‘A tough way of leaving’: Maui Job Corps students and staff say emotional goodbyes amid federal closure

After nearly three decades of helping Maui’s youth chart a better future, Dr. David Wittenberg walked off the Maui Job Corps campus for what might have been the last time.

“I think today was my last official day there,” he said. “It’s a tough way of leaving after spending so much time there.”

For 27 years, Wittenberg worked as the center’s mental health consultant—part-time, just a day and a half each week—but long enough to become a cornerstone of the program. On Friday, he found himself doing something he never expected: hugging staff, comforting students and helping them gather mental health resources as the program winds down. The official closure date is June 30, but most students are expected to leave by Monday.

“There’s a lot of tears and a lot of sadness,” Wittenberg said. “I know how successful our programs have been here. It’s helped so many youth in Maui County. I’m sad for the students. I’m sad for Maui County. And I’m actually sad for the nation. This is a program that really works.”

The Hawaii Job Corps centers, including Maui’s Makawao campus and Oʻahu’s Waimānalo campus, are operated by Management & Training Corporation under a federal contract. Unlike 24 Job Corps campuses operated directly by the US Forest Service—which appear to be continuing uninterrupted—the privately contracted campuses are being “paused,” according to the US Department of Labor. Staff were informed just days before the news became public.

The abrupt nature of the closure has added to the emotional toll. Nurses are preparing to pack up confidential charts. Staff are sorting through decades of materials and mementos. Wittenberg said many staff members, some of whom have worked at the center for close to 30 years, were in dismay.

“I haven’t even been able to fully process it because I’ve been trying to help the staff and students,” he said. “I’m just going to go home and take a walk, try to figure it out.”

Wittenberg said the campus is being shut down just as quickly as the announcement came. While some students still needed to arrange flights or living situations, most will be gone in a matter of days. Staff will remain to box up materials, with some potentially staying through the end of June. The Maui campus has three large dormitories and the capacity to house 128 students, plus a kitchen and learning facilities.

“If nothing else, I hope this campus gets used for people who need homes,” Wittenberg said. “It’s a good dormitory. It should be used for something worthwhile.”

The longtime mental health consultant is now urging the public to advocate for the program. He specifically called on Hawai‘i’s US Sens. Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz to take action.

“These are the people we need to speak to and try to advocate for Job Corps,” he said. “We just need them to do whatever they can to get some representatives to help us potentially reinstate it.”

Wittenberg, who also manages the Aloha House crisis team, Maui Counseling Group and the Aloha House case management team, said this story is his “farewell” to one of his most rewarding jobs, where he is known as “Dr. Dave.”

“I was just hugging and saying goodbye,” he said. “It’s the first day in 27 years where I didn’t have appointments—just goodbyes.”

Packing up shop — for now

Tucked away on a rural 12-acre campus in Makawao, the Maui Job Corps Center is unfamiliar to most residents, but it is the place that 50 to 60 students call home. The boarding space and program has operated on Maui since 1989, offering free education and vocational training to young adults between the ages of 16 and 24.

Some of those students are from Maui County, while others come from Micronesia under the Compact of Free Association, which allows citizens of certain Pacific nations to live and work in the US. For them, the program’s wraparound support—including housing, education, job training and healthcare—can be life-changing, said Wittenberg.

The US Department of Labor’s decision to “pause” operations at all contractor-run Job Corps sites marks the first such move in the program’s 61-year history. On Maui, the impact will have ripple effects for both students and employees.

“The students will have to find places to live. And the staff will need to find new jobs,” Wittenberg said. The Makawao center employs more than 55 people, he added.

According to the National Job Corps Association, over a third of Job Corps students nationwide face mental health challenges, and more than 4,500 have no stable home.

Political pressure builds

In a statement on Thursday, US Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said that Job Corps was found to no longer achieve “the intended outcomes that students deserve,” citing “a startling number of serious incident reports and our in-depth fiscal analysis.”

According to the DOL, the program has been operating at a multi-million-dollar deficit and was rated poorly in the department’s Employment and Training Administration’s (ETA’s) job corps transparency report.

The findings show a national graduation rate of just 38.6%, average cost per graduate of $155,600 and 14,913 safety-related infractions in Program Year 2023. The full DOL statement can be viewed here.

However, Hawaiʻi’s two Job Corps campuses—on Maui and Oʻahu—rank among the top nationally. In Program Year 2023, the year studied by the ETA, Hawaiʻi Job Corps graduation rate was 63.5% by WIOA standards (No. 2 in the nation). The average cost per graduate was $34,088 (lowest in the nation).

Wittenberg called the Hawaiʻi centers a “shining star on the national level.”

According to US Rep. Jill Tokuda, D-Hawaiʻi, over 80% of Hawaiʻi’s 2024 graduates are employed, enrolled in college or had military plans within six months. Their average wage: $17.87 per hour, significantly above the state and federal minimum wage.

Tokuda was among those who swiftly condemned the DOL’s decision.

“I am outraged by the Department of Labor’s reckless decision to halt operations at Job Corps centers, a lifeline for young people in Hawaiʻi and across the country,” she said in a statement Thursday. “This isn’t budget management; it’s a betrayal. Job Corps works.”

She pointed to the program’s role during Maui’s wildfire crisis, when students helped distribute aid and assist the community. “We should be investing more in Job Corps, not gutting it,” she said. “Our youth deserve opportunity, not abandonment.”

A broader history of scrutiny

Established under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, Job Corps is the largest federally funded job-training program administered by the US Department of Labor. With an annual budget of $1.7 billion as of 2014 and 2018, the program operates more than 120 centers across the United States and Puerto Rico, serving between 37,000 and 60,000 young adults each year.

Tuition is free. To qualify, students must meet low-income criteria and face at least one barrier to education or employment—such as low literacy, homelessness, or involvement with the foster care or justice system. Job Corps also provides housing, meals, a small allowance, uniforms, books, supplies, and medical and dental care.

Despite what it offers, the program has long faced scrutiny. Since the late 1990s, multiple audits and investigations have questioned its safety and cost-effectiveness, though bipartisan support in Congress has kept it afloat.

In 2020, COVID-19 dealt a blow to its effectiveness: Physical campuses shuttered and the shift to online education reportedly caused nationwide enrollment to plummet.

On Maui, the pandemic slashed in half the number of students served at the Hawaiʻi Job Corps Center. Prior to it, the Maui campus was nearing its capacity of 128 students.

Despite those challenges, Wittenberg says the Maui center was on the road to recovery—until now.

He hopes the community won’t let the program disappear quietly.

“What I’m worried about is (that) programs go down if people just stay silent,” he said. “It’s really important for people to say something.”

To learn more about supporting Job Corps, visit savejobcorps.com.