Ottumwa Job Corps program, training 240 at-risk youth, faces Trump axe

Despite its success, Ottumwa Job Corps is among the 99 programs the Trump Administration is shutting down. The closure eliminates over 100 jobs in small town Iowa, displacing the 240 at-risk youths served by the program.

When Ajai Long finished high school, she found herself spiraling. Instability at home led her to couch-hop. Couch-hopping left her feeling rootless.

“I knew I didn’t want to go the way I was,” Long said.

She spoke with a friend who told her about a program in Ottumwa. She’d have a place to stay and food to eat. And in the end, the program promised she’d have the skills to build a career. 

Ottumwa Job Corps is one of 99 sites across the country serving over 25,000 vulnerable young adults. The program was created in the ‘60s under President Lyndon B. Johnson as part of his “War on Poverty.” For decades, it has offered free education and vocational training for at-risk youth ages 16 to 24. 

Long studied medical office business support and even received college credit as part of the program. But the program was also the first time she had access to regular dental checks and treatment for her depression. 

“I liked being able to have a safe place to live,” Long said. “I didn’t have to worry about food, about bills. I could just focus on my mental health.”

Despite being funded by Congress into the next fiscal year, President Donald Trump’s Department of Labor (DOL) announced in May that the program would be paused. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer announced a “phased pause” following the release of a report showing troubling performance and financial data. 

The program operated at a $140 million deficit in 2024 with projected deficits reaching $213 million in 2025. The average annual cost of $80,284 per person, per the report. According to the pause announcement, the department calculated that graduates cost taxpayers an average of $155,600 each, yet earn only $16,695 annually after leaving the program. 

Citing low graduation rates and high cost per student, they terminated the program’s contractors that run each facility. The order gave Job Corps sites less than a month to help students find a new placement. For Ottumwa that meant 247 students were left in the lurch. 

The move was particularly surprising to staff and community members in Ottumwa who often bragged about the facility’s 94% job placement rate, and its $30 million facility that the federal government built in 2011 on land Indian Hills Community College donated. 

Ottumwa Mayor Rick Johnson said he’s worried about homelessness among the students and how the 125 jobs lost will impact the community. 

“It has a domino effect. It’s an economic driver for our community, but it will be an economic blow not just to the students but also to our community at large,” Johnson said. 

Republican state Rep. Hans Wilz of Ottumwa said he was aware of the issues the DOL report revealed about other Job Corps sites. But he said the nation should have looked to Ottumwa for an example of how to do it right, not shut the program down in one fell swoop.

“They are really good kids that made a mistake or came from a tough situation,” Wilz said. “But they were deciding to break the chain of generational poverty. That’s long term savings for the state, for the federal government. That’s the return on investment we’re looking for. I fell in love with the program because it worked.”

US District Judge Andrew L. Carter, Jr. issued temporary restraining orders on June 4, 2025, blocking the closure after finding the administration likely exceeded its statutory authority. Two lawsuits have challenged the pause, with legal arguments centering on separation of powers and administrative law violations.

Governor Kim Reynolds has assembled a four-agency task force to explore alternatives for displaced students. However, no Iowa program replicates Job Corps’ comprehensive residential model. 

“Everyone comes from different walks of life,” Ajai Long said. “Some are born with the upper hand. Some walk through life and earn that upper hand. Some people just need a breakthrough and Job Corps provides that. It creates a breakthrough. I was an adult, and I needed a place to get to know myself again. To develop my independence, my life skills. Taking this away is taking away that start, that structure, that stability they need.”