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Canada Standard
19 hours ago
- Politics
- Canada Standard
Catholic school board's regressive flag policy sets back reconciliation in a post-Papal visit Canada
Following the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's 94 Calls to Action in 2015, some Catholic school boards have made commitments to reconciliation in education. These boards include the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board (DPCDSB). However, the DPCDSB - located in the Greater Toronto area - has also introduced a flag policy that raises serious questions about a commitment to the wider progress being made in welcoming all students and promoting reconciliation. On Jan. 28, 2025 - following advocacy in different parts of Ontario and the country against the presence of the Pride flag - the board's trustees voted in nine to one to add more restrictions to its flag policies. These restrictions stipulated that only flags representing Canada, the provinces, territories and the school board can be be displayed inside schools or other DPCDSB facilities. The developments in Peel Region follow earlier policy changes to restrict the presence of the Pride flag and other flags at schools. Advocates from the board defending flag restrictions have said that in Catholic schools, the icon of the cross is the only symbol that should be promoted and that this represents inclusion and acceptance of all. However, members of the 2SLGBTQI+ community and opponents of restrictive flag policies argue that the Pride flag is needed to signal a welcoming environment. They say its removal is an act of erasure and that it calls into question how the board affirms the rights, dignity and visibility of 2SLGBTQI+ people and how it fosters their safety. The board says, and believes, its practices and policies comply with the Ontario human rights code, adding that supports are available for students who identify as 2SLGBTQI. The erasure of the Pride flag has the simultaneous effect of banning other important flags, such as Every Child Matters flags, Indigenous Nation flags and MMIWG2S flags (drawing attention to ending violence, disappearance and murder of First Nations women, girls and two-spirit people). In our analysis, this restrictive flag policy expresses colonial violence. We rely on the work of Sandra Styres, researcher of Iethi'nihstenha Ohwentsia'kekha (Land), Resurgence, Reconciliation and the Politics of Education, who examines how colonial violence is expressed in academic settings through "micro-aggressions, purposeful ignorance, structural racism, lateral violence, isolation" and also in "representations and spaces." Our concern is informed by our combined research and personal engagement focused around reconciliatory education in elementary Catholic schools (Erenna) and Anishinaabe Catholic expressions of self-determination in the Church (Noah). Erenna is a settler and Noah is a member of Michipicoten First Nation. We are married writing partners who travelled to Quebec City in July 2022 to witness the long-awaited penitential pilgrimage of the late Pope Francis. We left with an awareness that this is a critical time for the righting of relationships that have been severely fractured by a Church complicit in genocide. The DPCDSB flag policy speaks to an unwillingness of many to sever emotional attachments to the white imperialism that preserves a western way of thinking, doing and being, in the name of faith. When a major Catholic entity like the DPCDSB introduces policies that may cause harm, concerned people, regardless of creed, must pay attention to such injustices. Delegate Melanie Cormier, representing the DPCSB's Indigenous Education Network, shared a statement relaying that the board's restrictive flag policy fails to acknowledge the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation whose traditional and treaty territory where the board resides. She states: "Your flag policy is in violation of our jurisdiction. To say that any of our flags can not be flown in our own territories is unacceptable." Brea Corbet, the only trustee with voting power who did not vote to restrict the Pride flag, told an earlier bylaw policies meeting: "When we remove rainbow flags and heritage flags, we are not protecting our Catholic identity; we are revealing institutional fragility. The Pride flag does not threaten Catholic education, policies of exclusion do." Three student trustees also opposed the restrictive policy, but their votes unfortunately aren't counted. We argue this too speaks to the suppression of student voice within the board. This fragility disproportionately threatens the safety of Indigenous, 2SLGBTQI+ and marginalized students and staff as they are overlooked and dismissed by the flag policy. Read more: New Brunswick's LGBTQ+ safe schools debate makes false opponents of parents and teachers Kanienkeha:ka (Mohawk) education professor Frank Deer speaks of educational programming "that is congruent with the identity of the local community." This programming, he writes, must go beyond curricula to address the school environment as well. Student safety, inclusion and identity affirmation must be prioritized in all aspects of school life. Jennifer Brant, a Kanienkeh:ka interdisciplinary scholar, speaks in depth about how silence during times like these equates to complicity in accepting injustices that are taking