By Tafshier Cosby, Senior Director of the NPU Center for Organizing and Partnerships
When I heard President Trump’s latest move to eliminate all funding for Job Corps in his 2026 budget and shut down nearly 100 centers by the end of June – I didn’t just get angry. I felt heartbroken.
As a veteran parent organizer from Newark, New Jersey, I’ve spent my life advocating alongside families who’ve been left out and locked out. I’ve seen the systems fail them. And I’ve also seen what it looks like when someone finally shows up and says, We believe in you. We’ve got you.
That’s what Job Corps has been. Not just for one or two people, but for hundreds of young people I’ve worked with, marched with, mentored, and advocated with over the years. Many of them were teetering on the edge, aging out of foster care, bouncing from couch to couch, trying to survive poverty, violence, and schools that did not prepare them to reach their full potential. Job Corps didn’t just give them a second chance. It gave them their first real one.
Now, they’re taking it away.
Trump’s proposal slashes every last dollar from the program’s federal budget, and the so-called “pause” in operations is really a full stop. Nearly 100 centers will be shut down. That’s where most of the 25,000 students currently enrolled live and learn. Only 24 centers run by the USDA will remain open. The rest of these young people? They’ll be thrown to the streets.
Let’s be real, this isn’t a “budget decision.” This is a targeted attack on poor, Black, brown, and rural youth, the very communities I’ve spent my life organizing alongside. The kids who already got told by the system that they weren’t worth the investment.
We’ve stood in the rooms where a Job Corps recruiter helped a 17-year-old believe in himself for the first time. We’ve watched mothers cry tears of relief because their child had a place to live, a way to earn a trade, and a future to look forward to. We’ve seen young women escape violence and young men find purpose. And we’ve witnessed what happens when a young person finally hears someone say, “We got your back.” and mean it!
And now? That’s being ripped away with no plan, no warning, and no care.
The outrage is bipartisan, and it should be. Senator Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, called Job Corps “critical” for disadvantaged youth. Congressman Bobby Scott, Democrat from Virginia, didn’t sugarcoat it: “These are not pauses… these centers will cease to operate and will have to kick at-risk youth off their campuses, many of whom are homeless or in foster care and have nowhere else to go.”
Exactly. This isn’t about saving money. It’s about abandoning our young people.
I’m not saying Job Corps is perfect. None of our systems are. But you don’t fix a leaking pipe by blowing up the whole house. Could we make Job Corps better? Absolutely. It needs stronger outcomes, more support for mental health, and a deeper commitment to student success. But shutting it down completely, especially with no replacement in place, that’s not reform. That’s destruction.
Job Corps has served over 2 million young people since 1964. It’s trained them in essential trades: carpentry, welding, health care, culinary arts, IT. It’s one of the few places where a kid from a broken system can find stability, housing, food, counseling, and the skills to get a real job. You don’t just pull the plug on that and pretend the rest of the world will catch them. It won’t.
Without Job Corps, we’re going to see a surge in homelessness. A rise in unemployment. A greater burden on Medicaid, SNAP, shelters, and other systems already stretched thin. And we’ll be right back where we started – blaming kids for “failing” in a world that never gave them a fair shot.
Let’s be honest about the message this sends: that these young people, our young people, are disposable. That their growth doesn’t matter. That their survival isn’t worth the cost.
We won’t stand for it. We’ve fought too hard, for too long, alongside too many brilliant young people who were told they’d never make it – only to watch them prove everybody wrong because someone finally gave them the tools to do so.
If we want to talk about solutions, let’s talk about the Strengthening Job Corps Act of 2025. That’s the roadmap. It’s about improving, not erasing, the program. It brings accountability, better recruitment, stronger student support. It’s the kind of serious investment our kids need and deserve.
We don’t need a pause. We need a promise. A promise that we won’t turn our backs on the youth who need us most.
Because how we treat the most vulnerable says everything about who we are. And right now, this administration is sending a message loud and clear:
If you’re poor, if you’re Black or brown, if you’ve been through hell and are still trying to rise – we don’t care.
Well, I do. We do. And we’re not going to be quiet about it.
Not now. Not ever.
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With more than 1,800 affiliated parent organizations in all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, the National Parents Union is the united, independent voice of modern American families. We channel the power of parents into powerful policies that improve the lives of children, families and communities across the United States. https://nationalparentsunion.org/