Job Corps told to send students home by June 4 after ‘pause’ announced by DOL

Department of Labor says program costs too much with dismal results

File photos: (Left) In these photos from February 2024, Iroquois Job Corps’ carpentry student Jeremiah Caldwell works on one of the buddy benches which will be placed in four local Medina parks as a way to spread goodwill. (Right) Students in the carpentry program at Iroquois Job Corps Center work on Adirondack chairs, which the Medina Rotary Club will sell to raise money for the community.

MEDINA – The Iroquois Job Corps has been ordered by Department of Labor to have its students sent home by June 4 as part of a “pause” announced by the DOL on Thursday.

Center officials believe the DOL is moving to close the centers, and not put them on pause. The DOL announced it has halted contracts with 99 contract-operated centers. The Iroquois center, with a capacity for 225 students, is run by ETR, Education and Training Resources. ETR operates 11 Job Corps in states. In New York, it runs the Job Corps in Medina and Oneonta.

Job Corps is an employment and training system for young adults aged 16-24 throughout the United States with over 120 campuses. The center in Medina is located on the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge.

It has 104 full-time equivalents working there with a $8.9 million budget serving up to 225 students. The center says it has a $17 million economic impact on the community.

The Department of Labor, in its announcement on Thursday, said the Job Corps are not cost-effective and the sites often have violence and other infractions, with a dismal graduation rate.

“Job Corps was created to help young adults build a pathway to a better life through education, training and community,” DOL Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said in a 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. We remain committed to ensuring all participants are supported through this transition and connected with the resources they need to succeed as we evaluate the program’s possibilities.”

The DOL said the graduation rate nationwide at the centers is at 38.6 percent, with the average cost per student a year at $80,284. The average cost per graduate is $155,600, according to the DOL.

The program also doesn’t tend to be a pathway to a career. On average, participants earn $16,695 annually on average when they leave the program, the DOL said.

Photo by Tom Rivers: The Orleans County Legislature on July 20, 2024 recognized the Iroquois Job Corps on its 60th anniversary. Pictured from left include Luke Kantor (Admissions and Career Transition Services manager for the Iroquois Job Corps), Deshawn Knights, Logan Abeyta, Unique Weeks, Janissa Legister, County Legislator Fred Miller and Job Corps operations director JT Thomas.

For the Iroquois Job Corps, the DOL reports there were 247 students at a $12,281,990 “prorated yearly center cost” or $8,858,261 yearly center cost.

The DOL reports Iroquois is at $49,724 cost per enrollee with 28.4 percent graduation rate.

The cost per graduate is at $211,758. The DOL reports there are 225 in the program for contract, but only 111 actual.

There were also 121 infractions in 2023 at Iroquois, and 14,913 “serious incident reports” at all the Job Corps centers, according to the DOL report.

Those serious incidents at all Job Corps included 372 sexual assaults and inappropriate sexual behavior, 1,764 acts of violence, 1,167 breaches of safety or security, and 2,702 reported uses of drugs.

The Iroquois campus can serve 225 students who are ages 16 to 24. They receive training in six main programs: brick masonry, carpentry, electrical, commercial painting, clinical  medical assistant, and certified nursing assistant.

Students stay on campus and receive other education. Some of those programs include work towards an equivalency diploma and driver’s education.

The DOL announced on Thursday it will be suspending program at 99 contract-operated centers. Those centers need to mobilize students to safely return to their home of record. Funds will be used to pause program operations, which includes managing facilities, maintaining student records, and ensuring students are connected with necessary employment and program resources, the DOL said.

The announcement is a major shock to the local center, which sees its program as a success, helping at-risk youth to receive employment training and often do community service projects in Orleans, Genesee and Niagara counties, said Skip Draper, a government liaison for Job Corps. He has worked for the program for 25 years. Draper is also an Orleans County legislator and chairman of the Orleans County Republican Party.

He said he and others are reaching out to elected officials, including Congresswoman Claudia Tenney, to stop the closure of the Job Corps centers. Draper said Congress has already approved funding to operate the centers through June 20, 2026.

The centers offer residential programs for students at or below the poverty line, who often struggled in a traditional school setting.

He is hopeful the DOL and the Trump Administration will reverse the decision when they see the many successes of Job Corps, connecting people to trades, health services and other careers.

“Job Corps is open to reform,” Draper said this morning. “The centers are well positioned to advance President Trump’s skilled-worker initiative. We have been able to get young adults in programs to take training initiatives.”

Draper said the enrollments are at about 60 percent capacity because the DOL isn’t letting the centers do background checks on students who seek to enroll in the program. The DOL took over that responsibility but hasn’t been doing the background checks. That has led to smaller enrollments, which inflates the cost-per-student, he said.

The Job Corps program has broad support in Congress, Draper said. Tenney and U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand have both visited the local site to meet students and learn about the programs offered there.

Born out of the War on Poverty and signed into law as the Economic Opportunity Act on August 20, 1964, Job Corps has provided safe housing, education, career and technical training opportunities, and support services for deserving young people, Job Corps officials said.