Federal cuts to AmeriCorps, service programs, ‘devastating' to local communities

Yahoo

3 days ago

The federal government cut $400 million in grant funding for AmeriCorps, which terminated 80 Montana AmeriCorps members across five programs.
Late on a Sunday evening in April, Silas Smith, an AmeriCorps service member working with a food security nonprofit in the Flathead Valley, was scrolling the internet when he found a Reddit post detailing a proposed list of AmeriCorps programs that might be axed nationwide.
His program in Montana was on the list.
The next afternoon, at 4:09 p.m. Smith received an email letting him know his AmeriCorps service programs had been terminated by the federal government, part of the sweeping cuts made by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
'Effective April 28, 2025, you have been removed from the STATE OF MT DEPT HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES AmeriCorps VISTA project,' the email read. It told Smith he was in an 'administrative hold,' meaning he would continue to receive his living stipend for 30 more days, but was not allowed to participate in any AmeriCorps-related activities or projects.
Even with Smith's brief forewarning, receiving the official termination letter 'was surreal. It was strange.'
'I was watching a movie when I got the email and it was very cold and kind of heartless,' Smith said. 'I think they literally sent the same termination email to thousands of people — no differentiation between any of us.'
Smith said his AmeriCorps supervisor at the state health department hadn't known the program was going to be cut, was 'just as confused as I was,' and was navigating it in real time with 27 service members across Montana.
AmeriCorps is a national program established under President Bill Clinton to provide Americans with domestic service opportunities to foster civic engagement and address community needs, similar to the international Peace Corps. The program places recent college graduates and early-career professionals in roles with nonprofits, community organizations and public agencies. Service members receive a living stipend of around $18,000, in addition to an education award of up to $7,395 that can be used to pay for educational expenses or repay student loans.
On April 25, the Trump administration announced cuts of more than $400 million in grants — 41% of its total grant funding — to AmeriCorps, and subsequently terminated more than 32,000 members and volunteers. Around 85% of the program's federal staff were placed on leave.
Each year AmeriCorps places more than 200,000 service members and volunteers nationally. Last year in Montana, 2,800 AmeriCorps members and senior volunteers worked at more than 300 locations, according to the agency's National Service Report. AmeriCorps invested more than $12.7 million in federal funding to community organizations and agencies in the state, and generated 'more than $10 million in outside resources from businesses, foundations, public agencies and other sources in Montana,' according to the report.
'These service members bring so much back to their communities. There's something really big that will be lost if we aren't bringing them in.'
– Shannon Stober
Some AmeriCorps leaders in Montana have said that while they understand a need for belt tightening at the federal level, they don't see deep cuts at AmeriCorps as strategic.
JoJo McKinney, CEO of Montana Conservation Corps, which has around 320 AmeriCorps service members each year, said studies have shown that there is an average $34 return for each federal dollar spent on the program, with some programs generating twice that impact.
'AmeriCorps is a real force multiplier. The return on investment is so dramatic,' McKinney said. 'It's one of the most efficient uses of taxpayer money.'
In Montana, AmeriCorps members — considered volunteers, not employees — work at schools, food banks, homeless shelters, health clinics, veterans facilities, and myriad nonprofits — of which Montana has a higher than average number per capita. They also work for some government agencies, including Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, which has used AmeriCorps members to work in state parks.
The federal cuts eliminated AmeriCorps programs entirely from 13 states, including Wyoming, and removed roughly $1.2 million in programmatic funding in Montana.
'I don't want to say we were lucky — that's just plain wrong — but some states lost it all,' said Shannon Stober, a member of the Montana Last Best Alums Council, the official alumni group of AmeriCorps members in the state. Stober has spent more than two decades working in leadership roles for various AmeriCorps programs.
Stober said analysis of the proposed federal budget under the Trump administration indicates further cuts to AmeriCorps are planned, potentially jeopardizing the programs that escaped the first round.
'The issue now is our remaining programs and just wanting to protect them,' Stober said. 'There's such a lack of trust and uncertainty at this point – we want our service members to feel protected.'
According to a list compiled by America's Service Commissions, in Montana, seven AmeriCorps grants were cut, which included five coordinating programs funding 80 service members and two planning initiative grants working to build out new programs.
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Rural Dynamics Inc, Montana State University, the University of Montana, the Department of Labor and Industry, and Montana AgCorps, run through the Department of Agriculture, all saw grants pulled away with little warning.
Representatives from DLI, UM, Department of Ag, and the Department of Public Health and Human Services did not respond to repeated requests for comment, representatives from FWP and MSU were not authorized to speak about the cuts, and representatives from the governor's office did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
'These cuts are removing entry level positions for young people, taking away workforce development … AmeriCorps provides a space for those people,' Stober said. 'These service members bring so much back to their communities. There's something really big that will be lost if we aren't bringing them in.'
