HBCUs Offer Help To Students Affected By Potential Job Corps Closure

Job Corps is a government-run program providing low-income and at-risk youth with skills training, housing, and meals, preparing them to enter the workforce and improve their lot in life. Many of these at-risk students were left with no place to go and few options to continue their skills training when the Department of Labor attempted to shut down the program and close all centers in May. There’s still hope on the horizon as several HBCUs have stepped up nationwide to assist students affected by the attempted closure. 

HBCUs such as Morris Brown College in Atlanta have opened their doors to students affected by the potential closure of Job Corps.

 “The situation at Job Corps touched me intimately,” Morris Brown College President Dr. Kevin James told Atlanta’s Channel 2 News. “My first job out of college was teaching at Job Corps. I have first-hand experience of how important Job Corps is.”

James sent a letter to Job Corps asking students to enroll at the school so they can continue their education. “We’ll sit down with them to talk to them about what their goals and dreams are, and maybe even walk them through considerations of different skills. Here at Morris Brown College, we want them to know that they’re not alone,” Dr. James told Channel 2. He added that counselors will help guide potential students through the financial aid process and answer any questions they may have. 

Morris Brown College is only one of several schools that have offered to help Job Corps students continue their education. Arkansas-based HBCU Shorter College also stepped up to provide opportunities for students affected by the potential closure. “It started with a small group of 5. Now we’re up to about 18 to 20 students,” Shorter College president Jeffery Norfleet told KARK. “We are able to have financial aid, and we want to see them to the finish line with a degree.” 

While former Job Corps students were able to enroll at Shorter College, it was donations from the Little Rock community that provided the students with food and shelter. 

“Coming here and knowing we had something to eat, a place to sleep, it’s been beyond words,” Samantha Reyes, a Job Corps student enrolled at Shorter, told KARK.

Job Corps students faced uncertainty about their future after the Labor Department released a statement in late May announcing the sudden closure of the skills training program by the end of June. The Labor Department cited budget concerns and unsatisfactory outcomes as the reason for the closure. 

“Job Corps was created to help young adults build a pathway to a better life through education, training, and community,” Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said in the statement “However, a startling number of serious incident reports and our in-depth fiscal analysis reveal the program is no longer achieving the intended outcomes that students deserve.”

So they have $150 billion to give to the Cheeto Gestapo ICE, but they simply can’t find the coins to invest in our country’s most vulnerable youth. Got it. 

The abrupt closure of Job Corps was surprising, as it historically has had bipartisan support. The fact Chavez-DeRemer wrote a letter in support of the organization only last year made the move more confusing. Students enrolled in Job Corps received some relief in June when a federal judge ruled Job Corps must stay open while a lawsuit against the Labor Department over the attempted closure proceeds. 

The Trump administration, and everyone who voted for it, have made it abundantly clear that anyone who isn’t a cisgender, heterosexual, white male is on their own. Times like these are why community is so important. The moves by these HBCUs are proof that even if nobody else got us, we got us. 

SEE ALSO:

Trump Admin Abruptly Closes Job Corps Centers Nationwide

Job Corps ‘Pause’ Is MAGA’s Plan To Eliminate Poor Youth

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