The U.S. Department of Labor’s decision to “pause” all contractor-run Job Corps centers, effectively shutting them down, is a devastating blow to the Ottumwa community. It’s also a glaring example of federal leadership abandoning successful, long-term investment for short-term optics.
Let’s be clear: no program is perfect. The desire to eliminate inefficiencies and reduce deficits resonates across party lines for good reason. When done right, efforts to ensure government programs deliver maximum impact should be applauded. But that’s not what is happening here.
This is a program with documented successes being discarded to save fractions of a penny in the grand scheme of the federal budget. Whatever savings result will pale in comparison to the long-term societal costs of ending it.
In Ottumwa, Job Corps was not a liability. It was a model of success. Serving 33 counties in the region, the center consistently ranked among the top nationwide for job placement. It maintained strong partnerships with local employers and Indian Hills Community College. It trained young adults in fields such as health care and information technology. This program provided real life-changing opportunities to some of our most at-risk children and young adults.
The federal government claims the program’s costs are too high, citing an average of $80,000 per student annually. But the cost of doing nothing is far greater. That $80,000 is a worthwhile investment when it helps lift young people out of poverty by providing structure, direction and opportunity.
Programs like Job Corps are an investment. What message do we send when we abandon programs that offer young adults the tools to succeed, not through handouts but through hard work and hands-on training? What good does creating jobs do if we won’t invest in preparing people to fill them?
Cutting off the opportunity Job Corps provides, especially in rural areas like southeast Iowa, isn’t just poor policy. It’s a moral failure.
The 195 students still enrolled at the Ottumwa center have been given mere days to leave. More than 100 staff members will lose their jobs at the end of the month. And for what? A vague promise of reevaluation and a faint hope that someone, somewhere, might come up with an alternative. The government’s announcement offered no tangible details.
We hope this is not the end. We urge readers to raise their voices and contact their elected officials to demand this program be reinstated.
In the meantime, we offer our deepest thanks to the staff who dedicated themselves to bettering young lives in our region. While today’s administration may not see the value in that work, we have seen it first hand — and we know this community is better because of it.