place within "the communities in which we live, the broader society and global communities." Inaction in response to this policy is negligent. Detrimental ramifications may also extend to reconciliation efforts in religious spaces more generally. This regressive policy poses lingering questions about the longevity of Catholic schools if they fail to protect and nurture all students. The primary target of the DPCDSB's sweeping flag policy is the 2SLGBTQI+ community. In addition, the flag ban attacks Indigenous sovereignty and Anishinaabek nationhood, perpetuating attitudes tied to the Doctrine of Discovery still present in the Catholic ethos. Read more: The Vatican just renounced a 500-year-old doctrine that justified colonial land theft ... Now what? - Podcast Flying the flags of First Nations (at their request) is not only a matter of inclusion, it is a matter of respect - respect for the land, the people and the treaties that connect us. In denying this step towards relationality, this governing body of a Catholic school board sets back the Church's reconciliation efforts riding on the momentum of the papal visit. Read more: Pope Francis showed in deeds and words he wanted to face the truth in Canada The board's ignorance of how this policy risks damaging relationships with students, families and staff at the board, as well as the broader public, partly reflects an indifference that Pope Francis warned Catholics about during his visit: "I trust and pray that Christians and civil society in this land may grow in the ability to accept and respect the identity and the experience of the Indigenous Peoples. It is my hope that concrete ways can be found to make those peoples better known and esteemed, so that all may learn to walk together." As we write this piece, we can see through the window a local Toronto Catholic Distric School Board elementary school, where an Every Child Matters flag is flown alongside a Pride and Canadian flag. Catholic education, despite its sordid history and contested perspectives about interpreting and practising Church doctrine, can be a tool to drive reconciliation. Catholics cannot let a narrow vision overshadow Pope Francis's pilgrimage and the global Church movement he, the Church's bishops and Catholic lay people have participated in - via a global synod - to respond to the call to walk together in solidarity with Indigenous, 2SLGBTQI+ and other marginalized people. We wish to continue to hear counter-narratives of hope and possibility for Catholic education. We wish to see active changes that move the DPCDSB, as scholar Sheila Cote-Meek of the Teme-Augama Anishinabai, writes, "to a drastically different way of being, doing and working." As other Catholic boards in Ontario initiate flag debates of their own, we are left with the lingering question. What is the future of Catholic education if it's not intended to support the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well-being of all those entrusted to its care?
Canada News.Net
20 hours ago
- Politics
- Canada News.Net
Catholic school board's regressive flag policy sets back reconciliation in a post-Papal visit Canada
Following the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's 94 Calls to Action in 2015, some Catholic school boards have made commitments to reconciliation in education. These boards include the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board (DPCDSB). However, the DPCDSB - located in the Greater Toronto area - has also introduced a flag policy that raises serious questions about a commitment to the wider progress being made in welcoming all students and promoting reconciliation. On Jan. 28, 2025 - following advocacy in different parts of Ontario and the country against the presence of the Pride flag - the board's trustees voted in nine to one to add more restrictions to its flag policies. These restrictions stipulated that only flags representing Canada, the provinces, territories and the school board can be be displayed inside schools or other DPCDSB facilities. The developments in Peel Region follow earlier policy changes to restrict the presence of the Pride flag and other flags at schools. Advocates from the board defending flag restrictions have said that in Catholic schools, the icon of the cross is the only symbol that should be promoted and that this represents inclusion and acceptance of all. However, members of the 2SLGBTQI+ community and opponents of restrictive flag policies argue that the Pride flag is needed to signal a welcoming environment. They say its removal is an act of erasure and that it calls into question how the board affirms the rights, dignity and visibility of 2SLGBTQI+ people and how it fosters their safety. The board says, and believes, its practices and policies comply with the Ontario human rights code, adding that supports are available for students who identify as 2SLGBTQI. The erasure of the Pride flag has the simultaneous effect of banning other important flags, such as Every Child Matters flags, Indigenous Nation flags and MMIWG2S flags (drawing attention to ending violence, disappearance and murder of First Nations women, girls and two-spirit people). In our analysis, this restrictive flag policy expresses colonial violence. We rely on the work of Sandra Styres, researcher of Iethi'nihstenha Ohwentsia'kekha (Land), Resurgence, Reconciliation and the Politics of Education, who examines how