Earlier in April, the Trump Administration’s U.S. DOGE Service took a hatchet to the AmeriCorps program, firing thousands of staff members and ordering the cancellation of $400 million in grant funds, representing 41% of total AmeriCorps funding. On Friday of last week, RE Sources received notice from the Washington Service Corps (an intermediary for AmeriCorps programs) that all service members with WSC have been placed on immediate administrative hold. This means that service members with active placement can no longer work and accrue service hours and are not eligible for their living allowances.
While the order is currently a hold and not a termination, such crippling funding cuts to AmeriCorps (The federal government terminated Washington’s AmeriCorps grant funding, amounting to $21.5 million) make it highly unlikely that these programs will be able to continue at anywhere near their current scale. Across the nation,1,031 organizations manage 32,465 AmeriCorps members.
Far-reaching local impacts
RE Sources has enlisted support from AmeriCorps members in recent years to help provide essential capacity for science and education programming. Our service member coordinates our work with Northwest Washington’s aquatic reserves, which are areas for the health of the Salish Seas’s ecosystems.
The local impacts of this order have been immediate. At RE Sources, we suddenly find ourselves lacking the capacity to host events and complete important projects scheduled across the spring and summer, despite having already paid for the AmeriCorps placement.
Other nonprofits in our region that rely more heavily on AmeriCorps members to implement programs have been forced to suspend programming altogether. We’re also working quickly to figure out how to support our service member and others in our community who’ve suddenly lost access to work and allowances to cover their housing.
Freezing services without warning not only leaves service members and host organizations in limbo, it also interrupts essential services such as food deliveries to the most vulnerable members of our communities. Beyond the immediate impacts, gutting AmeriCorps closes off a critical early career pathway in the fields of science, education, and social services. These sectors are full of dedicated professionals whose careers began with stints as AmeriCorps members.
A legal challenge and what comes next
Washington’s Attorney General joined 22 red and blue states in filing a lawsuit against the federal government for its efforts to topple AmeriCorps outside of congressional action. Beyond the legality of DOGE’s actions, it’s absurd to suggest these cuts are about efficiency or the best interest of the American public. AmeriCorps members do vital work in our communities at a fraction of the cost of public sector services. If anything, AmeriCorps could be improved by increasing the level of compensation that service members receive during their terms, as many struggle to afford food and housing given the current cost of living across much of the country.
Instead of efficiency, these and other sweeping cuts by DOGE are aimed at further unraveling the fabric of democratic society. Divesting in science, research, education, and social services aids in this administration’s goals to consolidate power and privatize all aspects of society. It’s another alarming step in our nation’s slide toward authoritarianism in the first hundred days of this administration.
With AmeriCorps cuts on top of ongoing cuts to federal funding, critical programs that help folks in Whatcom and Skagit counties are now put at further risk. And we know that once cuts like this are made it becomes harder and harder to get staff, expertise and program support back.
RE Sources works directly with many Northwest Washington groups whose programs rely on service members, and we’re connecting with those impacted by this and other cuts. We must join together and connect on all fronts. No one individual or organization will be able to push back alone. We need each other and it is essential that the work we do continue. We also ask supporters, funders and donors to recognize the precarious moment we’re in and step up, help bring groups together, and speak out.
Please add your voice and support to actions below and join us in condemning the gutting of AmeriCorps for the cynical and vindictive action that it is: