After more than four decades of providing low-income and at-risk youth with academic and vocational training, St. Paul’s Hubert H. Humphrey Job Corps Center could be forced to close its doors.

The Department of Labor announced last week that it would implement a “phased pause” of the national Job Corps program, citing growing financial deficits. That move has since been temporarily blocked by a judge.

If its plan is upheld, the department would pause the program for an unknown amount of time and leave more than 150 students in St. Paul — many of whom rely on the program for stable housing and job training — suddenly displaced.

For 2025 graduate Andrew MacGregor, news of the possible closure was emotional. Bouncing between homes in Denver with no stable place to live, MacGregor moved to

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