colonial violence is expressed in academic settings through "micro-aggressions, purposeful ignorance, structural racism, lateral violence, isolation" and also in "representations and spaces." Our concern is informed by our combined research and personal engagement focused around reconciliatory education in elementary Catholic schools (Erenna) and Anishinaabe Catholic expressions of self-determination in the Church (Noah). Erenna is a settler and Noah is a member of Michipicoten First Nation. We are married writing partners who travelled to Quebec City in July 2022 to witness the long-awaited penitential pilgrimage of the late Pope Francis. We left with an awareness that this is a critical time for the righting of relationships that have been severely fractured by a Church complicit in genocide. The DPCDSB flag policy speaks to an unwillingness of many to sever emotional attachments to the white imperialism that preserves a western way of thinking, doing and being, in the name of faith. When a major Catholic entity like the DPCDSB introduces policies that may cause harm, concerned people, regardless of creed, must pay attention to such injustices. Delegate Melanie Cormier, representing the DPCSB's Indigenous Education Network, shared a statement relaying that the board's restrictive flag policy fails to acknowledge the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation whose traditional and treaty territory where the board resides. She states: " Your flag policy is in violation of our jurisdiction. To say that any of our flags can not be flown in our own territories is unacceptable." Brea Corbet, the only trustee with voting power who did not vote to restrict the Pride flag, told an earlier bylaw policies meeting: "When we remove rainbow flags and heritage flags, we are not protecting our Catholic identity; we are revealing institutional fragility. The Pride flag does not threaten Catholic education, policies of exclusion do." Three student trustees also opposed the restrictive policy, but their votes unfortunately aren't counted. We argue this too speaks to the suppression of student voice within the board. This fragility disproportionately threatens the safety of Indigenous, 2SLGBTQI+ and marginalized students and staff as they are overlooked and dismissed by the flag policy. Kanienkeha:ka (Mohawk) education professor Frank Deer speaks of educational programming " that is congruent with the identity of the local community." This programming, he writes, must go beyond curricula to address the school environment as well. Student safety, inclusion and identity affirmation must be prioritized in all aspects of school life. Jennifer Brant, a Kanienkeh:ka interdisciplinary scholar, speaks in depth about how silence during times like these equates to complicity in accepting injustices that are taking place within "the communities in which we live, the broader society and global communities." Inaction in response to this policy is negligent. Detrimental ramifications may also extend to reconciliation efforts in religious spaces more generally. This regressive policy poses lingering questions about the longevity of Catholic schools if they fail to protect and nurture all students. The primary target of the DPCDSB's sweeping flag policy is the 2SLGBTQI+ community. In addition, the flag ban attacks Indigenous sovereignty and Anishinaabek nationhood, perpetuating attitudes tied to the Doctrine of Discovery still present in the Catholic ethos. Flying the flags of First Nations (at their request) is not only a matter of inclusion, it is a matter of respect - respect for the land, the people and the treaties that connect us. In denying this step towards relationality, this governing body of a Catholic school board sets back the Church's reconciliation efforts riding on the momentum of the papal visit. The board's ignorance of how this policy risks damaging relationships with students, families and staff at the board, as well as the broader public, partly reflects an indifference that Pope Francis warned Catholics about during his visit: "I trust and pray that Christians and civil society in this land may grow in the ability to accept and respect the identity and the experience of the Indigenous Peoples. It is my hope that concrete ways can be found to make those peoples better known and esteemed, so that all may learn to walk together." As we write this piece, we can see through the window a local Toronto Catholic Distric School Board elementary school, where an Every Child Matters flag is flown alongside a Pride and Canadian flag. Catholic education, despite its sordid history and contested perspectives about interpreting and practising Church doctrine, can be a tool to drive reconciliation. Catholics cannot let a narrow vision overshadow Pope Francis's pilgrimage and the global Church movement he, the Church's bishops and Catholic lay people have participated in - via a global synod - to respond to the call to walk together in solidarity with Indigenous, 2SLGBTQI+ and other marginalized people. We wish to continue to hear counter-narratives of hope and possibility for Catholic education. We wish to see active changes that move the DPCDSB, as scholar Sheila Cote-Meek of the Teme-Augama Anishinabai, writes, " to a drastically different way of being, doing and working."
CTV News
21 hours ago
- General
- CTV News
Quebec's most popular baby names of 2024 are...
