Local student: Hope ‘dropped' as Job Corps paused
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — More than 200 young people in Grand Rapids were left scrambling after the federal government announced it will pause the Job Corps program nationwide.
'I ain't going to lie: It feels like (expletive). It feels like if you had hope and it just dropped all the way,' one program participant in Grand Rapids told News 8 Monday.
Nationwide, the Job Corps houses, educates and trains some 25,000 young people ages 16 to 24, with the goal of helping them find a path to a better life.
The U.S. Department of Labor announced last week it would pause the program by June 30, citing a 'startling number of serious incident reports' and an 'in-depth fiscal analysis reveal(ing) the program is no longer achieving the intended outcomes that students deserve.'
Labor Department suspends Job Corps centers operations, drawing bipartisan pushback
There are three Jobs Corps centers in Michigan serving a total of about 700 people. Of those, 212 are helped through the Gerald R. Ford Job Corps Center on Hall Street SE in Grand Rapids, according to U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Grand Rapids. Scholten, who has criticized the pause, also said 113 people rely on the Grand Rapids center for employment.
A participant who asked to be identified only by her last name Mayor told News 8 she was set to graduate in September. She doesn't know what will happen next.
'Most students, if they don't have a place to go, they're trying to figure out where to take us,' Mayor told News 8. 'And for students who are almost done or close to being done, they're just going home. They're not getting their certifications. They're just going home. No high school diploma. We're just leaving.'
'But,' she continued. 'I think the program did kind of help me get ready for whatever happens.'
It was at that point a man — apparently a Job Corps employee — interrupted Mayor's interview with News 8 and guided her away.
'She's a student, so she has to come with me,' he said.
This, despite the fact that Mayor is 19 and the interview was happening on a public sidewalk.
With Grand Rapids center affected, Scholten criticizes Job Corps pause
In announcing the pause, President Donald Trump's It said data from 2023 showed a nationwide average graduation rate of 38.6%. The Grand Rapids' center's rate was 23.8%.
The Department of Labor also counted a total of 14,913 serious incidents including sexual assault, violence and drug at Job Corps centers nationwide. The report listed 121 in Grand Rapids in 2023.
The average cost per graduate in 2023, according to the report, was around $155,000 nationwide and $338,000 in Grand Rapids. And, the Department of Labor said, the program is facing a $213 million deficit for 2025.
'We have motivated students. We work hard. Maybe we had little problems, but it wasn't like big enough for it be like, 'Oh, it was a big issue,'' Mayor said.
The federal government says it will help the young people transition to other opportunities as they are evicted from Job Corps.
Local leaders say they will see what they can do to help.
'It just hurts my heart to see that these kids,' Rev. Darryl Gaddy of Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church said. 'I understand there's restructuring. I understand that there's budgeting things, but we cannot leave our young people in a lurch. We can't leave them with a gap in services.'
Kent County Commissioner Robert S. Womack is also seeking support for Job Corps participants.
'I think it's just terrible that these students are not only losing their chance to finish their certifications, but they're losing their housing,' Womack said Monday afternoon. 'That's a bigger picture.'
The future of Job Corps students was among the topics to be discussed at a convened by Womack Monday evening at Wealthy Theater.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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