99 federally funded Job Corps centers run by contractors across the country are at risk of closing, unless a lawsuit against the Trump administration goes their way. While the centers face uncertain futures, some historically Black colleges and universities are helping former Job Corps students.
Samantha Reyes enrolled in Job Corps because she didn’t have any other option. She was interested in going to college, but couldn’t afford it. So when she was accepted into Job Corps — a federally-funded program for low-income young adults — she jumped at the chance to start training as a Certified Nursing Assistant.
“I feel like it was definitely meant for me,” Reyes said. “It was a blessing in that I could just go in and pick up a trade, whatever that looked like.”
Reyes joined the Little Rock Job Corps center last August. Like Reyes, most Job Corps students are between the ages of 16 and 24. They take classes to earn their high school diploma, drivers’ license, or learn skills to prepare for a range of careers. Job Corps also provides free housing, meals and health insurance.
The whole program is free, designed for low-income people without other options. For many students, it’s the only thing keeping them from being homeless.
But in late May, the center's director called a meeting for the Little Rock Job Corps students. Reyes said he told them to hurry up with their programs as the center would be shutting down.
“Now everybody who’s here for your high school, here for your drivers’ license, here for your trade, whatever you’re here for, you need to get it now by the end of this year.”
The news shocked Reyes and her classmates. And soon they learned they had even less time to leave the center.
“And then like a few hours later, he sat us all down one more time and said ‘I’m sorry, it’s shutting down this week.’” Reyes said.
The news came soon after the U.S. Department of Labor announced a pause in operations at contract-run Job Corps centers. The Labor Department said these centers weren't achieving intended goals and cost too much per student. According to a transparency report released in April, the program cost over $80,000 per student each year.
Reyes said the next few days were chaotic. Suddenly, all the students had to find a new place to live.
The Little Rock Job Corps Center did not respond to repeated voicemails requesting information about the center’s status. Little Rock Public Radio was turned away from the center by security during a visit in June. Security guards said no members of the media were allowed on campus without permission from the center director.
Reyes says she was lucky. She has a high school degree and was able to enroll in summer classes at Shorter College, a nearby Historically Black College. Reyes and 19 other Job Corps students were eligible for free tuition with the help of state and federal scholarships.
Shorter College President Jeffery Norfleet says he wanted to help the displaced students find stability.
“And along with becoming a student here at Shorter, room and board is an option,” Norfleet said. “These individuals would have a place to lay their head. They would receive at least three meals a day, possibly snacks and more.”
But most of the displaced students came with few personal items. So Norfleet asked for help from the community for things like bedding, hygiene products, and clothes for the new students.
Donations of all kinds began to stream in from the community as social media posts about the students’ needs circulated around Central Arkansas. Norfleet says he also has buy-in from the greater college community to help the students acclimate to their new home.
“The staff, the faculty and the administration are willing to make this a success because we do believe in the future of these individuals.”
In Georgia, another HBCU is also trying to bridge the gap for Job Corps students. Morris Brown College in Atlanta is inviting former Job Corps students to apply to their program for the fall.
Morris Brown President Kevin James says he’s seeing a worrying trend in program cuts across the country.
“Some of the changes that have been made have affected negatively Black and brown students directly,” James said.
“Job Corps is just one example that many students of color will negatively be impacted.”
James says the news is personal; his first job out of college was teaching at a Job Corps center. He says his experience inspired his career as an educator, and now a college president.
James says he understands these students are going through a traumatic shift, which means they’ll need a wide range of support once they get on campus.
“We’re not just going to throw you in the deep end of the pool, we’re going to make sure you have all the resources you need to be successful,” he said.
The federal government still operates 24 Job Corps centers directly through the National Forest Service. But, the future of those centers run by contractors is uncertain.
Soon after the Department of Labor announced a pause in operations, the National Job Corps Association sued the Department of Labor to block the move. In late June, a federal judge ruled the Labor Department could not order centers to close while the suit continues.
Meanwhile, Samantha Reyes says she’s grateful to have found a place at Shorter College to continue her education. But she’s still processing the sting of having her life plans change in a moment. And she’s worried about the rest of her Job Corps cohort, those who didn’t, or couldn’t enroll at Shorter.
“I’m living out the best possible outcome of this shutdown,” Reyes said. “But there’s a lot of people who don’t get to say that.”
Reyes said just before the July 4 holiday, one of her former teachers reached out to ask her to reapply to the Little Rock program. For now, she says, she’ll continue her education at Shorter.
This story originally aired on NPR's All Things Considered on July 7, 2025.
