Red Rock Job Corps Center
Encyclopedia
Red Rock Job Corps Center is a Job Corps
training center in Colley Township, Sullivan County
, Pennsylvania
, USA. Like all Job Corps centers, it provides vocational training and education at no cost to participants, who are 16 to 24 years old. The center opened in 1978 and uses the buildings of the former Benton Air Force Station
, a Cold War
radar
facility which operated from 1951 to 1975. Red Rock is on Pennsylvania Route 487
(PA 487) within Ricketts Glen State Park
, and is still the site of a Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) radar used for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport
. The Red Rock Job Corps Center has been recognized as one of the top Job Corps centers in the nation.
, which opened in 1944 and is mostly on land once owned by lumber baron Robert Bruce Ricketts, for whom the park is named. The park is in two physiographic province
s the Allegheny Plateau
and the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians
, with the steep escarpment
of the Allegheny Front
forming the boundary between them. The Allegheny Front within the park is known as North Mountain and Red Rock Mountain
, the latter name coming from a red seam of Huntley Mountain Formation
shale and sandstone visible along PA 487.
In 1950, construction began on the 98 acres (39.7 ha) Benton Air Force Station
, which was completed on September 21, 1951. In addition to the radar, there were barracks for airmen of the 648th Aircraft Control Squadron, based at Fort Indiantown Gap
. In 1963 the Federal Aviation Administration
began jointly operating the radar facilities. The Benton Air Force Station closed in 1975, though the FAA continued to operate the radar as an auxiliary service for the nearby Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport
. The remaining buildings and barracks were converted to the Red Rocks Job Corps Center, which opened in 1978.
The Job Corps
program was established by Congress in the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964
, part of President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty
. In 1996, Red Rock Job Corps Center was given the National Director's Award as the "Top Performer" of 110 Job Corps centers in the US. Since 1998, all Job Corps programs now operate under Title I-C. of the Workforce Investment Act. In 2008, the US Department of Labor awarded a contract for $6.4 million for construction of a new dormitory at the center. Until 2010, the center was run by Management and Training Corporation
(MTC). On March 17, 2010, the annual contract for operation of Red Rock was awarded to Adams and Associates, Inc. of Reno, Nevada
, for $63,275,192.
, a program administered by the United States Department of Labor
that offers education and vocational training
free-of-charge to participants from 16 to 24 years old. According to MTC's website for Red Rock, in 2010 it had 318 students, of which 210 were male and 108 female. The center offers driver's education and classes which allow students to earn their high school diploma or their General Educational Development (GED) certificate. Technical training is available for students to become automobile mechanics, brick masons, carpenters, certified nursing assistants, electricians, landscape contractors, painters, plumbers, and workers in the business technology and hotel and hospitality fields.
Job Corps
Job Corps is a program administered by the United States Department of Labor that offers free-of-charge education and vocational training to youth ages 16 to 24.-Mission and purpose:...
training center in Colley Township, Sullivan County
Sullivan County, Pennsylvania
Sullivan County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of 2010, the population is 6,428. Sullivan County was created on March 15, 1847, from part of Lycoming County and named for Charles Sullivan, leader of the Pennsylvania Senate...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, USA. Like all Job Corps centers, it provides vocational training and education at no cost to participants, who are 16 to 24 years old. The center opened in 1978 and uses the buildings of the former Benton Air Force Station
Benton Air Force Station
Benton Air Force Station was a Cold War era Aerospace Defense Command radar facility in Colley Township, Sullivan County, Pennsylvania. The station was operational from 1951 until 1975....
, a Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
facility which operated from 1951 to 1975. Red Rock is on Pennsylvania Route 487
Pennsylvania Route 487
Pennsylvania Route 487 is a long, north–south state highway running from PA 61 in Shamokin Township, Northumberland County to PA 87 in Dushore, Sullivan County. In Bloomsburg, PA 487 and US 11 share a brief wrong-way concurrency...
(PA 487) within Ricketts Glen State Park
Ricketts Glen State Park
Ricketts Glen State Park is a Pennsylvania state park on in Columbia, Luzerne, and Sullivan counties in Pennsylvania in the United States. Ricketts Glen is a National Natural Landmark known for its old-growth forest and 24 named waterfalls along Kitchen Creek, which flows down the Allegheny...
, and is still the site of a Federal Aviation Administration
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
(FAA) radar used for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport is an airport located in Pittston Township, Pennsylvania, near the border of Luzerne County and Lackawanna County, halfway between the cities of Wilkes-Barre and Scranton...
. The Red Rock Job Corps Center has been recognized as one of the top Job Corps centers in the nation.
History
The center is within Ricketts Glen State ParkRicketts Glen State Park
Ricketts Glen State Park is a Pennsylvania state park on in Columbia, Luzerne, and Sullivan counties in Pennsylvania in the United States. Ricketts Glen is a National Natural Landmark known for its old-growth forest and 24 named waterfalls along Kitchen Creek, which flows down the Allegheny...
