Editor’s Note: This piece was written before a federal judge granted a Temporary Restraining Order that would halt the closing of all of the Job Corps sites. According to information provided to all Job Corps campuses, there will now be an upcoming Preliminary Injunction hearing on June 17. If the job corps is successful in its Preliminary Injunction, the June 30 termination date will no longer apply.
My name is Heather Escalante, and I'm alive today because of Job Corps.
When I aged out of the foster care system at 21, I had nothing: no family to turn to, no place to sleep and no high school diploma. I was living on the streets in a highly violent and dangerous area, sleeping wherever I could find shelter and stealing food to survive. I was invisible to everyone – just another throwaway kid that the system had forgotten.