Retraite Québec's 2024 rankings show Emma and Noah leading the list of the province's most popular baby names. (Pexels) Retraite Québec has released its annual list of the most popular baby names in 2024, with Emma and Noah taking the top spots. Noah was also the most popular name for boys in 2023, while Emma rose from third place last year, surpassing Alice and Florence to claim the number one position. The second most popular names were Olivia and Florence for girls, and Leo and Liam for boys. New to this year's top 10 list were Clara, at number eight, and Sofia, at number nine. For boys, Emile entered the list at number nine, followed by Théo at number 10. Five most popular baby names of 2024 in Quebec: Girls Boys Emma Noah Olivia Leo Florence Liam Charlotte William Alice Thomas Retraite Québec also released the most popular names of people who retired in 2024. Those names are:
CNN
2 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
Thousands of young Americans at risk of homelessness if Job Corps ends
CNN — By the time he was 18, Noah had lived in more foster homes than he could count, passed from family to family from the time he was a two-year-old. There was one year when he lived in more than 20 houses. Facing homelessness when he aged out of the system, he was given a lifeline when he found a place at Job Corps, the nation's oldest and most prolific vocational job training program for young low-income Americans. Job Corps centers provide housing and schooling for students aged 16 to 24. 'The first thing I said was, 'Oh, I have a bed to sleep in',' said Noah, now 21, who declined to give his last name for fear of breaching Job Corps rules. In February, he landed at the Job Corps in Guthrie, Oklahoma, one of 99 centers across the country, where he began working towards a certification in carpentry and welding. But that opportunity – and a safe place to live – is now in limbo. In the last month, the program has been plunged into uncertainty after the Trump administration ordered its operations to be paused. The move is part of the White House's larger budget cuts aimed at trimming federal programs – even as the Trump administration has previous said it wants to expand vocational training. Other service-related programs, like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps, have also been in the crosshairs of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. At least 21,000 students are now at risk of losing their places in Job Corps, 20% of whom would be homeless, according to program figures obtained by CNN. 'There is a cloud hanging over their future right now,' a senior source within Job Corps who asked to remain anonymous, for fear of retribution from the administration, told CNN. A rocky month Since its inception six decades ago, more than two million young Americans have used Job Corps to find housing, work, or to get an education. George Foreman, the late heavyweight champion, used it to earn his high school diploma; public officials from North Carolina to Washington serving in office today can be counted among its alumni. In late May, the Trump administration said it would be 'pausing operations' for Job Corps centers, and that students would need to leave by June 30. Afterwards, Job Corps centers across the country began winding down operations, numerous center directors told CNN. Staff scrambled first to find shelters to take in students at risk of homelessness. Some students who were close to receiving their accreditation expedited their studies, in the hopes they'd be able to graduate before the program was shuttered. But days later, a New York US district judge issued a temporary restraining order halting the closures and prohibiting the removal of students as further legal actions continue. That set off a reverse scramble for Job Corps centers, working to undo what they did, return students to campus who had recently left, and to restart operations. Amid this turmoil, Job Corps programs have lost over 8,000 students, the Job Corps source told CNN. The number includes students who expedited finishing their studies and those who decided to leave due to the uncertainty. 'The word I've heard a lot is 'trauma,'' the Job Corps source said. 'Many of these young people finally found a safe space to live while learning the skills they need to start a career, only for that to be abruptly taken away.' Noah's life in the past last month, some 1,200 miles away from Washington DC, has mirrored the chaos. He was forced to move out of the Guthrie Job Corps center to a nearby homeless shelter, where he slept in a small room with other 10 other men, which he described as uncomfortable and overstimulating. Following the temporary restraining order three days later, he was able to return to the Guthrie Job Corps campus. The experience has felt like whiplash, he said, especially with the fate of the program still hanging in the balance. 'It is overbearing. It is stressful,' he said. Criticisms and planned closures When announcing the program's closure, the Department of Labor had pointed to low graduation rates, high costs and reports of serious incidents that appeared to threaten students' safety. 