Job Corps to shut down: Now what?

The U.S. Department of Labor announced Thursday that all Job Corps programs nationwide will be terminated by the end of June.

This cut — which DOL described as a “pause of operations” — will impact more than 100 job centers nationwide, including two in Hawai‘i located in Waimānalo and Makawao. According to a 2025 DOL report, those Hawai‘i centers have served 288 students in the last year.

But with the news that the program is likely going away, Job Corps students and staffers are at a loss regarding the future.

The Job Corps program provides low-income young people between ages 16 and 24 with vocational training and schooling, as well as additional services.

“A lot of kids come here from a lot of different backgrounds,” said Lisa Chilson-McCraw, mental health consultant with the Waimānalo Job Corps Center. “A lot of them haven’t been able to train or plan for their future because they’re in survival mode … The biggest component comes from the ‘ohana they find here.”

Chilson-McCraw told Aloha State Daily the holistic nature of the services provided at the Job Corps — for example, the availability of mental health services at the same place as vocational training — can’t be easily replicated elsewhere.

“I had two brothers who went through the Job Corps successfully,” said 19-year-old Marie Moe. “So, to see that future generations won’t be able to have the same opportunities, it’s a bummer.”

Moe said she was able to get a diploma and was working on vocational training for landscaping when rumors of the impending closure reached her. While she was able to complete her training “just before the chaos,” others were not so lucky.

“It’s gonna be hard for me,” said 17-year-old Alexander Riduca, who would have completed his training and begun work in construction in September. “I’m going to have to go home and work with my father until I’m 18 so I can join the union.

“It makes me feel kind of upset,” Riduca went on. “I wish I could have gotten the full impact.”

Emily Lawhead, spokeswoman for Management & Training Corp. — a Utah-based company that operates the Hawai‘i Job Corps centers, as well as 14 others — told ASD via email that the Hawai‘i centers are trying to help students develop plans to find employment, other training programs, housing and more, while also providing counseling services in the midst of the confusion.

“There are other training programs available within Hawai‘i for students, but Job Corps is the only program that provides full wrap-around services to students, including housing, meals, medical/dental care, transportation, and more,” Lawhead said.

Whether students will be able to transfer partial training completion to other programs is unclear; Lawhead merely acknowledged that those students “will not be able to complete their training through Job Corps.”

For its part, DOL’s announcement about the decision to terminate the program stated that Job Corps has been underperforming nationwide, with a 38.6% average graduation rate, and a cost of more than $80,000 per student per year.

At the same time, the program had nearly 15,000 “serious incident reports” in 2023, including 372 reports of inappropriate sexual behavior and 1,764 reports of violence, according to the report.

79 of those incident reports were from Hawai‘i's programs, although Lawhead told ASD that most were minor infractions such as missed attendance.

“It’s really going to be hard on the community,” Chilson-McCraw said. “Job Corps has been here for more than 60 years … I think we’re all holding out for a miracle, that the people who made this decision will have a change of heart.”

Management & Training Corp.’s website currently urges Congress to oppose DOL’s decision and restore funding to Job Corps. Hawai‘i Rep. Jill Tokuda issued a statement Thursday saying she is “outraged” by DOL’s “reckless” decision.

“When Maui was in crisis, it was Job Corps students who showed up — delivering aid, offering comfort, standing strong for their neighbors,” read Tokuda’s statement. “That’s not just a program. That’s resilience in action. We should be investing more in Job Corps, not gutting it. I will fight this shortsighted move and focus on increasing our support because our youth deserve opportunity, not abandonment."