ARTIST KAT CLEAR CONSULTS with Northlands Job Corps welding student Juan Arroyo Parra as they fabricate the pieces of “Flower Stop,” an art installation mounted at the Tri-Valley Transit bus stop on Green Street in Vergennes in 2024.
Photo courtesy of the Vergennes Partnership

VERGENNES — A federal judge on Wednesday, June 4, issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against the U.S. Department of Labor and its Secretary, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, that prevents — at least for now — the DOL from closing 99 contractor-operated Job Corps Centers across the nation.

That list includes the Northlands Job Corps Center in Vergennes, which employs 110 and now serves about 150 students.

Chavez-DeRemer had on May 29 ordered those centers to close by June 30. Her order alleged poor center performance, behavioral problems among students, and “significant financial challenges” leading to a national program deficit of $213 million. 

But on June 4, Judge Andrew Carter Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted the request for a TRO filed by the National Job Corps Association. That association includes Education and Training Resources LLC (ETR), the Kentucky firm that contracts with the DOL to operate Northlands and 10 other Job Corps centers.

In a one-page decision, Carter also ordered the DOL to appear before the Southern N.Y. District Court on June 17 “to show cause why a preliminary injunction should not issue” from the court that would further stall the DOL’s effort to shutter the 99 centers. Those contractor-operator centers are among the 120 nationwide offering tuition-free job training to economically disadvantaged youths between the ages of 16 and 24.

Northlands Center Director Michael Dooley explained what’s next in an email to the Independent: 

“The next step in our case will be a preliminary injunction hearing on June 17. A preliminary injunction is fundamentally like a temporary restraining order, but substantially longer-term,” he wrote. “It is temporary, but it can remain in place until the whole case is resolved, which can take a long time. If we win at the preliminary injunction stage, the June 30 termination date provided by DOL will become moot (not applicable) — because even though the preliminary injunction is temporary, it would last beyond June 30.”

The Job Corps program had always enjoyed broad-based bipartisan support until the Trump Administration took office in January and has aggressively slashed programs, its officials claim, at times with dubious evidence, are wasteful or unnecessary.

In a follow-up interview with the Independent, Dooley questioned some of the evidence that the DOL used to justify the shutdown order. He said some of the low graduation rates the DOL cited are out of date and at least unfairly compiled. 

He claimed the numbers unfairly include the pandemic years, when enrollment dipped substantially, and also include all those who show up at a center and then quickly quit, sometimes because they are among the 50% of Job Corps students with mental health or “developmental delays” and “find group living stressful.”

“… every single kid who steps through our door gets counted in those totals to get a graduate percentage,” he said. “If you take (the kids who stay) 30 days or 60 days, then those numbers skyrocket.”  

The DOL order cited a 35% graduation rate, while Dooley said, “Historically it’s closer to 60%.”  

He offered a history of Northlands enrollment as a snapshot. Before COVID, the center enrollment — which is rolling, with new students arriving and graduating weekly — had climbed to average about 210 out of a maximum of 220. 

During COVID enrollment dipped drastically, but had grown back to 165 — and climbing, per Dooley — earlier this year. But then the DOL began in March refusing to process applicants’ background checks, reducing new enrollment to a trickle.  

Previously, the DOL had been working to fill centers, Dooley said.

“They understood the cost per student was too high, and we had to fill up,” he said, reiterating that per-pupil costs look bad because of the low enrollment numbers and the inclusion of the COVID-era figures. 

It’s also worth noting Northlands ranks No. 1 among Job Corps centers at finding its graduates jobs in their fields of study, and in their retaining those jobs after six months and a year at good rates of pay, according to center officials. 

Northlands also averages a 30% rate of Vermont students, more than double the percentage of previous operators of the center. Dooley said ETR made that a point of emphasis, a goal stated by previous center operators that went unfulfilled.

LOCAL BENEFITS

ETR’s tenure has also been welcome in Vergennes, according to Mayor Chris Bearor. 

Bearor praised Dooley’s outreach to city officials. 

“He has been great to work with,” the mayor said.

Bearor also listed civic contributions from Northlands students, including food and beverages provided and served at city meetings, bike racks made and installed in city parks, and a downtown bus stop made and installed.

“They’re helping us out with a lot of little things,” he said. 

And after lax discipline under previous operators meant regular police visits, Northlands has been quiet under ETR, Bearor said. 

“It’s been a lot calmer,” he said. “There’s not been a lot of draw on the police services.”

Bearor said there are no plans for the city council to make a formal statement on Northlands, but city officials have asked Vermont’s Congressional delegation to back the Job Corps center.

“I have, and I know other council members have,” Bearor said.

Phil Summers, executive director of the Addison County Chamber of Commerce, discussed with the Independent the impact of a potential Northlands closure on its workforce and students, and the center’s benefits to the business community 

“I think they are equally important. Not only will we lose local jobs, but the opportunity for graduates to become residents employed by Addison County businesses,” he said.  

Summers said Northlands is “absolutely” achieving positive outcomes for its students.

“I personally have had the opportunity to meet with many of their students over the last several years and have been impressed with their level of professionalism and knowledge,” he said.

LOOKING AHEAD

Dooley acknowledged uncertainty remains. 

“What I hope comes from this temporary restraining order is that they make (the DOL) start bringing in students again,” he said.

But he at the same time, he acknowledged recruits who had signed on earlier this year might have already moved on to different paths.

Then there are questions about the 63-acre state-owned property, which has been leased to the DOL for the Job Corps program since 1979. The DOL in turn has contracted with private firms to run Northlands. Dooley wondered what would be next if ETR had to pull up stakes. 

“What happens if we leave, if we walk out? Who’s going to cut the grass? I don’t think it automatically reverts to the state. I think we still have the lease,” he said. 

And Dooley wondered what would happen to the students, especially the 50% with challenges that Job Corps centers help with social skills as well as career training. 

Other students are homeless, including around two dozen at Northlands students who might “have nowhere to go,” according to Dooley.

“That’s another void we’re filling,” he said.

And what if the DOL simply ignored a court order, something not unprecedented in the Trump Administration?

Dooley was asked what would happen if the DOL still refused to process background checks on prospective students.

“That’s the hard thing. We don’t know,” he said “The TRO says … Congress has to decide this. So we’re funded through the next program year, and Congress can then decide to cut our funding next year, or say that they’re going to shut down the program next year. And I think that’s a big part of the lawsuit, that you can’t just wave a wand and say, ‘I’m stopping this,’ Part of it is using the appropriate appropriations process.”

But he can point to the longstanding bipartisan support for the program since it was founded 61 years ago, especially in the Senate, and said cutting Job Corps would be “incredibly shortsighted.”

“One of the administration’s stated goals is to make America skilled again,” Dooley said. “We’ve been making America skilled since 1964.”