At a time when Americans are seriously concerned with providing more opportunities for those who don’t attend college, why “pause” the help provided by Job Corps, a time-tested federal program providing training and services to youth who could most use the assistance?

It may seem nonsensical, particularly to those who have seen the Hawaii program’s positive results, but the feds have ordered the two Job Corps training centers here closed by June 30, along with others nationwide. That is a mistake — shortsighted and reckless, as Hawaii’s U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda accurately states — and must be pushed back on, in the courts and at the ballot box, because the value of these “wrap-around” services for Hawaii’s youth at risk far outweighs the costs.

Refuting criticisms of ineffectiveness, Hawaii

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