Local advocates ask Fremont County commissioners to back Wind River Job Corps amid federal enrollment freeze

Local residents and Job Corps staff told the Fremont County Board of Commissioners during public comment that the Wind River Job Corps center is a critical workforce pipeline and needs local public support after a sequence of federal actions has frozen enrollments and threatened contract renewals.

At issue, speakers said, are federal decisions in spring 2025: a March pause on background checks for incoming enrollees and an April Department of Labor transparency report that critics say understates the program’s outcomes. Derek Baldis, a Fremont County resident, summarized the sequence and the program’s recent performance data and the legal status: “In mid‑March 2025, the Department of Labor halted background checks for all incoming enrollees. … At the May (date), the Department of Labor announced it would not be extending contracts beyond June 30, effectively shutting down 99 contract‑operated centers across the country,” Baldis said, noting that a federal temporary restraining order issued June 4 briefly halted closures and that a court hearing was set for June 17.

Baldis cited performance figures from Job Corps’ April 2025 career technical report, saying credential attainment was 84.3 percent, career technical training completion 60 percent, overall placement 85 percent, trade‑related placement 75 percent and second‑quarter earnings $8,202. He told commissioners those metrics “tell a very different story than the narrative built in the transparency report.” Baldis and other speakers said the enrollment freeze and separation directives caused centers’ onboard populations to fall, raising cost‑per‑enrollee and creating pressure to defund or close sites.

Jerry Prejean, business engagement coordinator for Wind River Job Corps, described local contributions and placement outcomes and highlighted community service performed by students. “We’ve done over 10,000 community service hours between Riverton, Lander, DuBois, Hudson, Shoshone,” Prejean said, and he noted graduates from the program now work in Fremont County and elsewhere in Wyoming.

Speakers emphasized supports Job Corps provides beyond classroom instruction — on‑site housing, meals, health and mental‑health services, transportation to worksites, career coaching and placement support — and framed the center as an alternative for young adults who are not well served by traditional high school or college pathways. Several commenters asked the commission to consider formal local action — for example, a resolution — to urge congressional or federal attention to keep the center operating.

Commissioners did not take a formal vote on a resolution at the meeting. The chair asked community members to submit proposed resolutions or letters for the commission’s consideration and said the commission could place such items on next week’s signature file or agenda for discussion. One commissioner told speakers the board would review a submitted resolution and then decide whether to act.

The public comments connected specific federal milestones (March background‑check pause; April report; May announcement of non‑extension of contracts; June 4 temporary restraining order and forthcoming court hearing) to local impacts at Wind River Job Corps and to employer placements in Fremont County. No county directive or binding county action to prevent federal steps was made during the meeting; county leaders limited their response to offering to accept a draft resolution and to discuss it at an upcoming meeting.