11-06-2025
Pinellas Job Corps students, faculty hold solidarity event as future remains unknown
The Brief
Dozens of people showed their solidarity with the program at an event on Tuesday.
On May 29, the U.S. Department of Labor announced a pause on all of its campuses.
June 4, a federal judge granted the association a temporary restraining order against the DOL, allowing classes to resume.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Pinellas County Job Corps students and faculty hosted a solidarity event as its future hangs in the balance.
The backstory
Job Corps has 99 campuses nationwide, including one in Pinellas County. It's a one-stop shop for young adults between 16 and 24 years old, some of whom have aged out of foster care and face homelessness.
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The program offers education, housing and job support.
Timeline
On May 29, the U.S. Department of Labor announced a pause on all of its campuses. Following that, a federal judge granted the National Job Corps Association a temporary restraining order against the DOL on June 4, allowing classes to resume.
A preliminary injunction hearing is slated for June 17, where a federal judge will decide whether to extend the temporary restraining order while the legal process plays out.
PREVIOUS: St. Pete students, staff face uncertainty amid nationwide Job Corps pause
What they're saying
The Department of Labor said the closures would be due to the program not achieving its intended outcome, citing a 38.6% graduation rate in 2023. The agency also said there's been a "startling number of instances" nationwide, like acts of violence, drug use and hospital visits.
Local perspective
On Tuesday, dozens of students, staff and members of the community came out to an event in solidarity with the program at the Arts Xchange stage in St. Pete, across from the Pinellas Job Corps campus. The group shared their support through signs, prayer, songs and testimonials.
Trade school student Isaiah Rummell lives on campus and said he wouldn't be where he is today without the program.
"My life wasn't going the proper way," he said. "I gave it a shot to not just rebuild my life but help me give meaning back to my life."
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Isaiah Perez graduated from Job Corps.
"I was not looking for Job Corps. Job Corps found me," he added, "I was in foster care, jumping around from foster care, group home to group home. I fully graduated into facility maintenance and I'm going to be enlisted in the United States Army."
Askia Aquil is the president of the Pinellas Job Corps Community Relations Council.
"The argument for example that the Job Corps program is a bad investment for the taxpayers, I disagree with that wholeheartedly."
He said it was heart-wrenching news to hear about the pause.
"My position is, if Job Corps needs reforming, reform it, if Job Corps needs to be reevaluated or reassessed, then reassess it," he added. "I don't support at all shutting it down certainly as precipitously as this has been done and casting these young people to the wind."
The Source
The information in this story was gathered by FOX 13's Jennifer Kveglis.
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