Hundreds of Maryland AmeriCorps workers displaced amid federal cuts

Yahoo

01-05-2025

Azalin Rothwell, a Conservation Corps member at Merkle Wildlife Sanctuary, cuts an invasive wineberry shrub. (Photo by Joe Zimmermann/ Maryland Department of Natural Resources)
The Trump administration's dismantling of the federal AmeriCorps program will be felt in Maryland state parks, classrooms, nonprofits and food pantries, state officials said during a Wednesday news conference.
About 250 Maryland AmeriCorps workers were dismissed over the weekend, said Paul Monteiro, Maryland Secretary of Service and Civic Innovation.
'We had to start making calls Friday evening into Saturday morning to inform them of the immediate termination of their grants,' Monteiro said. 'Many of our members will likely face subsistence-level challenges, given that they're ineligible for unemployment insurance and were already living on very modest stipends.'
The list includes 41 members of the Maryland Conservation Corps, who were expecting to continue working through the popular summer season at state parks, maintaining hiking trails, clearing invasive species and educating visitors, said Rachel Temby, deputy director of the Maryland Park Service.
'The impacts of this hasty decision have been felt from the mountains of Western Maryland to the shores of the Atlantic,' Temby said.
After a stop-work order was issued Saturday, state officials rushed to call all of the workers, some of whom were helping with weekend events such as the Pollinator Festival at Assateague State Park and the Market Fair at Fort Frederick, Temby said.
'They were pulled from service, and then many of them made the independent — and very considerate — decision to return as park volunteers to those activities that weekend, wishing to continue with their commitment to serve in any capacity they could,' Temby said.
A primary concern is that the AmeriCorps members will suddenly lose their 'very modest' cost-of-living stipends, Monteiro said, forcing them to reconsider things like housing and health insurance.
'Our department is doing our level best to support demobilized members,' Monteiro said. 'The first of the month is here in short order, and [members will be] accessing housing, accessing food, on top of being separated from organizations and networks they've been invested in over the course of the year.'
The members, between 17 and 25 years old, also expected to receive an educational stipend of about $7,000 at the end of their service terms, which they could use to pay student loans, Now, they are likely to receive a pro-rated portion of the stipend — not the whole thing.
A Moore administration official said Wednesday that the 'bare bones' administrative staff at AmeriCorps, 'gives me a lot of heartburn' about workers' benefits.
Maryland is one of 24 states and the District of Columbia that are suing the Trump administration over its steep and sudden cuts to AmeriCorps. The lawsuit says that on April 15 AmeriCorps officials, at the behest of the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), put all members of the National Civilian Community Corps on leave, and told them their service would be terminated on April 30. A day later, the suit says, AmeriCorps put about 85% of its paid staff of about 700 workers on administrative leave.
Last week, AmeriCorps began sending reduction-in-force notices to the paid staff and on Friday, after regular business hours, it began notifying states that about $400 million of AmeriCorps programs were immediately terminated.
The lawsuit argues that only Congress, not the administration, has the power to slash the agency.
'The Administration's abrupt decision to dismantle AmeriCorps flouts Congress's creation of AmeriCorps and assignment of agency duties; usurps Congress's power of the purse and thereby violates the Constitution's separation of powers,' the suit says.
Maryland Natural Resources Secretary Josh Kurtz said Wednesday that the Conservation Corps program, which began in 1984, has had an immense impact on state parks.
'If you've hiked on a trail, if you've gone to a bathroom in a state park, you most likely are touching a project that the Maryland Conservation Corps has done over the years,' Kurtz said.
Maryland leads 25 states in suit to block Trump administration efforts 'gutting' AmeriCorps
DNR was projected to contribute about $1.6 million to the Conservation Corps program this year, the agency said, with AmeriCorps contributing about $922,000.
According to a DNR news release from last August, that year's graduating class improved more than 2,400 acres of parks and public lands; planted more than 9,963 native trees, bay grasses and plants; treated more than 7,902 trees against harmful insects and diseases; and taught environmental education programs to more than 23,750 visitors.
Conservation Corps members have been instrumental in protecting one of the state's older forest ecosystems, located in Swallow Falls State Park, said DNR spokesman AJ Metcalf. The area includes thousands of eastern hemlock trees, which have been victimized by invasive hemlock wooly adelgids.
In 2024, Conservation Corps members treated more than 7,000 of the trees, saving them from early deaths. The pesticide application took six days, but will last seven years, Metcalf said.
'Hemlock treatment is a simple process but requires significant human energy,' Metcalf wrote. 'Many MCC members report that hemlock restoration work was one of the most rewarding projects of their term.'
For the individuals who spend a year in the corps, the program is a 'career ladder,' Kurtz said, allowing them to gain skills that fuel careers in conservation fields. More than 50 current staff members at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources are Conservation Corps alumni, Temby said.
Temby said she supervised teams of Conservation Corps members for about six years, in her role as a Maryland Park Service ranger, and watched the program evolve, propelled by energetic workers.
'The sudden decision to terminate AmeriCorps funding for this program has dire impacts on the hopes and dreams of our corps members, but also the operations of the Maryland Park Service,' Temby said.
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