A Tour of the Gillis W. Long Center

Welcome to Carville!

There is so much going on at the Gillis W. Long Center at Carville today it is hard to know how to begin to tell about it all.

At the southern entrance is the more military side of the 600-acre campus where the National Guard greets all visitors. In addition to serving as a training center for at risk youth, the Long Center is a temporary home for military personnel flooded out of Jackson Barracks when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans .

Also headquartered at the Long Center is the National Guard’s federally mandated Weapons of Mass Destruction Team that augments local and state police using the very latest in state-of-the-art equipment to achieve its mission. The Southern Anti-Terrorist Regional Training Academy (SARTA) that provides training for civilian and military personnel from across the globe resides here too. Among specialized military facilities is the brand new Armory, and there is a Shoot House used in assault training.

A drive through the beautiful live oaks and magnolias takes us to a meeting with Col. Jim McCall who heads the National Guard’s Youth Challenge Program. This is a residential program for a group of 203 students per class (two classes per year) between the ages of 16 and 18 who dropped out of school or were expelled. The young people work to earn their GED during the 22-week residential phase. They then develop a Post Residential Action Plan (PRAP), which involves continuing work with assigned case managers and case mentors.

Many Youth Challenge Program graduates move to the Job Challenge Program at Carville led by retired Col. Herb Fritts, who showed us his autographed copy of Miracles at Carville by Betty Martin. Job Challenge is a 90-day program that teaches job skills to young people 16 to 18 with a focus on various construction techniques such as welding. Kirby Leader, who has been a welder for 33 years and a teacher for four, teaches the class in a specially designed facility. Other specialized training includes skills such as masonry and heavy equipment operation, culinary arts and EMT. Highly specialized classes in oilfield work are offered with the cooperation of several large companies desperate for skilled workers.

The young people actually provide much of the labor required on the campus. We came across a crew digging a footing for a parking space for a trash dumpster and preparing to pour concrete. Students also help prepare more than 600 meals each day, keep their four-person dormitory rooms neat and orderly, and keep bathrooms and hallways clean. Precious Miller of New Orleans, who received her GED in September, showed us her room and said she has completed both the Basic and Advanced EMT courses and required training in Medical Records Management. Now she is moving to the Carville Job Corps Academy where she will receive additional training. Her goal is a job working offshore as an EMT.

We also visited briefly with Bessie Patterson of Baton Rouge who teaches medical office support, medical records, filing and medical transcription plus receptionist skills at Carville. She told us how proud she was of the progress Precious Miller has made during the year she has been at Carville.

There are just a couple of things we heard during our visit to Carville that cannot go without saying. Teacher Bessie Patterson said she feels many young people become side tracked by peer pressure at an early age and that she views her role as one of helping open their eyes so they want to go to college and do other wonderful and worthwhile things.

Miller, one of seven children in her family, said she would recommend the program at the Youth Challenge, the Job Challenge and the Job Corps Academy to her brothers and sisters and tell them to stay in school and go to college.

Herb Fritts said that after his years of working with young people he feels that literacy is the secret to success for every last one of them.

McCoy said he never ceases to be amazed at what a person can do in five-and-one-half months with a little help and the right kind of attitude. He said the average young person in his program moves ahead 3.2 grades. Some that come in at a fourth grade level leave at a tenth grade level in their reading and math skills.

That’s a miracle!

Anyone seeking more information on any of the programs of the Gillis W. Long Center is urged to visit these Web sites: www.gillislongcenter.org, http://carville.jobcorps.gov, or www.NGYCP.com.

www.NGYCP.com



























Col. James R. McCall directs the Louisiana Youth Challenge Program.
More about the program can be found at


































Director of the Carville Job Corps. Academy, retired Col. Herb Fritts.
Col. Fritts can be reached at fritts.herb@jobcorps.org