Congressman Jerrold Nadler, the senior Democrat from the Northeast on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, today introduced H.R.7053, the Transportation Job Corps Act of 2008.  This important initiative would create a career-ladder grant program within the Federal Transit Administration to help existing workers retain jobs in the public transportation industry, while also recruiting and preparing young adults across the nation for jobs in the transit sector.  Diversity and serving underrepresented segments of the population will be particular priorities for these grants.

“I’m very proud to introduce the Transportation Job Corps Act,” said Rep. Nadler, “a bill which seeks to achieve many important national goals at once.  Ever since the New Deal, federal investment in public works has been a tried and true means of boosting a troubled economy, of stimulating mass job-creation and, of course, for developing and improving transportation and infrastructure projects.”

According to a report by the Community Service Society, there is a growing population of “disconnected youth” in this country consisting of individuals between the ages of 16 to 24 who are not in school and have been out of work for at least six months. The population of “disconnected youth” is estimated to be about five million nationally, including approximately 200,000 in New York City, 93,000 in Los Angeles, and 97,000 in Chicago. The Transportation Job Corps Act of 2008 will specifically target these “disconnected youth” for basic skills training and pre-apprenticeship programs for jobs in the transit industry.