NO COST career training for young people ages 16 to 24 in a variety of trades ranging from automotive and carpentry to culinary arts and computer technology.
That is what the Shriver Job Corps is about. Many people are unaware of its existence.
“It’s a golden opportunity that is a hidden secret,” Shiver Job Corps Director Tamer Koheil said Wednesday morning at the grand opening of the Corps’ Lowell office at the Career Center of Lowell on Merrimack Street.
Mayor Murphy and Shriver Job Corps Director Tamer Koheil
The Corps, a residential GED and job training program, has been headquartered at Devens since its 1998 inception, but with about half of their students coming from Lowell and Lawrence it made sense for them to open a satellite location in Lowell.
Koheil said the program serves 235 students, but is always looking to recruit more.
“Our mission every day is: who can we help today?” he said, adding the students they take used to be referred to as “at-risk” but he prefers “at promise” because the program promises them a better future. “We don’t quit on our students and we don’t want our students to quit on us.”
Wednesday’s ribbon cutting was attended by staff and students as well as Mayor Patrick Murphy, Sen. Eileen Donoghue, City Councilor Marty Lorrey, School Committee member Robert Gignac and Karon Bergeron from the Greater Lowell Chamber of Commerce.
Mayor Murphy said he and Gignac have seen first-hand, serving on the school committee, the importance of this program, given the demand for technical training. There are many students who do not have the grades or background to get into Greater Lowell Technical High School, but who are not at all engaged in a traditional high school setting.For more information about Shriver Job Corps visit http://shriver.jobcorps.gov/home.aspx
Room 50 