160 St. Paul students facing homelessness after federal government cuts Job Corps funding
160 St. Paul students facing homelessness after federal government cuts Job Corps funding originally appeared on Bring Me The News.
The Trump administration's decision to pull funding from the Jobs Corps program will lead to the closure of the center in St. Paul that provides job training and housing for more than 160 young students.
The U.S. Department of Labor announced on May 29 a "phased pause in operations" at Jobs Corps sites by June 30, with the government claiming that the training and housing program for Americans aged 16-24 was "longer achieving the intended outcomes that students deserve."
But despite the claim of a "pause" in operations by June 30, the 162 residents and 100 staff at the Hubert H. Humphrey Jobs Corps Center have already been told the site is closing, and were initially given until Tuesday, June 3, to exit the premises. KARE 11 reports this has since been extended to June 12.
"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," said Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer.
The St. Paul facility has been open for 44 years and the wider Jobs Corps program has been operating since 1964, providing low-income Americans aged 16-24 with free vocational training and housing to help them obtain employment.
In its announcement, the Trump administration cited a "transparency" report compiled by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that stated the average graduation rate at Jobs Corps is 38.6% and the average cost per student per year is $80,264. It also raised concern about the number of "serious incident" reports filed among students enrolled in the program, which it says almost reached 15,000 in 2023.
But the National Jobs Corps Association has criticized the figures, stating that "serious incidents" is a broad term that also includes "power outages and inclement weather, athletic injuries that require treatment, and adult students leaving campus without prior approval."
It also shared video of a congressional hearing that revealed the cost-per-hire and per-graduate figures were taken "at the height of the COVID pandemic" when enrollment was down by more than a third due to restrictions on the number of students it could serve. Democratic Senator Jack Reed accused the government of cherry-picking data to support the program's cut.
Per the Pioneer Press, there has also been criticism that the average graduation rate is misleading as its weighted down by students who leave within the first few weeks of enrolling, and those who leave the program because they have a job offer – the latter of which fulfills the aim of the program.
The closure has been slammed by DFL lawmakers in the Twin Cities, with a joint statement from Senate Jobs and Economic Development Chair Bobby Joe Champion and Senate Housing Chair Senator Lindsey Port saying the decision "takes us in the wrong direction."
They also criticized pulling the funding for low-income Americans while seeking to push through the extension of major tax cuts benefiting the wealthiest in President Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill," which also includes significant cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
"The ripple effects from this decision will reverberate in their communities for decades. This is not only shortsighted, but it is also cruel, especially because these cuts are being made to pay for massive tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans," they said.
"This closure is another example of President Trump overreaching executive authority: Congress appropriates funding for Job Corps, and he has no authority to unilaterally cut the program's funds," the statement added.
This story was originally reported by Bring Me The News on Jun 3, 2025, where it first appeared.
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