SIATech High Schools learned today that the Department of Labor has decided to put the Job Corps program on a "phased pause" nationwide going into effect on June 30, 2025. This could impact the six Job Corps centers in California where SIATech high school serves more than 600 students. We receive this news with a heavy heart. SIATech has worked in partnership with Job Corps since our high school's inception in 1998, and it is unfortunate that more consideration has not been given to this sudden pause.
Upon learning that a charter high school existed that wanted to help students who needed it the most, the first Job Corps center to reach out to SIATech was the Inland Empire Job Corps in San Bernardino. At the time, SIATech was a program under Guajome Park Academy, and its leadership enthusiastically embraced the challenge of how to serve students who were on a Department of Labor campus designed to give them job skills. In 1998, the two teams arranged to have the charter high school use a couple classrooms on the Job Corps center to dedicate to helping students earn a fully accredited high school diploma. On average, students who enroll with SIATech have been out of school for 18 months. Prior to coming to Job Corps and SIATech, these students were often not working and not going to school. Some scholars have called these young people "opportunity youth," in the sense that many life circumstances were keeping them from reaching their full potential. SIATech, along with many other exemplary programs that also focus on opportunity youth, have been honored to help thousands of youth receive the education they needed to earn a diploma and go on to higher paying jobs and career opportunities to benefit themselves, their families, and their communities.
As the School for Integrated Academics and Technologies (SIATech), our high school strives to provide instruction that complements the incredible job training the Job Corps trainees receive from Job Corps. For example, one Job Corps trade area is culinary. These students go on to be placed in hotels, restaurants, and other important culinary locations across the country. SIATech created a customized curriculum that would emphasize mathematical measurements to help students master the skills to do the calculations needed to make a simple recipe feed thousands. The centers have gardens where students learn about farm-to-table culinary practices. Students finish the culinary program ready to enter the workforce, equipped with academic, job, and soft skills to succeed.
Job training at Job Corps has also evolved to meet surrounding areas' needs. Trade offerings are based upon the industries of the communities in which it serves students, which has created an exciting atmosphere to learn skills that truly help students be in demand to work. In some cases students skill up to a point where they can directly enter into apprenticeships and job placements, so are even able to leave the program early. In the recent report commenting on graduation rates, these early job placements may not be included as students leave the Job Corps program to go straight into work rather than staying in Job Corps. As trade offerings changed, so did SIATech. Our high school has adapted over the years to help Job Corps get students ready for careers in automotive, construction, plumbing, electrical, office work, and more.
One innovation of the Job Corps program, which was initiated in the 1960s by President Lyndon B. Johnson as part of his War on Poverty initiative, is that it emphasizes partnerships between public organizations and private companies. Contracts to run each Job Corps centers are regularly bid on by private, profit-driven companies. Enrollees to Job Corps must be US citizens and also undergo a background check before they are admitted into this well-established and highly-praised federal program.
SIATech, as a nonprofit public charter high school, has been offered to be the high school diploma component every year since it first started in 1998. This is an indicator of how SIATech has worked effectively and efficiently with many different public contractors to provide educational services to youth in need.
SIATech is an independent nonprofit charter high school and the Department of Labor does not pay SIATech to operate on its Job Corps centers. Instead, SIATech charter high school receives funding from the state of California to educate students to receive a state-recognized high school diploma. SIATech operates at a high level of efficiency and effectiveness by providing credentialed high-quality teachers to deliver an excellent classroom-based education. Nearly 20,000 young people have graduated from SIATech high schools over its 25 years of existence.
The announcement today that Job Corps is pausing services as of June 30, 2025, means that the thousands of young people that Job Corps serves will be displaced. In most cases, these youth live on the Job Corps campuses in dorms and do not have stable housing to which to return. It is tragic that the program is being paused without adequate preparation to transition these students. However, SIATech is here to help.
Keep on Your Education. We hope the young people displaced by the Job Corps pause choose to continue with SIATech at one of our eight independent study high school locations. All of our independent study schools operate a summer schedule and welcome new student enrollees throughout the school year. Students can reach out anytime to our Student Interest Form to request more information on a location near them. They can also check out the Steps to Enroll to see what is needed to get started in this free high school program.
Reach out for Services. If students are experiencing stress due to being unhoused, are looking for places to go for food, or other wraparound services, please check out our Resources page for services in your area. SIATech is also available by phone and by text at (888) 621-0309.
Request for Community Assistance. To learn more about the SIATech and Job Corps history, or to learn more about how you might support SIATech students displaced by the Job Corps pause, please email us at info@siatech.org.