Smith was part of the AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) program coordinated through DPHHS, which placed members with nonprofits working with underserved populations in the state.
Smith was embedded with Land to Hand MT, which works to build a 'strong community food system that fosters socially just ways of accessing food,' in the Flathead Valley. One program Land to Hand operates is a weekend backpack program in Columbia Falls, where school kids who rely on free or reduced school meals receive food bags for their families. The program gives out nearly 400 bags each week.
When he joined Land to Hand, Smith was assigned a project building on the weekend backpack program — setting up a food pantry to allow students and their families to have more choices in meals.
'The goal of the pantry would be to match, or surpass the number of clients we serve with the backpack program,' Smith said. 'With a pantry, people can drop in whenever they want. we can make it a relaxing environment that's intuitive in the way it's laid out and work to reduce the stigma around using food-accessible services.'
Smith said he felt called to his position, telling the Daily Montanan he understands how integral food is to a community.
'Better food is connected to so many things,' he said. 'When kids have reliable access to food and they feel safe and comfortable getting food from a nonprofit like ours, they can self-actualize and get more quality in their education. They won't be restless in class. Parents and families with better access to food can parent better and have less stress at home.'
Since starting in his position in January, Smith has been researching policies and procedures necessary to set up the pantry and working to see what the community needs most. He has a goal to get the pantry up and running by the start of the next school year.
'To do any new big projects, it takes a lot of effort and work,' said Land to Hand Executive Director Gretchen Boyer. 'It's a huge deal not to have that help. We were anticipating that help through the end of the year. Whenever nonprofits are doing something new, it takes time to raise funds and make plans. We thought we had this year to do that, but with no notice, all that help we had anticipated was just ripped out from underneath us.'
Boyer said the organization decided they were going to 'fight to keep Silas with us,' and called in their biggest fundraising partners. The organization has raised more than $30,000 from the community to keep him in his current role and are confident they'll be able to fund and house Smith for the duration of his term.
'Don't get me wrong, the government can work more efficiently, and we can be smart in how we spend our money. But when we just arbitrarily cut programs without seeing the impact on services and people, it's ridiculous,' Boyer said. 'These are young people coming to work in rural communities, working to eliminate poverty. And they're living in poverty to do it.'
To partner with AmeriCorps, organizations have to fund part of the project — Land to Hand paid $5,000 for its latest contract — and provide some of a rent stipend. Boyer said it's one of the biggest returns on investment a nonprofit like hers can get.
Boyer added there's often a high retention rate among AmeriCorps members. Land to Hand has had an AmeriCorps member on staff for the last seven years, and all but one of the organization's staff members are previous AmeriCorps members — including two that served with Land to Hand.
'These are young people coming to work in rural communities, working to eliminate poverty. And they're living in poverty to do it.'
– Shannon Stober
Many AmeriCorps partner organizations, however, don't have the ability to raise money and retain their members.
Astrid Weinstein, a member of Smith's AmeriCorps VISTA cohort based in Missoula, was also terminated.
Weinstein was working with Mountain Home Montana, a Missoula nonprofit that serves young mothers who are pregnant or already parenting, providing housing and services including child care and maternal health services.
She said her project with Mountain Home included working as a volunteer coordinator and helping create a 'baby boutique' for mothers and families to come and shop for free or heavily discounted clothes and other early childhood accessories. She said she's '50-50' on whether the organization will be able to continue the program without a full-time staff member.
The termination of Weinstein's cohort in Missoula impacted her beyond her day-to-day job.
She had been in her role for eight months and lived with other service members, including her best friend, who had to move home to Alaska following the termination.
'It was such a huge change for us. We thought we had a couple of months to figure stuff out, find next steps,' said Weinstein, who was planning to apply to be the AmeriCorps cohort supervisor for her program for the next year. But now, 'I don't think I would try to do another AmeriCorps program. Everyone is on their toes right now and worried.'
AmeriCorps has three main service branches — the VISTA program, state and national programs, and the National Civilian Community Corps. NCCC members often work on disaster response, infrastructure and development-related projects.
In addition to the $400 million in grant funds that the federal government terminated, AmerCorps sent home all of its NCCC members.
The Helena Area Habitat for Humanity in a Facebook post said that more than 60 NCCC members have served with the organization, contributing more than 9,000 hours of service and labor to build affordable homes. In addition, six full-time AmeriCorps members with Habitat, a program that retained its funding, have helped 'build programs that simply wouldn't exist without their dedication and service.
'These folks didn't just swing hammers. They laid the foundation for a stronger, more connected community. Their absence will be deeply felt.'
One $100,000 planning initiative grant cut was housed at MSU where staff were working to create a Community Health Corps in the state. The program would have placed AmeriCorps members in community partnerships to address 'the state's most pressing health challenges,' including mental health and substance use disorder services, chronic disease prevention and management, and addressing social determinants of health.
