Milwaukee officials criticize proposed closure of federal Job Corps center

Local officials are rallying behind the Milwaukee Job Corps Center, as the facility faces possible closure under a Trump administration proposal.

The federal Department of Labor funds over 100 Job Corps centers across the country. At the contractor-operated centers, low-income people ages 16 to 24 can get high school diplomas, job training and the choice to live on-site for free.

President Donald Trump’s budget request for 2026 calls for eliminating the Job Corps program. In May, the Department of Labor announced a pause in the program’s operations to align with that budget request. The pause was blocked by a federal judge last week, with that order requiring centers to remain open until a future ruling.

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley called the federal government’s actions a “direct hit” to the 130 students and 100 staff at the city’s center.

“It sends a loud, clear message that these young people and their dreams, their efforts and their lives, they don’t even matter,” he said at a press conference in front of the center Tuesday morning.

In a statement, U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, said closing Job Corps centers “will leave young people stranded” and said the Department of Labor was undermining Congress’ authority.

“This Administration has not shown how they will fill in this gap as they shutter Jobs Corps programs nationwide,” she said.

Officials respond to criticism of Job Corps safety, outcomes

The White House in its budget request called Job Corps a “failed experiment to help America’s youth,” citing a 2017 government report that found almost 50,000 safety incidents at the centers over the last decade. That included 265 student deaths — mostly off-site — and over 9,000 assaults total.

Announcing the pause, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer wrote that the program is “no longer achieving the intended outcomes that students deserve.” The department cited its 2025 Job Corps Transparency Report, which found a system-wide graduation rate of 38.6 percent and an average annual income of $16,695 for recent graduates.

“With some very skewed reports, the Trump administration has tried to disparage the good work that happens at Job Corps,” said Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, arguing that there are “lots of very good outcomes that happen from Job Corps centers like this.”

“Closing Job Corps doesn’t fix problems, it creates more problems,” said Milwaukee Alder Larresa Taylor, whose district includes the center. “If there are concerns around graduation rates, operational costs and safety, then let’s address those head-on.”

Out of 224 students at the Milwaukee Job Corps Center in 2023, only 63 graduated, according to the Department of Labor’s 2025 report. Meanwhile, it said, 86 students had a “disciplinary separation” and 46 had an “unauthorized absence separation.” The report recorded 125 safety infractions at Milwaukee’s center in 2023.

Milwaukee’s center is operated by private contractor Horizons Youth Services.

‘It’s an injustice:’ Graduate defends program

Chi Obasi graduated from the Milwaukee Job Corps Center before joining the U.S. Navy, going to nursing school and coming back to be the center’s current wellness manager.

“When I came here, I was lost. I was broken. I was looking for a place where I could better myself,” she said.

“To tell these students that they no longer have a chance, or an opportunity, is outrageous,” she added. “It’s an injustice.”

She said there are “many success stories at Jobs Corps.”

“I see so much of myself in so many of these students every day I come through these doors,” she said.

Decades-old program came to Milwaukee 15 years ago

Job Corps was created in the 1960s, as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “War on Poverty” domestic policy. In the 1980s, its funding dropped sharply, then rose slightly before falling again since 2010, according to a 2022 congressional primer.

Milwaukee’s center opened that year, and it has “supported over 1,300 graduates” since then, according to Taylor, the local alder.

At the press conference, former Milwaukee Mayor and U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett called opening the center his “17-year overnight sensation,” and he said he had worked on it since 1993, during his first term in Congress.

Crowley, the county executive, said local job agencies like Employ Milwaukee and JobsWork MKE are ready to help displaced students if the program is shuttered, while nonprofit City on a Hill and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee have offered dorm spaces for those students.