A New York-based federal judge extended until Wednesday, June 25, his order temporarily blocking the U.S. Department of Labor from shutting down its Job Corps training program for low-income young adults.
Judge Andrew L. Carter of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ordered the extension at a hearing June 17. The action extends a temporary restraining order issued by the judge earlier this month that requires the Department of Labor to keep open all 99 training centers operated under contract with the agency, including the Shriver Job Corps Center in Devens. The order is in response to a suit filed by the Job Corps Association, four Job Corps contractors, a student, and the Transportation Communications Union/IAM calling for a permanent injunction against the closings, which were ordered by the Department of Labor on May 29. As this issue of the Press was being assembled, Judge Carter had not yet set a date to continue his hearing of the case.
The Shriver Job Corps Center is located in the state-governed Devens Regional Enterprise Zone, but the campus is owned by the United States and leased to the U.S. Department of Labor, according to a spokesperson at MassDevelopment, the state agency that governs and oversees redevelopment of the former U.S. Army base. The Shriver center employs more than 100 instructors, dorm supervisors, and administrative and support personnel, according to those familiar with its operation.
In a statement to the Press, a MassDevelopment spokesperson wrote: “As the quasi-public agency responsible for the redevelopment of Devens, MassDevelopment knows that the community has benefited from the longtime presence of the Shriver Job Corps Center and shares the Healey-Driscoll Administration’s concerns about the impact on local students, employees, and employers should the center close.”
The center’s closure and reopening on June 4 followed the May 29 order from the U.S. Department of Labor to “pause” all 99 contractor-operated Job Corps centers nationwide by June 30 and immediately return students to their “residence of record.” Shriver stopped classes and that weekend sent home many of the 245 students enrolled at the time, according to a spokesperson who wished to remain anonymous because she was not authorized to comment. An undetermined number of students remained on campus as this story was being written.
Shriver is one of two Job Corps Centers in Central Massachusetts operated by Nevada-based Adams and Associates, which also runs the Grafton Job Corps Center. Shriver is under contract to train up to 272 residential and 28 nonresidential students at a time. Its potential closure is a shock to a region that has already lost a major regional employer with the closing of Nashoba Valley Medical Center last August.
A press conference hosted by U.S. Representatives Lori Trahan and Jim McGovern was scheduled in Devens for the afternoon of June 18 to protest its potential closure.
