Job Corps under attack
By Alice Thomas-Tisdale
JA Publisher Emerita
Who could have imagined making the 43 different workforce development programs throughout the federal government more efficient would mean the end of Job Corps? Certainly not supporters of the free educational program for underserved young people aged 16-24 established under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964.
Even staunch Trump ally Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) was taken aback by the Department of Labor’s action. “I’m concerned about the Job Corps center locations in Mississippi closing,” Hyde-Smith said. “Hopefully we will have something to replace those job training programs because it is a great concern. They’re all over the state in Gulfport, Batesville, and Crystal Springs, which is close to where I live. They’re valuable to Mississippi.”
Unfortunately, the Gulfport Job Corps center Hyde-Smith supported in partnership with Huntington Ingalls Shipbuilding to prepare welders for jobs at the Pascagoula shipyard is on “pause” with a heavy hand over the delete button on a brand new $47 million Job Corps facility.
U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer testified the Labor Department is reviewing all Job Corps facilities and that the budget request sends a signal the program is not sustainable over time.
“It’s a 1.7-billion-dollar program with a 38 percent graduation rate when, oftentimes, the cost of almost $50,000 per student,” Chavez-DeRemer said.
Congressman Bennie G. Thompson isn’t buying that rationale. “It’s disappointing to see Job Corps centers shut down. Since 2023, over 1,682 young Mississippians have used this program to finish school, learn a trade, and build a better future for free. Taking it away is wrong. Our kids deserve better!”
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), the top Democrat on the Appropriations subcommittee overseeing annual Department of Labor funding, called the step by the Trump administration one “in the wrong direction,” locking students out of good-paying jobs.
“The Department of Labor’s shutdown of the Job Corps Program for youth working to get on track will only exacerbate the problem of youth violence,” said Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, President and CEO of the Children’s Defense Fund.
Minact, a Mississippi-based corporation, operates Job Corps Centers in multiple locations throughout the country. It has trained thousands of young people since its founding in 1978 by the late Black entrepreneur Booker T. Jones. Jones was the first director of the Mississippi Job Corps Center in Crystal Springs, MS, which currently serves approximately 300 students.
Major General (Retired) Leon Collins, Minact CEO, says steps are being taken to head off closures of Minact’s five Job Corps centers and termination of all its employees.
**Update
On Thursday, June 5, 2025, Judge Andrew L. Carter Jr. of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York granted a temporary restraining order to a coalition of Jobs Corps providers, stopping the US Department of Labor from implementing the elimination of the program without Congressional authorization. “Trump tried to shut down Job Corps without going through the proper process. A judge stepped in and blocked it, standing up for our young people. This fight isn’t over, and I’m not backing down,” said Congressman Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS)
