99 Job Corps centers, including Clearfield's, to stay open as settlement is reached

CLEARFIELD — The U.S. Department of Labor has reached a settlement in the dispute over the future of the Job Corps program that leaves the 99 Job Corps centers around the country, including one in Clearfield, intact.

Monday's agreement, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., "protects all 99 centers and rescinds those termination notices — a significant win for the students and staff who've spent over a year in limbo," Public Citizen said in a statement. Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group, helped represent the Job Corps students who had sued the Department of Labor over its plans, announced last year, to shutter the operations.

The operator of the Clearfield program, Centerville-based Management and Training Corp., or MTC, welcomed the news. Company officials "fully support the Department of Labor's anticipated withdrawal of its previously issued stop work and termination notices and look forward to the continued operation of the Clearfield Job Corps Center for years to come," according to an MTC statement.

Department of Labor officials didn't immediately respond to a query on Tuesday seeking comment.

The Department of Labor announced in May 2025 that it would shutter 99 contractor-operated Job Corps operations around the country, including the Clearfield program, as the administration of President Donald Trump pursued aggressive cost-cutting initiatives. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer at the time said the program was "no longer achieving the intended outcomes that students deserve."

Students in the Clearfield Job Corps center lamented the move, later stalled after legal efforts emerged to halt the initiative. Now, the Trump administration has agreed to end its moves to close the 99 operations as part of a settlement with the seven students who challenged the effort.

"This settlement shows that the suspension of the Job Corps program was a critical mistake that threatened the futures of thousands of young people," said Aaron Fleisher, senior supervising attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center, which worked with Public Citizen in representing the students.

Job Corps, a federal program, provides vocational training to teens and young adults from low-income backgrounds, some of whom are battling homelessness. The Clearfield program has typically served 800 to 1,000 students at a time, and it is continually accepting applications from those in the target age group, 16-24 years old.

"Congress has provided funding for the Job Corps program to continue operations. We are pleased Congress continues to support the program," reads the MTC statement.

Correction: This story has been updated to use the correct acronym for Management and Training Corp., MTC, not MCT.

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