AmeriCorps members who respond to disasters and help nonprofits are let go in DOGE cuts

DES MOINES — Young volunteers who respond to natural disasters and help with community projects across the U.S. have been discharged as a result of the Trump administration’s campaign to shrink the government’s workforce and services.

AmeriCorps’ National Civilian Community Corps informed volunteers Tuesday that they would exit the program early “due to programmatic circumstances beyond your control,” according to an email obtained by the Associated Press.

More than 2,000 people ages 18 to 26 serve for nearly a year, according to the program’s website, and get assigned to projects with nonprofits and community organizations or the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It celebrated its 30th year in 2024.

The volunteers are especially visible after natural disasters, including Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Helene last year. The organization said on social media last month that teams have served 8 million service hours on nearly 3,400 disaster projects since 1999.

Jordan Kinsler, 23, has worked with FEMA Corps for the last nine months, traveling from Minnesota communities hit by floods to ones in North Carolina touched by Helene. He and his team were on their final project at FEMA’s headquarters in Washington when they got word Tuesday that they wouldn’t be able to finish.

“When our team leader got the call, I could tell she was a little more distressed,” said Kinsler, who is from Long Island, N.Y. “She had notified us that the program had been terminated, we’d be going home and we needed to pack because we were leaving the next day.”

Kinsler said he’s proud of the work he’s done and had hoped to apply for a permanent position.

“To have this ripped right from us at the very end, it felt insulting,” he said.

The AP sent an email Wednesday seeking comment from AmeriCorps.

Funding for AmeriCorps and the NCCC has long been included when there are talks in Congress of budget trims. The federal agency’s budget showed NCCC funding amounted to nearly $38 million last fiscal year.

The unsigned memo to members said the NCCC’s “ability to sustain program operations” was affected by “new operational parameters” laid out by the Trump administration’s priorities and the president’s executive order creating the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. Members, who receive a living allowance and have basic expenses covered, would be paid through the end of April, according to the memo.

The program also provides members who complete their 1,700-hour service term with funding for future education expenses or the ability to apply for certain student loans. That benefit was worth about $7,300 this service year.

The memo stated that those who have completed 15% or more of their term would be eligible for a prorated amount, but those who have completed less would not be eligible.

There’s always been “bipartisan support” for the NCCC — “and bipartisan criticism,” said Kate Raftery, who was the NCCC’s director from 2011 to 2014.

Raftery said the abrupt departure of these service teams would have lasting damage on the NCCC members who were gaining education and launching careers as well as the organizations that depend on them and the neighborhoods where they served.

“It was a very unique mixture of incredible heartbreak and incredible rage, outrage,” Raftery said of her reaction to the news. “The two were battling themselves most of the day.”

Fingerhut writes for the Associated Press.