Rep. Pete Aguilar took his Job for a Day tour of the Inland Empire to the Inland Empire Job Corps Center, where he spent the day learning trades with students participating in work-based learning programs. Aguilar began the day by working with students enrolled in the tile setting program, installing tile at one of the campus facilities before joining a group of culinary arts students in preparing food and ingredients at the campus kitchen.

“The Inland Empire Job Corps provides young people in our community with a chance to learn a skilled trade to jumpstart their careers and serve them throughout life. I’m grateful for all the hard work of the instructors and students, and I’ll continue working to support this program so that more Inland Empire residents can gain the skills and confidence they need to enter the workforce,” said Aguilar.

“Both students and staff were thrilled and humbled to host Congressman Aguilar for his job for a day. He is friendly, humble and an incredibly hard-worker. He worked side by side with our students laying tile and was not afraid to get his work critiqued by our students to ensure his job was done well. He is truly a servant to the public,” said Suzanne Schaeffer, Center Director

Sean Neal, a tile-setting student, enjoyed working with Rep. Aguilar. He remarked, “It was cool to have the Congressman working side by side with us on our projects. He came in, put on our tile uniform, tied his steel-toe boots, put on his hard hat and PPE’s and became a genuine tile-setter. We even hit the wet-saw. He performed very well and he was able to have some laughs with us as well. We would love to have him visit again.”

Job Corps is a national workforce development program administered by the Department of Labor. The program helps young people train for various employment opportunities.  

As Vice Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Aguilar helps determine federal funding levels for government agencies and programs. Last year, Aguilar successfully advocated for an increase in funding for the Job Corps program.