Although the Shriver Job Corps Center in Devens has reopened, the future of its students and 120 employees remains in doubt, as observed in this week’s coverage.
The nationwide injunction ordering that the 99 contractor-operated centers paused by the Trump administration remain open could be undone by the Supreme Court’s recent ruling against such sweeping orders. The parties in the case have been given until July 11 to file their opinions.
Meanwhile, because the Department of Labor has canceled the contracts of the organizations that performed reference checks on applicants, Shriver and the other centers are unable to admit new students. A shrinking student body seems inevitable, as students complete their training or choose to leave in light of the program’s uncertainty. Failure to fund the Job Corps in fiscal 2026, as the administration has proposed, would be a death blow.
Job Corps is a lifeline for any young person whose circumstances prevent them from finishing a high school education or attending a vocational high school such as Monty Tech: lack of transportation, a child, an immediate need for income to support oneself or family. That experience may seem distant to most in Harvard, yet it’s all too real for some in Central Massachusetts.
The current administration in Washington has argued that the program is ineffective, citing data that advocates such as the National Job Corps Association say is incorrect. And yet, the same administration has called for more skills training, as have business leaders throughout the U.S. Job Corps is the one program designed to help the most disadvantaged youth in our society find a path to a satisfying career and a living wage. If there is room for improvement, why not make it so. Simply killing it, as U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan said recently, seems “reckless and wrong.”
If you care about this program, or if you live in a community that’s been positively impacted by Job Corps graduates, it’s not too late to weigh in, for or against. Congress has yet to finalize its appropriations for the coming fiscal year. As July 4 reminds us, we the people are meant to have a say in how our tax dollars are spent. It would be unconscionable to lose such an important regional institution as the Shriver center—one that serves us all—to an executive fiat.
