CALLICOON – The Trump administration recently released the 2026 proposed discretionary budget that calls for the elimination of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Job Corps funding, calling it a “failed experiment to help America’s youth.”

This request, if approved by Congress, would result in the closure of the Delaware Valley Job Corps in Callicoon and 120 other Job Corps centers across the nation.

Yesterday morning, the United States Senate’s Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies held a hearing to learn from the Secretary of the Dept. of Labor, Lori Chavez DeRemer, the exact nature of the cuts.

Chavez-DeRemer told the subcommittee that the Dept. of Labor, as well as President Trump, are asking, “Is it sustainable?”

She said the Dept. is studying the costs for Job Corps in each and every state and how the current $1.7 billion budget is being spent.

“Can we do better?” she asked. “We have a 38 percent graduation rate and a cost of almost $50,000 per student.”

Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who is chair of the subcommittee, said, “If you cut out Job Corps you will be depriving tens of thousands the opportunity to obtain valuable skills and credentials to enter the workforce."

However, many residents of Callicoon, and Sullivan County at large, believe the Delaware Valley Job Corps has been a positive influence on the community, a good neighbor and a valuable employer and training center.

“If you remember when they first came here [in 1979] many people were a little scared of them,” former Town of Delaware Supervisor Ed Sykes of Callicoon, said. “But they turned out to be a pretty good neighbor.

“They employ a lot of people and on the whole are a real plus for the community,” Sykes said. “As a matter of fact, it was a Godsend they were here when we built the sewer system for the hamlet of Callicoon. They paid a pretty good chunk of the costs.”

Sykes also spoke highly of all the volunteer hours that students from the Delaware Valley Job Corps have spent over the years helping Callicoon and many other organizations and hamlets around the county.

“They helped the Callicoon Kiwanis at their breakfast, helped direct traffic at the Street Fair, cleaned up our community center and worked on the Callicoon Depot,” he said.

Marc Baez, President and CEO of the Sullivan County Partnership for Economic Development, said, “We are very concerned after learning that funding for Job Corps is slated to be cut. Our Delaware Valley Job Corp employs over 100 staff with a local economic impact of $18 million dollars. The loss of this large employer and the work that they do to train their students for vocational work will be devastating to Callicoon and Sullivan County. We must contact our elected federal representatives to urge them to prevent these cuts from occurring.”

Local Impact

There are currently 121 Job Corps Centers nationwide with seven located in New York State.

The Delaware Valley Job Corps has been in existance since 1979, when the federal government purchased the former St. Joseph’s Seraphic Seminary from the Franciscan Friars of Holy Name Province.

The federal government contracts with various private companies across the country to operate the various Job Corps and the Delaware Valley Job Corps is currently under contract with Adams  & Associates.