The involvement of America's community colleges in the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) Training Program: A national study

Scope and method of study. The purpose of this study was to determine involvement of America's community college in the federally funded welfare-to-work program, the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) Training Program, and to measure the attitudes and perceptions of community college professionals regarding the JOBS program. Participants in the study were 277 community colleges from across the nation. All 1,170 active members of the American Association of Community Colleges were eligible to participate. Each participating community college completed a research questionnaire including Likert-Scale statements. The analysis procedure consisted solely of calculating and interpreting descriptive statistics.;Findings and conclusions. The demographic data revealed that 52% of the community colleges were rural-based, 27% were urban-based, and 21% were suburban-based institutions. Based on the analysis of the data generated by the Likert-Scale statements, 52% of the community colleges were actively operating JOBS programs at their college; and 73% of the colleges offered programs for the never employed individuals, which includes welfare recipients and dropouts. Over 75 percent of the colleges offered GED preparation, adult basic and development education, education for individuals with limited English proficiency, vocational/occupational/technical education, job-skills training, and job development. Approximately 40 community colleges had received an award for their model JOBS program. Over 53% of the community colleges agreed there were inadequate federal/state funds available through JOBS to offer welfare recipients economic independence. One-half of the community colleges were concerned with the amount of fragmentation that existed between various state welfare agencies and the community colleges. Only 41% of the colleges agreed their Governors had taken an active role in promoting JOBS and other welfare programs in their state. Only 32% agreed their state legislators promote welfare programs in their states.