The Miami Job Corps Center, a decades-old program that has served hundreds of at-risk students annually, is among 99 sites nationwide being shut down by the U.S. Department of Labor due to budget constraints.
On Monday evening, the department announced that the Job Corps program, which has operated since 1964, is being “paused” as part of a nationwide closure. But in an email to Adams and Associates, the contractor that operates the Miami site, the Department of Labor ordered an immediate halt to all operations, citing termination “completely for the government’s convenience.”
Students sent home, futures uncertain
The decision means nearly 300 students at the Miami center must leave the program by the end of the week, with complete closure scheduled by June 30. Many students, who are between the ages of 16 and 24, are at risk of losing housing, education, and career training.
“People came here to put their lives together, people came here to find their purpose and now that’s kind of being stripped away from them,” said Jaliyah Cohen, a student from Palm Bay…