'Job Corps was created to help young adults build a pathway to a better life through education, training, and community,' Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said when announcing the pause in May. '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.' The administration points to an April Department of Labor transparency report on Job Corps that put the program's average graduation rate at just over 38%, at an average cost of about $80,000 per student each year. Job Corps supporters say those numbers are inaccurately interpreted. The report looks at Job Corps' performance for its 2023 program year (which runs from July 1 to June 30). Critics contend that figures from this period are not a true reflection of the program's effectiveness as COVID-19 restrictions in place at the time limited enrollment, contributed to lower-than-typical graduation rates, and led to higher cost per student. The report also said there were also over 14,000 'serious infractions' including sexual assaults, violence, drug use and hospital visits a year reported across the centers. However, critics take big issue with this figure. What the Department of Labor considered 'serious infractions' included things like false accusations against another student, plagiarism, leaving campus without first securing permission and cheating, which campuses are required to report, the Job Corps source told CNN. About half of the 14,000 infractions involved behavior more directly related to harm, such as drug use, acts of violence, hospital visits or sexual assault. Although the Job Corps source said that any instance of such serious incidents 'is one too many and, of course, it's our goal to strive to prevent any of that happening to our students or anyone,' within the context to overall number of students, the frequency of such incidents happening was less common than on traditional college campuses, the source contends. These arguments have also been made by Democratic and Republican lawmakers in defense of Job Corps in the past. A drain on the jobs pipeline The plan to shut Job Corps came as a 'big shock' to the Transportation Communications Union/IAM, said Arthur Maratea, the union's national president. The union says it has trained and helped place more than 16,000 Job Corps students into railroad industry jobs since 1971. 'I'm very proud of this program,' Maratea said, adding that for the students, 'this is their chance to go into a field that has a pension, to go into a field that has health care, to go into a field where they're making starting wages for over $30 an hour and room to move, where they can support themselves, their housing, pay taxes.' Axing the program would not only affect the students, but also negatively ripple through the economy, Maratea said. 'We're short electricians, we're short on our carmen, we're short [on] everything.' The potential shutdown of a skilled trades pipeline comes as labor force participation rates have steadily declined for youths. 'We know that those from less-advantaged backgrounds can benefit from additional mentorship, can benefit from stability that a job might provide and from understanding various parts of the labor market that they might not have been exposed to otherwise,' Rachel Sederberg, senior economist at Lightcast, a labor market analytics firm, told CNN. 'Anything that's increasing youth involvement within the labor force, increasing opportunities is something that we should be trying to do more of.' Turbulence ahead On Tuesday, a US district judge in Manhattan ruled to extend the temporary restraining order until June 25, granting a temporary reprieve but still leaving Job Corps' future uncertain. Following the ruling, a Department of Labor spokesperson told CNN: 'The Department of Labor is working closely with the Department of Justice to evaluate and comply with the temporary restraining order. We remain confident that our actions are consistent with the law.' Noah says he is watching and weighing his options. 'I just, I gotta believe,' he said. 'I gotta hope for the best and I hope it falls in our favor.' He is brainstorming a Plan B if his place at Guthrie's Job Corps center becomes untenable. He cannot return to the shelter he briefly stayed in, as it has a rule that prohibits people from returning within 90 days of their departure. He will likely try to live temporarily with a friend. Back to sleeping on a couch, with no bed to call his own.
CNN
2 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
Plans to close federal vocational training program risks creating thousands of homeless youths
By the time he was 18, Noah had lived in more foster homes than he could count, passed from family to family from the time he was a two-year-old. There was one year when he lived in more than 20 houses. Facing homelessness when he aged out of the system, he was given a lifeline when he found a place at Job Corps, the nation's oldest and most prolific vocational job training program for young low-income Americans. Job Corps centers provide housing and schooling for students aged 16 to 24. 'The first thing I said was, 'Oh, I have a bed to sleep in',' said Noah, now 21, who declined to give his last name for fear of breaching Job Corps rules. In February, he landed at the Job Corps in Guthrie, Oklahoma, one of 99 centers across the country, where he began working towards a certification in carpentry and welding. But that opportunity – and a safe place to live – is now in limbo. In the last month, the program has been plunged into uncertainty after the Trump administration ordered its operations to be paused. The move is part of the White House's larger budget cuts aimed at trimming federal programs – even as the Trump administration has previous said it wants to expand vocational training. Other service-related programs, like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps, have also been in the crosshairs of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. At least 21,000 students are now at risk of losing their places in Job Corps, 20% of whom would be homeless, according to program figures obtained by CNN. 