which could be quickly converted to civilian use. No final decision was made on this proposal for 15 months.

On December 12, 1964, the Tung Point facility was authorized as the first Job Corps training center for urban skills in the United States. Under the terms of the initial $8 million contract with the Office of Economic Opportunity, the University of Oregon holds the prime contract for operating the center, while a division of the Philco Corporation is responsible for its vocational training program. Most of the Job Corps trainees are school dropouts, young men between the ages of 16 and 21, most of whom have never held a steady job. Few have better than the minimal fifth grade reading ability required to enter the program. Here, in courses of study lasting from six months to two years, it is proposed to train these young men for specific employment opportunities, particularly in those fields where the shortage of skilled and semi-skilled labor. Vocational training at Tung Point is offered in three areas, automotive maintenance and repair, marine engine and hull repair and maintenance, and skills in appliance and electronics industries, including small and larger appliances, radio and television service. When the Tung Point Center reaches its planned capacity late this year, 1200 youths will be enrolled in the vocational programs and the supplementary academic courses.

The Office of Economic Opportunity expects a total of 64,000 young men and women at urban and rural training centers by 1966. This is a small percentage of the unemployed and under-employed youth of the nation, but it is hoped that the experiences gained here will have an impact on school systems and social welfare throughout the country. Although the city officials and business leaders of Astoria are openly enthusiastic about the Job Corps Center and its current enrollment of 700 trainees, most of the citizens have been cautious in their acceptance. From the time the location was first proposed as a Job Corps site, until the arrival of the initial trainees last February, there was a considerable amount of community discussion. Some perhaps remembering the worst aspects of the Navy years, feared the influx of a strange new element from low-class backgrounds.

Others resented the continued use of the base for a federal project. Astoria Physician Dr. Blair Hennings-Guard was actively involved in the period of community discussion and helped to bring together individuals who had conflicting opinions. Well, the early opposition from the town of Astoria was pretty much restricted, I believe, to two groups. These were rather ill-defined and not too overlapping. The first group, and maybe the most seriously aroused, was a group of mothers who, after discussing this problem, considering the small amount of information available to them, decided that possibly the domaziling of this number of young men of the type and age group that had been specified might change the climate of our town and might change certain safety factors. And they were, I think, worried about the future of their children growing up in the community with this school present.

The other group was comprised primarily of individuals who were philosophically opposed to the continued utilization of the tongue-point property as a federal installation of any type. As you know, out of observed, tongue-point has a perfect freshwater mortgage, and the property is bisected by our only railroad and one of the two major highways, and a group of local businessmen had made and offered somewhat over a million dollars to the federal government to restore this property to the tax rolls and develop industry and payrolls. These individuals felt, I believe, that this school was rather hurriedly contrived, and maybe was designed to pull some political chestnuts out of the fire, I don't know. But I do think that comprises the two major groups in the community who voiced any opposition to the school.

Well, I don't think that I really could be classified as a member of the opposition even though I was conversant with the parties on both sides. I was very sympathetic. I recalled to the problems voiced by the mothers, and did what I could to help them organize and stimulate the public meeting that was held in the high school to a capacity crowd. And at this meeting, the university officials and the officials of the school, itself, presented to the community for the first time very definitive information as to what the objects of the school were to be and who was to be there and how it was to be run and what the security was to be. And I think did a lot to clear the air and do a lay some of the apprehension expressed by the mothers. There was amazing how slowly anything really did happen as far as the town was concerned.

We were aware of the intense amount of construction activity at the time point, progressive increase in the number of faculty and other supervisory personnel coming in. There was a flurry of discussion when a big jet load of job corps trainees were flown into Portland, was much flourished and welcomed by dignitaries. Some local people wondered why it was that important to get this group of boys there that quickly, what effect this publicity and displaying of the boys might have on their reaction to the school. Most of the people that I take care of discuss the fact that their actual business activity is increased above usual summertime activity. As far as the total prosperity of the town is concerned, it's hard to evaluate because for a depressed area, this has always been the least depressed town I've ever known. It's old and it's set in its ways and there's considerable wealth in the community as evidenced by bank clearing and other usual statements of economic activity.

Our payroll as far as business is concerned is pretty constant if considered to be low. I think the city accepts the job corps as an accomplished fact, as a reality they have to live with. I think they appreciate the increase in business activity in the community, some of which has to be coming from the job corps. The effect on Astoria business has been considerable, the current estimate is an increase of 25% with the promise of more to come when the center is fully staffed and the remaining 500 trainees are enrolled. In addition to a $30 per month salary, each trainee receives a $75 clothing allotment after he's been on the base for six weeks. Virtually all of this allotment is spent immediately in downtown stores. Eventually the center will employ about 300 persons in staff and faculty positions and many of these will be relatively well paid.

