Thousands of homeless students left in the lurch after Job Center closures put on hold

Boston Globe

20-07-2025

'That was how I was able to escape homelessness,' Kary added. 'My whole life has been defined by loss and poverty and just living on the most precarious knife edge.'
Job Corps is a federally funded program for young people between the ages of 16 and 24 that provides free housing, meals, basic medical care, school supplies, childcare, English language instruction, and a small allowance while students earn high school equivalency degrees and trade certifications.
The National Job Corps Association sued the DOL shortly after the announcement alleging the department's
order
to pause the program was illegal because only Congress can eliminate the program and because it would displace thousands of students and lead to mass layoffs.
In June, a US District Court judge for the Southern District of New York granted a preliminary injunction against the DOL, effectively halting the DOL's order indefinitely and allowing Job Corps's 123 centers to remain operational. But Kary and the approximately 4,500 other students nationwide who were homeless before joining the program's living and learning spaces are still at risk of displacement.
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As part of its fiscal 2026 budget, the DOL has proposed eviscerating Job Corps, allocating it a fraction of its typical funding for the purpose of closing and demolishing the centers. Congress is expected to
begin voting
on the proposed budget
in September, though it can take months to pass.
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Labor experts in Massachusetts say the state's workforce development system is not designed for a shake-up that would displace many of the 799 students who were enrolled at three centers in Massachusetts in May.
'Whenever we need to put students somewhere, Job Corps is front and center,' Jeffrey Turgeon, director of MassHire Central, said. 'We're losing a major tool.'
After the meeting
announcing its closure,
the Shriver Job Corps Center told students it would remain operational for the time being. Yet, a majority of students who lived at the center left the Shriver Center, opting to find alternative housing in the face of
the center's day-to-day uncertainty.
After investing months into diplomas and career certificates, students feel mixed emotions about what will come next for them.
Kary worries about leaving empty-handed if the court eventually rules that the centers must close,
or Congress approves funding cuts to the Job Corps. She started her
training
program to work in public transportation, which she said typically takes one year to complete, just a week before the DOL order.
'As nice as it is, it still feels uncertain,' Kary said. 'It's a race against the preliminary injunction and the government.'
Mohammad Niazy, 18, and Matiullah Kabir, 19, discovered a near-empty cafeteria when they arrived at the Shriver Center for class earlier this month. The two commute to campus from Harvard, MA, where
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Niazy earned his high school diploma from the center in May. Kabir, who had already graduated from his local high school, studied computer technology at Shriver, where he started a football team and received his driver's license.
He said he was shocked when he learned that DOL ordered a pause in operations.
'It was so fast, people were not ready for this. A lot of people were living there and working. They were definitely crying, they were saying, 'Where do we go now?'' Kabir said.
Facing potential Job Corps closures, students can apply for state-run high school equivalency degrees and vocational training programs, paid apprenticeships, or community college, according to the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development
(EOLWD). Governor Maura Healey's housing office had also been developing a contingency plan for displaced students leading up to the preliminary injunction, spokesperson Tara Smith said in an email to the Globe last month.
'Until the lawsuit is resolved, we continue to monitor the situation with EOLWD and other state agencies as it relates to potential next steps with affected students,' Smith added.
Until joining Job Corps, Kary, who asked to be identified by her first name because she fears harassment by the government
as a transgender woman, was in and out of homelessness. She was kicked out of her childhood home by her family when she turned 18. She crashed on friends' couches and waited in line at food banks for meals. She eventually got a job as a cashier earning $9 an hour, but it was nowhere near enough to make ends meet.
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For four months in the winter of 2022, Kary slept every night in a tent — even in the pouring rain and freezing temperatures.
When a friend
told Kary about Job Corps's residential program, she applied as soon as she could.
'Job Corps was my only hope,' she said.
The DOL says it wants to end
the program because it is not achieving its
including the 38.6 percent graduation rate it cited in its justification for pausing the program, which comes from the 2023 program year, reflect high dropout rates during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Local politicians in Massachusetts are concerned about the impact shuttering the program would have on their communities.
'The reality is a program like this, which no doubt costs millions of dollars just for the Devens center, is that it's not going to be replaced,' Massachusetts State Senator Jamie Eldridge, whose district includes Shriver, said.
In
'Massachusetts industries obviously depend on the kind of technical training the Job Corps provides,' Congresswoman Lori Trahan, whose district also covers Shriver, said.
Kary worries that she will not be hired for a job without her trade certification. She does not want to go to a shelter for fear of harassment but no other training programs offer housing.
Yet when she thinks about the future, she imagines a quiet life working as a train conductor, a career that she became passionate about while studying at Shriver.
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Kary has one more non-negotiable. She has to live in Massachusetts.
'I love Massachusetts. I'd fully crawl my way out of homelessness and then be in Massachusetts,' said Kary.
'This place is end goal for me.'
Jade Lozada can be reached at