, which opened in 1944 and is mostly on land once owned by lumber baron Robert Bruce Ricketts, for whom the park is named. The park is in two physiographic province
Physiographic province
A physiographic province is a geographic region with a specific geomorphology and often specific subsurface rock type or structural elements.A continent may be subdivided into various physiographic provinces, each having a specific character, relief, and environment which contributes to its...
s the Allegheny Plateau
Allegheny Plateau
The Allegheny Plateau is a large dissected plateau area in western and central New York, northern and western Pennsylvania, northern and western West Virginia, and eastern Ohio...
and the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians
Ridge-and-valley Appalachians
The Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, also called the Ridge and Valley Province or the Valley and Ridge Appalachians, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division and are also a belt within the Appalachian Mountains extending from southeastern New York through northwestern New...
, with the steep escarpment
Escarpment
An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that occurs from erosion or faulting and separates two relatively level areas of differing elevations.-Description and variants:...
of the Allegheny Front
Allegheny Front
The Allegheny Front is the major southeast- or east-facing escarpment in the Allegheny Mountains in southern Pennsylvania, western Maryland, and eastern West Virginia, USA. The Allegheny Front delineates the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians to its east from the Appalachian Plateau to its west...
forming the boundary between them. The Allegheny Front within the park is known as North Mountain and Red Rock Mountain
Red Rock Mountain
Red Rock Mountain is a mountain located in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. This summit is actually on the North Mountain escarpment. The escarpment in which Red Rock Mountain is located is a part of the Allegheny Plateau. This summit features a firetower, known as "Grandview" all located within the...
, the latter name coming from a red seam of Huntley Mountain Formation
Huntley Mountain Formation
The Huntley Mountain Formation is a late Devonian and early Mississippian mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, in the United States.-Description:The formation is composed of relatively soft grayish-red shale and olive-gray sandstone...
shale and sandstone visible along PA 487.
In 1950, construction began on the 98 acres (39.7 ha) Benton Air Force Station
Benton Air Force Station
Benton Air Force Station was a Cold War era Aerospace Defense Command radar facility in Colley Township, Sullivan County, Pennsylvania. The station was operational from 1951 until 1975....
, which was completed on September 21, 1951. In addition to the radar, there were barracks for airmen of the 648th Aircraft Control Squadron, based at Fort Indiantown Gap
Fort Indiantown Gap
Fort Indiantown Gap, also referred to as "The Gap" or "FIG", is a census-designated place and U.S. Army post primarily located in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. A portion of the installation is located in eastern Dauphin County...
. In 1963 the Federal Aviation Administration
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
began jointly operating the radar facilities. The Benton Air Force Station closed in 1975, though the FAA continued to operate the radar as an auxiliary service for the nearby Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport is an airport located in Pittston Township, Pennsylvania, near the border of Luzerne County and Lackawanna County, halfway between the cities of Wilkes-Barre and Scranton...
. The remaining buildings and barracks were converted to the Red Rocks Job Corps Center, which opened in 1978.
The Job Corps
Job Corps
Job Corps is a program administered by the United States Department of Labor that offers free-of-charge education and vocational training to youth ages 16 to 24.-Mission and purpose:...
program was established by Congress in the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964
Economic Opportunity Act of 1964
Signed by Lyndon B. Johnson on August 20, 1964, the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 was central to Johnson's Great Society campaign and its War on Poverty. Implemented by the since disbanded Office of Economic Opportunity, the Act included several social programs to promote the health, education,...
, part of President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty
War on Poverty
The War on Poverty is the unofficial name for legislation first introduced by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson during his State of the Union address on January 8, 1964. This legislation was proposed by Johnson in response to a national poverty rate of around nineteen percent...
. In 1996, Red Rock Job Corps Center was given the National Director's Award as the "Top Performer" of 110 Job Corps centers in the US. Since 1998, all Job Corps programs now operate under Title I-C. of the Workforce Investment Act. In 2008, the US Department of Labor awarded a contract for $6.4 million for construction of a new dormitory at the center. Until 2010, the center was run by Management and Training Corporation
Management and Training Corporation
Management and Training Corporation or MTC is a Utah-based contractor that manages private prisons and provides vocational training. It is involved in the U.S. Job Corps program. The company made headlines in 2010 after three convicted murderers escaped from one of its prisons.-History:MTC was...
(MTC). On March 17, 2010, the annual contract for operation of Red Rock was awarded to Adams and Associates, Inc. of Reno, Nevada
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...
, for $63,275,192.
Operation
Red Rock Job Corps Center is part of the Job CorpsJob Corps
Job Corps is a program administered by the United States Department of Labor that offers free-of-charge education and vocational training to youth ages 16 to 24.-Mission and purpose:...
, a program administered by the United States Department of Labor
United States Department of Labor
The United States Department of Labor is a Cabinet department of the United States government responsible for occupational safety, wage and hour standards, unemployment insurance benefits, re-employment services, and some economic statistics. Many U.S. states also have such departments. The...
that offers education and vocational training
Vocational education
Vocational education or vocational education and training is an education that prepares trainees for jobs that are based on manual or practical activities, traditionally non-academic, and totally related to a specific trade, occupation, or vocation...
free-of-charge to participants from 16 to 24 years old. According to MTC's website for Red Rock, in 2010 it had 318 students, of which 210 were male and 108 female. The center offers driver's education and classes which allow students to earn their high school diploma or their General Educational Development (GED) certificate. Technical training is available for students to become automobile mechanics, brick masons, carpenters, certified nursing assistants, electricians, landscape contractors, painters, plumbers, and workers in the business technology and hotel and hospitality fields.