All activities related to that planning initiative are paused with future funding in question.
Some programs, such as the North Valley Food Bank in Whitefish, had an AmeriCorps member finish a service term right before the federal cuts, but are now unlikely to get another member in the future.
For programs that escaped the April funding cuts, such as Montana Conservation Corps, concerns about future funding loom large.
'We're not sure about if our grant for 2026 will be approved — normally we hear that announcement in April,' McKinney told the Daily Montanan. 'The funds have been appropriated by Congress for that grant, but I don't know if there's the staff at AmeriCorps to be able to review and award those grants for next year. I'm very worried in the long term.'
Montana Conservation Corps onboarded 200 AmeriCorps members in their various conservation, leadership development and agricultural programs, bringing the total number of service members to around 320 for this year.
Some of MCC's projects last year included conducting more than 1,500 miles of trail maintenance, helping ranching communities build drought resistance and doing wildfire fuel reduction projects on federal lands.
McKinney said future cuts to the program could affect MCC in multiple ways — the $4 million annual AmeriCorps grants make up 28% of the organization's budget, and AmeriCorps members have their own special classification under the Department of Labor, which makes it easier to partner with, and receive additional matching funds, from federal agencies, such as the Forest Service and National Park Service.
'We will not replace $4 million with philanthropic resources, nor will we replace the value of the service members,' McKinney said
'I think the loss of AmeriCorps for Montana communities and small local organizations is pretty devastating,' McKinney continued. 'The beauty of AmeriCorps is that while it's a federal program, it's a locally driven service initiative. Local communities identify their needs and then leverage AmeriCorps members and resources to address them and bring about solutions.'
At Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the funding cut affected nine AmeriCorps members stationed at state parks, but officials with the department would not discuss where those members were stationed or what the impact to park services would be.
According to a 2018 article FWP published in Montana Outdoors magazine, AmeriCorps members 'eased park managers' burdens by creating interpretive trails, controlling invasive weeds, teaching in outdoor classrooms, organizing volunteer events such as spring cleanups, and more.'
That year, AmeriCorps members conducted more than 577 educational and interpretive programs, coordinated 369 volunteers, and improved 264 acres of state park land.
Sarah Sadowski, director of the governor's Office of Community Service, which coordinates the state-run AmeriCorps programs, was not authorized to speak to reporters, but provided a statement.
'Upon receiving notice from AmeriCorps, the Governor's Office of Community Service responded immediately to support service members through a transition period. Where possible, our office and network of partners has ensured the placement of AmeriCorps service members in new roles to meet needs of community programs administered by state agencies, including at the Montana Departments of Agriculture and Fish, Wildlife and Parks.'
McKinney, though, said youth need the program, and the country needs the program too.
'This is something our country should be supporting right now,' McKinney said. 'Sure, it can be reformed and improved, but let's do that, not throw away this opportunity for young and old Americans to invest back into our country.
In response to the funding cuts, a coalition of 24 states, plus D.C., have sued the Trump administration over the AmeriCorps cuts, alleging the White House did not have the authority to eliminate the program, which is funded and authorized by Congress.
Montana is not part of the suit.
Representatives from Gov. Greg Gianforte's office did not respond to requests for comment.
The Daily Montanan reached out to all four members of Montana's congressional delegation, and did not receive responses.
But a letter from U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy addressing the cuts and obtained by the Daily Montanan said the reductions were part of the plan to tackle the growing national debt, and attributed them to a lack of fiscal accountability by AmeriCorps.
'In November 2024, the nonpartisan Inspector General of AmeriCorps found that AmeriCorps has been unable to produce an auditable financial statement in the past eight years. With $36 trillion in debt and growing, fiscal accountability must be asked of every part of our government,' the letter states. 'The Trump Administration is working to balance the budget, lower taxes, lower costs, unleash prosperity, and help every American keep more of their hard-earned money. As the administration works to rein in spending, eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse, and deliver government services more efficiently, I will work to ensure critical frontline services are protected.'
Shannon Stober, though, a member of the Montana Last Best Alums Council, the official alumni group of AmeriCorps members in the state, said the argument is a double standard.
'AmeriCorps shouldn't be politicized — for 30 years it's been a bipartisan-supported initiative,' Stober said. 'Audits aren't meant to be verdicts. Auditors do findings, and those findings are not always corruption and waste. Agencies not passing audits is common in the federal government.'
For example, Stober and JoJo McKinney, with Montana Conservation Corps, both pointed to the Department of Defense, which has received a 'disclaimer of opinion' — the same finding AmeriCorps earned — on seven annual audits since 2018, meaning 'auditors could not express opinions on the financial statements, because the financial information was not sufficiently reliable,' according to the 2024 audit results.