Multiple staff and instructors from San Diego Job Corps told the Imperial Beach City Council on June 4 that students and employees face sudden program closure notices and urgent housing needs, and they asked the city for immediate help and advocacy.

Why it matters: The Job Corps campus serves hundreds of youth with residential training, housing and trade programs. Speakers said a pause or closure of the program could leave students without housing and disrupt training and certification access.

What speakers said
- Bill Hagen, an instructor at San Diego Job Corps, described a recent pause and uncertainty over shutdown dates. “Job Corps is a money pit,” Hagen said while urging public support for the center’s students and staff.
- Indigo Curtis, a Job Corps staff member, said the site provides housing and trade training to young people and described ongoing “emotional whiplash” as staff and students received conflicting information about shutdown timing. Curtis said staff were organizing housing resource fairs to help affected students find placements.
- Isla Rogowski, a licensed vocational nurse at the center, told the council that many students face immediate housing crises and asked for community support.

City response and next steps
- Council and staff said they cannot intervene directly under the Brown Act during public comment but that the mayor and city manager’s offices were already engaging. Council later instructed the mayor to prepare and circulate a letter of support on an expedited timeline and to bring a formal resolution to a future council meeting.
- The city manager offered to draft a letter and circulate it for council awareness so the mayor could send it quickly; a formal resolution to oppose the Job Corps closure and request state/county action will be scheduled later for council consideration.

Clarifying details
- Speakers said the San Diego Job Corps provides housing to more than 300 youth historically, though current student counts were described in testimony as changing and were not specified precisely at the meeting.
- Staff said a temporary court action (a restraining order reported by speakers) could delay formal agency action and produce a prolonged period of uncertainty for students.

How the council acted
- The council directed staff to prepare an immediate letter from the mayor supporting Job Corps students and urging state or federal partners to prevent abrupt displacement; the mayor’s office will circulate the draft for council awareness and will bring a resolution for formal adoption at a future meeting.