'There is a cloud hanging over their future right now,' a senior source within Job Corps who asked to remain anonymous, for fear of retribution from the administration, told CNN. Since its inception six decades ago, more than two million young Americans have used Job Corps to find housing, work, or to get an education. George Foreman, the late heavyweight champion, used it to earn his high school diploma; public officials from North Carolina to Washington serving in office today can be counted among its alumni. In late May, the Trump administration said it would be 'pausing operations' for Job Corps centers, and that students would need to leave by June 30. Afterwards, Job Corps centers across the country began winding down operations, numerous center directors told CNN. Staff scrambled first to find shelters to take in students at risk of homelessness. Some students who were close to receiving their accreditation expedited their studies, in the hopes they'd be able to graduate before the program was shuttered. But days later, a New York US district judge issued a temporary restraining order halting the closures and prohibiting the removal of students as further legal actions continue. That set off a reverse scramble for Job Corps centers, working to undo what they did, return students to campus who had recently left, and to restart operations. Amid this turmoil, Job Corps programs have lost over 8,000 students, the Job Corps source told CNN. The number includes students who expedited finishing their studies and those who decided to leave due to the uncertainty. 'The word I've heard a lot is 'trauma,'' the Job Corps source said. 'Many of these young people finally found a safe space to live while learning the skills they need to start a career, only for that to be abruptly taken away.' Noah's life in the past last month, some 1,200 miles away from Washington DC, has mirrored the chaos. He was forced to move out of the Guthrie Job Corps center to a nearby homeless shelter, where he slept in a small room with other 10 other men, which he described as uncomfortable and overstimulating. Following the temporary restraining order three days later, he was able to return to the Guthrie Job Corps campus. The experience has felt like whiplash, he said, especially with the fate of the program still hanging in the balance. 'It is overbearing. It is stressful,' he said. When announcing the program's closure, the Department of Labor had pointed to low graduation rates, high costs and reports of serious incidents that appeared to threaten students' safety. 'Job Corps was created to help young adults build a pathway to a better life through education, training, and community,' Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said when announcing the pause in May. '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.' The administration points to an April Department of Labor transparency report on Job Corps that put the program's average graduation rate at just over 38%, at an average cost of about $80,000 per student each year. Job Corps supporters say those numbers are inaccurately interpreted. The report looks at Job Corps' performance for its 2023 program year (which runs from July 1 to June 30). Critics contend that figures from this period are not a true reflection of the program's effectiveness as COVID-19 restrictions in place at the time limited enrollment, contributed to lower-than-typical graduation rates, and led to higher cost per student. The report also said there were also over 14,000 'serious infractions' including sexual assaults, violence, drug use and hospital visits a year reported across the centers. However, critics take big issue with this figure. What the Department of Labor considered 'serious infractions' included things like false accusations against another student, plagiarism, leaving campus without first securing permission and cheating, which campuses are required to report, the Job Corps source told CNN. About half of the 14,000 infractions involved behavior more directly related to harm, such as drug use, acts of violence, hospital visits or sexual assault. Although the Job Corps source said that any instance of such serious incidents 'is one too many and, of course, it's our goal to strive to prevent any of that happening to our students or anyone,' within the context to overall number of students, the frequency of such incidents happening was less common than on traditional college campuses, the source contends. These arguments have also been made by Democratic and Republican lawmakers in defense of Job Corps in the past. The plan to shut Job Corps came as a 'big shock' to the Transportation Communications Union/IAM, said Arthur Maratea, the union's national president. The union says it has trained and helped place more than 16,000 Job Corps students into railroad industry jobs since 1971. 'I'm very proud of this program,' Maratea said, adding that for the students, 'this is their chance to go into a field that has a pension, to go into a field that has health care, to go into a field where they're making starting wages for over $30 an hour and room to move, where they can support themselves, their housing, pay taxes.' Axing the program would not only affect the students, but also negatively ripple through the economy, Maratea said. 'We're short electricians, we're short on our carmen, we're short [on] everything.' The potential shutdown of a skilled trades pipeline comes as labor force participation rates have steadily declined for youths. 'We know that those from less-advantaged backgrounds can benefit from additional mentorship, can benefit from stability that a job might provide and from understanding various parts of the labor market that they might not have been exposed to otherwise,' Rachel Sederberg, senior economist at Lightcast, a labor market analytics firm, told CNN. 'Anything that's increasing youth involvement within the labor force, increasing opportunities is something that we should be trying to do more of.' On Tuesday, a US district judge in Manhattan ruled to extend the temporary restraining order until June 25, granting a temporary reprieve but still leaving Job Corps' future uncertain. CNN has reached out to the Department of Labor for comment. Noah says he is watching and weighing his options. 'I just, I gotta believe,' he said. 'I gotta hope for the best and I hope it falls in our favor.' He is brainstorming a Plan B if his place at Guthrie's Job Corps center becomes untenable. He cannot return to the shelter he briefly stayed in, as it has a rule that prohibits people from returning within 90 days of their departure. He will likely try to live temporarily with a friend. Back to sleeping on a couch, with no bed to call his own.