The base itself is purchasing much of its supplies and fresh food from local sources. Personal contact with the job corps trainees in many cases has changed people's minds. In most cases the contact has created a more favorable opinion about the tongue point experiment. The administration at the center is helped by keeping to its promise of allowing no more than 5% of the trainees to be in town on pass at any one time. I think the general attitude is friendly amongst the majority of the people. There have been incidents and occasional friction involving local young people and members of the job corps which have created a little suspicion in the mind of the dead 90 people who are concerned. I think we're worried there'll have to be more serious trouble in the future but I think still their attitude is favorable towards it. Well I think the main reason we hear very little opposition at the present time is primarily due to the excellence of the administration at the school itself.

I believe the University of Oregon did an outstanding job of selecting excellent career people to run the school and I believe the community is impressed with their caliber and with their intent. Actually it's pretty hard to stand up and oppose a going concern that apparently seems to be doing a good job. There haven't been too many serious incidents and I believe that's the main reason you don't hear much opposition. Right now the way the school is running there isn't too much to oppose. I think the job corps is a wonderful thing. It's happened to us. It's too bold. It's giving boys a chance to learn a trade which they do desperately needs to learn to do. In this day and age which you will I'm sure will agree and it has helped us to get economically. And I feel that the boys out at the job corps center are trying so hard to become a part of this community and I don't feel really that Astoria has met them quite halfway yet.

I think they're doing a wonderful job up there. My observation and my association with them up there shows me that I would say about 80% of the boys up there are getting really some value out of them. There's a certain percentage maybe 2015 to 20% that have no intention of learning a trade and they are weeded out. No I don't think Astoria is big enough to cope with the extra boys. I mean it's part of the girls. Because you know they've already got boyfriends here and then they bring more boys in and there isn't enough girls. But they cause too much trouble around here and the colored guys are trying to go out with the white girls down here and some of the white guys don't like it and there's going to be trouble. Kids in town now we don't have anything to do ourselves and with that many more boys it's just that much harder for a town to absorb them. If the town was bigger I'd be all in favor of it but the boys haven't done anything bad they're good but there's just no place for them to go.

And you just can't take boys from all over the whole United States and put them together and not have a little trouble but if people just have a little bit more patience then I think it'll work out just fine. Bear in mind that there's been no precedent in American education for this student this kind and they have to start out and scratch. They have there's nothing in the background either of the administration or of the students themselves by which we can judge this institution except just the way it comes out at present moment. There have been some incidents involving job core youths both at the center and in town although none is yet of serious proportions. Racial friction between southern whites and northern Negroes has been the cause of occasional fist fights at tongue point. Much of the potential trouble in Astoria lies in the racial question.

Although about 40% of the trainees are Negro there has been no Negro community in Astoria and scant experience in dealing with Negroes on a social basis. And most of the incidents that are related to me seem pretty much to deal with young men trying to establish themselves as an individual and an identity and not a number. The high number of colored members of the job core in a predominantly white community such as this has created some problems in restaurants and so on. The boys are not above hazing a restaurant manager if they think they're not getting adequate attention in turn this restaurant manager might turn around and tend to discourage their business. People are not used to Negroes. There's never been any Negro population here at all except for an occasional single family. There were a few Negroes with a Navy during the war.

But generally, Negroes are a completely new element of the community and the people just don't quite know how to deal with them. What to expect from them. And they call them a certain amount of concern among people like Negroes. Although I think people want to go out of their way to be fair and just to them. Most people do, I think. They've caught some, there's been some trouble at the job core boys waiting in the lobby of the theater has made remarks to women and girls going in and out of the theater and it caused an order by the police here the other day to that they couldn't no longer order there. And as I say, I think maybe people would be more disturbed by a Negro boy saying things to the women and girls going in and out of the theater than they would be if they were white boys.

But simply because the Negroes are new and strange and there is a certain amount of racial feeling. There is amongst most people. William Hendel, a nighttime dormitory supervisor at Tung Point, spends most of his time talking with the trainees about personal problems and relations with the town. I imagine the first people who went in town, there are only 50, 100 people here, the first cadres that arrive. There was a matter of polite feeling out. It's almost like a fingertip touching to see what the other person was like. But I imagine after when got around that there was actually somebody drinking who was stationed out here or lived out here. It was very easy to assume that there might be more and probably be more and if one person made a bad impression that possibly there were more even before that became an actuality. And I think now that it's a standoff situation which would best be improved by each party, a story and the base searching its own heart instead of expecting the other to come up with the answer.

I don't blame the town because how else can a quiet area react to a stranger's, it's like a body transplant. These people are not set up for it. I don't think they are fooling themselves for a moment and believing that they don't need the money. I would say any place of that size could take the income that's being brought here by an installation like tongue point. I don't believe there being hypocrites per se. I think they're being rather realistic. I mean I think they're being rather normal or average. I do believe that they're reacting in a very normal way to a situation imposed upon them. Astoria need not put up with any undue routiness, but when you get 600, 700, 800 people of a certain age group and under the conditions which these people have lived and are living, there is just naturally going to be a stray sheep every now and then. And perhaps a little more than usual because these people are not used to supervision. This is one of the reasons why they're here. They have not been inspired by those people who have supervised in even a small amount their lives in the past.

