Job Corps alumni, staff brace for possible closure of St. Paul center
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After more than four decades of providing low-income and at-risk youth with academic and vocational training, St. Paul’s Hubert H. Humphrey Job Corps Center could be forced to close its doors.
The Department of Labor announced last week that it would implement a “phased pause” of the national Job Corps program, citing growing financial deficits. That move has since been temporarily blocked by a judge.
If its plan is upheld, the department would pause the program for an unknown amount of time and leave more than 150 students in St. Paul — many of whom rely on the program for stable housing and job training — suddenly displaced.
For 2025 graduate Andrew MacGregor, news of the possible closure was emotional. Bouncing between homes in Denver with no stable place to live, MacGregor moved to St. Paul and enrolled in the Job Corps program to get his life on track.
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“I would’ve been back at ground zero, with my money run out,” MacGregor said. “It was a clear opportunity for stability and educational training that I didn’t think to pursue earlier in my adulthood.”
MacGregor graduated from the program on May 23, just six days before the closure decision was announced. Knowing that others may not be given the same opportunity leaves him unsettled.
“I was talking with one student who said, ‘Job Corps is my future. Without this, I will be dead or in prison.’ That’s a sad reality for a lot of people,” MacGregor said.
Still, he holds out hope that the students will remain faithful to their futures and continue to be optimistic about what’s possible.
“A bird does not worry about the branch on the tree breaking, because its wings are what saves it,” MacGregor said. “Even though this opportunity breathes fresh hope, it’s not the last chance that you have.”
The Department of Labor said the financial reality could no longer be ignored. In April, it released a report of the program’s finances.
The report said Job Corps was operating at a $140 million deficit in 2024. By 2025, it projected the deficit to rise to $213 million.
It also said Job Corps centers nationwide were achieving graduation rates as low as 32 percent.
In addition to financial deficits and low graduation rates, the department cited safety concerns. It said in 2023, the program reported 14,913 infractions: 372 included inappropriate sexual behaviors and assaults, 1,764 included acts of violence, 1,167 included breaches of safety and security, and 2,702 reported drug use.
“Job Corps was created to help young adults build a pathway to a better life through education, training, and community,” Labor Sec. 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.”
Clifton Miller, the St. Paul center’s deputy director until 2019, said the department paints Job Corps centers as a tax burden, filled with delinquent behavior.
But at St. Paul’s Humphrey center and most campuses, he said, there’s zero tolerance when it comes to behavioral infractions.
“When it comes to anything drug or violence, it is zero tolerance. If I saw a student push another student in line, that was physical contact and zero tolerance,” Miller said.
Locally, St. Paul’s center had 111 incident reports in 2023, according to the labor department. Miller said some incident reports didn’t even involve real threats.
“There is a significant incident report if we lose power. There is a significant incident report if a student leaves the center to see his sick child without approval,” he said.
Miller said the federal government is using outdated, pandemic-era data to justify its narrative.
He said a pause of the program would strip a vital educational resource away from those who need it the most.
“As with Job Corps, it’s much smaller class sizes and a lot of one-on-one. There is no timeframe for the students. We are meeting the students where they are at and getting them to the next level,” Miller said.
MacGregor sides with Miller, saying Job Corps is also a program that builds character.
“Job Corps isn’t just the education — it also fosters personal growth. It helps us break the cycle of poverty, and build a future that we can believe in.”
MacGregor said if he was an elected official, he’d take a different approach.
“I would look at all the independent center results. Taking just a single vision view is not fair to those that are high performing,” MacGregor said.
Chavez-DeRemer said the labor department remains committed to helping students and connecting them to resources. She also said it is willing to work with lawmakers to make the program stronger.
A hearing in the case challenging the closures is scheduled for June 17.
