Trump's Job Corps shutdown spurs Innamorato to form 'federal disruption' task force

Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato on Thursday signed an executive order creating a “federal disruption response team” to provide support for people impacted by President Donald Trump’s job and funding cuts or other rapid changes.

“We’ve seen so many times this year, the Trump administration seems committed to chaos and cruelty in their governing style, and it’s often targeting people with the least means to protect themselves,” Innamorato said.

Innamorato made her remarks standing outside of the U.S. Job Corps center in Pittsburgh’s Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar neighborhood. The center helps low-income teenagers and young adults get an education and find employment. It also provides housing.

The 465 students who rely on the program found out last week that the U.S. Department of Labor is pausing operations at Pittsburgh’s U.S. Job Corps center and others throughout the nation, affecting about 25,000 students at 99 locations.

That announcement, Innamorato said, is what spurred the creation of the new county task force she announced Thursday.

The team will include representatives from various county departments, Community College of Allegheny County, Partner4Work, organized labor and private business. Elected officials at other levels of government may also be invited to join.

The federal disruption response team is tasked with assessing the impact of cuts to programs like the U.S. Job Corps and coordinating rapid responses to help affected individuals find training, employment, housing and other services.

The team will create a plan for restoring funding or mitigating the impact of federal cuts.

Innamorato said the county had informally been taking a similar approach to other cuts the Trump administration has proposed, but the Job Corps closure inspired her to formalize the effort so officials will be ready to respond to future changes from the federal government.

“There is no replacement in local tax dollars to replace cuts from the federal government, so we have to mobilize and we have to think creatively in this moment,” Innamorato said, adding she hopes philanthropic and private business partners will help fill the voids.

Federal officials said the closure of 99 Job Corps sites nationwide came after the program last year operated at a $140 million deficit, a figure that is projected to grow to $213 million this year.

An April report from the Labor Department showed the average graduation rate from the program was under 39% and it cost, on average, more than $80,000 per year for each student.

Federal data showed the Pittsburgh center spent about $36,000 per student each year and saw a graduation rate of just over 50% as of 2023.

The Labor Department also released statistics showing 1,764 reported acts of violence, 1,167 breaches of safety, 2,702 reports of drug use, 1,808 hospital visits and 372 reports of inappropriate sexual behavior and sexual assaults in 2023.

The Pittsburgh site, according to federal data, reported 234 “total infractions” in 2023. Other sites reported between 20 and 633.

Cara Cruz, a Pittsburgh public safety spokeswoman, told TribLive the city received 911 calls from the Job Corps center 42 times last year and 19 times so far this year.

There was one arrest at that address last year for an outstanding warrant, though that individual faced extra charges after resisting arrest. No one has been arrested at that address so far this year, Cruz said.

“Job Corps was created to help young adults build a pathway to a better life through education, training, and community,” Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said in a statement. “However, a startling number of serious incident reports and our in-depth fiscal analysis reveal the program is no longer achieving the intended outcomes that students deserve.”

At a press conference outside of the Pittsburgh location Thursday, officials pushed back.

“It is our duty as Americans to take care of our youth or we’re nothing,” said Darrin Kelly, president of the Allegheny/Fayette Central Labor Council. “We have always recruited such great workers out of the Job Corps, people that just wanted a chance.”

Organizations like Pittsburgh-based Partner4Work, which aims to bolster job opportunities, will help impacted students transition to other training and employment opportunities, said Partner4Work CEO Rob Cherry.

“These young men and women didn’t deserve this horrific decision that was made to try to end their transition to success in our society,” County Councilman DeWitt Walton, D-Hill District, said. “They’re doing the things on a daily basis to change the trajectory of their lives.”

Allegheny County Department of Human Services Director Erin Dalton said the county has transitioned kids from foster care and homelessness to programs like Job Corps. This program, she said, was unique because it offered a combination of training and employment opportunities as well as housing.

“We will be here — even if the federal government is not — to support these young people,” Dalton said.