Natalie Edwards found a sense of security at the Northlands Job Corps Center — but now that lifeline is set to close its doors along with dozens of other job centers across the country.
After a childhood marked by abuse and addiction in the home, Edwards spent years trying to pull herself out of the cycle of instability. At 15, she entered rehab for substance use disorder for the first time. That same year, she was removed from the care of her mother, thrust into Missouri’s foster care system, and later tried — but then dropped out of — community college in Maine.
“I just didn’t really have stability,” Edwards said. “I didn’t have the type of lifestyle around me at that time to feel safe.”
It wasn’t until her aunt suggested she move to Vermont that things began to shift.
“I messaged my aunt, and she told me I could move up to Vermont with her, and she suggested I come to Northlands,” she said.
This is how Edwards became one of about 150 students now living on Northland’s flat, stately green campus, located just north of Vermont’s iconic Vergennes Falls.
The Vergennes-based chapter of the Job Corps, a nationwide network of vocational schools, could cease to exist at the end of June, following a recent order by the U.S. Department of Labor to “pause” all ongoing operations across the country. However, the department’s order is not going unchallenged, with contractors who run Job Corps programs suing to keep the program alive.
The order coincides with President Donald Trump’s “Make America Skilled Again” plan, which seeks to replace the program with a “cost-effective” alternative — a $2.6 billion grant program that emphasizes registered apprenticeships over federal programming.
Since its inception in 1964, the Job Corps has been dedicated to training low-income young people ages 16 to 24 in a medley of primarily blue-collar professions like welding and urban forestry. The program provides room and board and an education to its participants for free.
As part of the tentative ending of the program, Job Corps staff are mandated to return students safely to their “home of record.” However, Northlands Director Michael Dooley said not all Northlands students have a home to return to.
“There’s about two dozen students that are unhoused. … Sadly, some of them we may actually be just taking to a homeless shelter.”
Dooley said he’s scared his students — all working class young adults — are losing a lifeline.
“The impact of providing a safe, stable environment on somebody who hasn’t had one is enormous,” he said. “A lot of our students are going back to pretty terrible home lives and home situations.”
Northlands is the top Job Corps center in job placement outcomes in the country, according to a paper copy of the rankings provided by Dooley. The Department of Labor has redirected a rankings webpage — alongside several other informational webpages — to a resource page for existing Job Corps graduates.
Part of Northland’s strategy for readying students for the job market is its work-based learning programs, where students work directly for local businesses across Vermont. Several of these students work in Vergennes, and if the Job Corps program ends, Vermont’s smallest city is poised to lose one of its biggest employers.
Susan Magill has lived in Vergennes for over 40 years, arriving a few months before Northlands first opened in June 1979. She serves as a career technical manager for Northlands, and says the school has brought positive change to the city.
“We have students that are always out in the community doing something,” she said, noting students’ welding and tree removal work for Vergennes as examples of the harmony between the city and Northlands.
Ron Redmond, Vergennes’ city manager, agreed.
“It’s a very well-run organization, in my experience,” Redmond said. “I think the tough part for us is that we have students who have contributed to the downtown. There’s a welding program that we worked with, they’ve built bike racks, and an art project.”
The art project is “Flower Stop,” a sculpture built around a bus stop made by artist Kat Clear in collaboration with Northlands welding students.
For Redmond, one uncertainty is how Northlands’ closure is going to impact Vergennes.
“There is gonna be an economic impact, we’ll have to wait and see,” he said.
Dooley estimated that Northlands contributes around $2.5 million to the local economy, and said he’s worried that its closing could have a big effect.
“You’ve got the money the center is spending and putting into the local economy, the program itself, plus the students and local staff that are buying gas, buying coffee, buying lunch. I don’t think anybody’s thought that through, really,” he said.
Despite the economic uncertainty, the impact Northlands has had on the lives of students like Edwards is clearer.
Edwards recently started working at Vergennes Grand Senior Living, and was looking forward to renting her own apartment after completing Northlands’ certified medical assistance program.
“Helping people. I think that’s what draws me towards it,” she said.
At Northlands, Edwards said she’s found “a lot of stability. … It’s like a big family here. We all look out for each other.”
But she said the feeling of Northlands shutting down and her aspirations being curbed is “heartbreaking. It’s absolutely horrible.”