Most of the young men at tongue point are aware of the problems in their relationship with the people of Astoria. While they are often critical of the town's reaction to them, many show an understanding that the relationship is a two way responsibility. Well, I don't go into Astoria too much anymore because I just found it's not a good place to go. There's not that much there. I find more here to do in the basin. I do in Astoria. So just be guys who are getting in trouble. How do they get in trouble? They're drinking and say something to a girl when she goes by and embarrasses me and myself. Well, they come here and they want to go to town and date girls and so on. They get here. It's a pretty poor view of the place. Just tears them down.

Are they still going to town? Yeah. What happened when they go in? Well, some of the boys, the Astorians, well, some of them don't like us, you know, for what they've heard and stepped. And so once in a while, a couple of boys getting a fight or something. The girls there are taken by the boys and when the boys go in from tongue point, they really, really isn't even girls falling. And it becomes a big problem and that a lot of times starts to trouble because the guys are really jealous of their girls and these guys don't have girls. They look at every girl and they kind of get kind of haywire when they see girls and that long that starts from. But Astoria is really too small to have a town point. The job core administration has attempted to find solutions to the problem posed by the bases remote location. Girls have been brought in by bus from Portland for dances at tongue point and trainees are sent to Portland on the weekend passes. But the problem will not be solved by turning to Portland nor will it be solved in Astoria, although it has a responsibility.

Ultimately, the solution must be found at tongue point itself, not only in increased recreational activities, but in finding the people and the ideas who can make the after hours time as rewarding as the daytime classes. I think it really boils down to inspiration. It's not supervision surely. They can be supervised by a probation officer if you just want to dump them off on court as being wards of the streets and things like this. But I think this injection of inspiration to begin to take care of themselves to a large degree for the first time as budding adults, something that they have not had up until now. Obviously they have not had it up until now. Almost a general rule you can say that the home is the beginning of this breakdown for these people.

It may not be the only thing, but almost assuredly you can find either a broken marriage, one or other parent that is not in evidence. Definite lack of home life. When you're growing up you've got to look to somebody. You can't keep looking at people of your own age because they don't know any more than you do. And this is what's happening even now. They're still looking at guys, people of their own age. I know some of the kids on the base have no greater vocabulary than 500 words, perhaps less. In some instances I wonder if it's over 50. Now these people can be the best mechanics you can find, but they cannot go out into outer life. Very few people will hire them. We have some kids there who are late teens who are now going on their first divorce, and this is ridiculous too. Their attitude toward marriage, toward even dating, or even conversation with a girl is so lacking in depth. I mean you can't go more than a minute without going back on yourself and beginning to tell the same story again.

When somebody says something crude and rude, you've got to be able to immediately and constantly let him know that this is doing nothing for him. He's merely impressing if, impressing anybody at all. The guy sitting next to him, and he's not going to marry him, and he's not going to get a job from him. They're just locked in this nothing area. They have nobody to look up to. And right now many of the dorm people are assigned to roving duties. You walk this building, you walk this building of say 500, 400 people, and that's an awful lot of people to be in charge of. They really haven't got time to listen to their stories. They do have stories. And once they tell them it's quite possible that it will be out of their system and it will not happen again exactly that same way. It does require a great understanding of the people that you are working with their problems as a general thing. You can't begin to look into each one as it now stands, but you must be able to get across to them that you're not fooling them. You're not giving them the old rarah, and after you leave them you go off with another counselor and sit there, oh god what a day this was kind of thing.

That you're that way with them, hour in and hour out, whether you're with them, whether you're away from them. And you have to maintain this too. You mustn't fool yourself. You can't say one thing to them and then get off and think another because their little antennae know this. And you know it if you if you realize that they do have this sensitivity. You know when you're off. And after a while it has to be almost like almost like a road. You've got to drain your yourself of high for sophistication. I think the level of community support of the job core school is pretty hard to assess right now, but I think most of the thinking people realize they're trying to do as good a job as they can do out there. It's hard, it's really very difficult to say right now what the final assessment in the community would be. Unless there are some major incident and if the school continues to progress and methods of communication with the school are developed, I believe that overall the community will continue to give the school a high level of support.

As the anti poverty program of the great society accelerates, other communities will surely encounter the same challenge and opportunity as Astoria Oregon. The challenge of a somewhat new and alien element in community life with some disruption of past local customs and beliefs. The opportunity to participate in a new experiment in American democracy. Just looking out at the river current, you have a feeling that perhaps the traffic problem in downtown Philadelphia is a minor thing after all. You can actually think in terms of that massive river out there having twice the energy of everyone in Cleveland, Ohio put together.

You have a feeling of force and this is what these people do want, they need it. They want to know that things still move, that it's all not gummed down in the molasses of city bureaucracy and social workers who have offices and grimy buildings. This is NET, the National Educational Television Network.