WASHINGTON — Skarllet Brisco is an intern for the Innovative Educational Solutions Institute in Milwaukee, where she answers the phones and maintains spreadsheets.
She got the internship through Job Corps, a federally-funded program, which gives disadvantaged and young adults free classes, job training, and if they need it, a place to live.
Brisco is pursuing a medical administrative assistant certification. The internship is preparing her to work the front desk at a medical practice.
“I would like to get as much as I can get out of this,” she said.
President Lyndon Johnson founded the Job Corps in 1964 as part of his war on poverty. It gives economically-disadvantaged young people from 16 to 24 the opportunity to earn a high school diploma and obtain career training.
Jamie De Jesus Sr. supervises the interns at Innovate Educational Solutions Institute. De Jesus, who has done time on drug charges, said he knows how transformative programs like this can be for at-risk youth.
“I like to think that what we do here, we save people from the streets too, right?” he said. “But Job Corps takes it a step further, because they’re providing the housing, the meals, and a safe setting.”
In May, the Trump administration tried to shut down the Job Corps by canceling funding already appropriated. De Jesus said his heart sank at the news.
“Why wouldn’t you invest in the future? Because the youth are the future,” he said. “They have a big need right now in the industry for trades. Everybody’s retiring. They’re done working. Who are you going to pass the torch to?”
The Trump administration argues the program spends too much and delivers too little, citing a graduation rate of 38.4% in 2023. The criticism echoes concerns cited by the Labor Department’s inspector general in 2011, and again in 2018. In that 2018 review, the IG examined 50 Job Corps graduates and found that 27 of them “were placed into jobs similar to their pre-training employment.”
The National Job Corps Association, a nonprofit that advocates for the program, said the graduation rate actually is more than 60% historically.
“The Labor Department should have more of a philosophical approach to this, that you’re not going to get 100 percent every time because the lives of the people you’re working with, the populations you’re working with, may have unexpected things occur that cause them to leave the program,” said James Benton, a labor historian at the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University.
Benton argued the program is worth saving, especially since the Administration doesn’t have a concrete plan to replace it, beyond connecting students with other education and career opportunities.
Instead of pausing operations at Job Corps Centers, Benton said the Administration should look at what’s working and build upon those successes.
“It’s really important that all these entities invest in populations who want to work, who want to get skills, who want to be ready for whatever the next era is going to bring to the workforce in this country, and I don’t think it’s anything excessive or lavish,” Benton said. “I think it’s something that is crucial for the economy to perform, and for people to have meaningful work.”
The Trump administration’s attempt to cancel the Job Corps mid-year is being litigated. For now, a judge has ordered the program to remain open.
The White House and the Labor Department declined to be interviewed about the Job Corps, citing the litigation.
In a statement, the Labor Department said, “we remain confident that our actions are consistent with the law.”
As for Brisco, she said, as long as Job Corps is open, she’ll keep up her studies. She plans to graduate in November.
“Yes, they had to stop the program for a little bit, but it don’t seem to stop us, you know?” she said. “Like, at the end of the day, there’s so many kids out here who is trying to make it for themselves, trying to just live life out of survival mode, and Job Corps helps us to get there.”
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