Dayton Job Corps graduate Cyanna Thornton said the program was a safe haven to many students she knew while studying in the program. She attended in 2012 and 2013 with her mother’s blessing, but some of her classmates and friends were fleeing dangerous circumstances.
“People were running from so much to be at Job Corps,” she said. “So many people didn’t have a place to go home to. Or if they did, it wasn’t the place that was best for them.”
Job Corps is the largest residential career and education program in the nation, serving more than 25,000 people ages 16-24 by providing hands-on job training.
Ohio is home to three Job Corps centers in Dayton, Cleveland and Cincinnati. According to federal data from 2023, the most recent year available, 211 students were enrolled in Dayton’s Job Corps program.
Federal review
U.S. Labor Department Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer in a press release said that after a review by the department, federal officials determined that Job Corps is “no longer achieving the intended outcomes that students deserve.”
The federal analysis states that nationally, the average graduation rate for the program in 2023 sat at nearly 39%. The federal review also included that 14,913 serious incident infractions were reported nationwide during that same program year — nearly 60 of these were connected to the Dayton center.
Thornton said the federal analysis paints a different picture than what she experienced. Students all studied under certain trade tracts. Hers was culinary arts, and she spent much of her time either working at local places that align with that career interest or studying for her GED.
Her nickname at the Gettysburg Avenue center was “Baby Face.” When she graduated, Thornton’s roommate and other friends signed certificates she received while studying in the way that public school kids sign yearbooks.
“I 100% of the time felt safe at Job Corps,” she said. “And I feel like they gave me the tools to figure things out on my own.”
Concerns for students’ futures
Other Job Corps advocates have criticized the federal report, saying the figures in it lack context.
Both Job Corps enrollment and graduation rates were suppressed by COVID-19 impacts, according to the National Job Corps Association, a national trade organization representing Job Corps campuses. That group asserts that historically, Job Corps graduation rates have been roughly 60% on average.
Job Corps centers are also required to report incidents as minor as being late to class or using profanity to the labor department, and this has hyperinflated statistics related to incident reports. NJCA estimated that 98% of reported incidents are minor instances.
NJCA leaders have also voiced concern over what’s to come for students and staff at centers across the United States.
“Job Corps has transformed the lives of millions of Americans,” said Donna Hay, president and CEO of the National Job Corps Association. “This decision, based on a deeply flawed report, needlessly endangers the futures and the lives of thousands and potentially millions more young Americans.”
More than 4,500 students were homeless before joining Job Corps. That figure amounts to 20% of current students, but it could be as high as 50% at some campuses, according to the NJCA.
Life and job skills
Now a mother and a real estate agent, Thornton said she wouldn’t be the person she is today without the Job Corps program.
Job Corps students learn skills they’ll need regardless of what jobs they work, Thornton said: creating a resume, making a good impression during a job interview and more. For some young people, Job Corps was also a place to learn self-discipline, time management and cleanliness.
Thornton said she feels the closure of Job Corps will “uproot” young people who may be very close to success or who may have developed meaningful connections.
When visiting the Dayton Job Corps Center on Friday, she was first greeted by a former teacher who immediately remembered her being a “good student.”
“We kind of form our own families here,” Thornton said. “Teachers are called ‘Mom.’ People call other students ‘brother,’ ‘sister.’ It’s a community.”
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