Until last month, 25-year-old Theo Faucher was an AmeriCorps team leader. He and 10 others got a small stipend to build affordable homes in Virginia, remove hurricane debris in Florida, and repair park trails in West Virginia. That's where they were, in the middle of New River Gorge National Park, when Faucher's boss called with shocking news.
"Essentially it was, pull your team off the work site, pack up your camp, hit the road tonight, if possible," he recalled.
The Trump administration had ended nearly $400 million in AmeriCorps grants, a sizable chunk of the agency's roughly billion dollar budget. A notice on April 25 said the grants no longer fit AmeriCorps' priorities, but offered no detail on why not.
Some 32,000 people across the country – mostly young adults but also senior volunteers – have had to immediately stop their work in fields like disaster recovery, education, environmental stewardship and public health.
The Trump administration also fired most AmeriCorps staff last month. The combined cuts have gutted a federal agency created three decades ago as a way for people to serve their country.
"I kinda feel devastated," said Brandon Fernandez, who's 21 and was helping with disaster recovery after Hurricane Helene in North Carolina. He was hoping the assignment might lead to a job with FEMA.
When his group was told they were being disbanded, he said he and others struggled to hold back tears. "My bosses did not know about this at all," Fernandez said. "They were shocked as well."
Faucher, the team leader who got the news in West Virginia, said slashing the budget of this small agency is a shame.
"I think AmeriCorps is a very patriotic program," he said, calling it good for the country and good for the young adults he led. They were 18 and 19 year olds who'd never left home and weren't sure what they wanted to do with their lives, he said. But as they traveled the country together, "the personal growth and agency and competence I saw in these members was massive."
"To have that opportunity ripped away from them is just unconscionable," said Kaira Esgate, CEO of America's Service Commissions, a nonprofit that represents the state groups that manage AmeriCorps funding.
She admitted there have been issues, noting that AmeriCorps has failed eight consecutive audits. A White House spokeswoman cited the same thing in a statement to NPR, and pointed to $45 million in improper payments last year.
Esgate said incorrect or unqualified payments are a longstanding government wide problem, and AmeriCorps found that $45 million in its own review of spending. By law, improper payments get paid back. The agency is also upgrading a clunky IT system to better track payments. "We'd like to see it of course go faster, but I also understand that these things don't just change overnight," she said.
AmeriCorps did not respond to a request for comment from NPR.
Two legal challenges have been filed over AmeriCorps' dismantling, one by community organizations and the other by two dozen Democratic-led states. Like so many other lawsuits against the administration, they allege that President Trump does not have authority to gut an agency that was created and funded for decades by Congress.
AnnMaura Connolly, who heads the nonprofit Voices for National Service, said Democrats and Republicans alike have long supported AmeriCorps.
"This is really an incredible story of the power of a person, or a group of people, to make a difference in their communities, and in ways that have ripple effects that go well into the future," she said. AmeriCorps transforms not just those who serve, she said, but also the students many teach and mentor.
Local and regional nonprofits and faith-based groups are reeling from this loss, she said, and AmeriCorps helps staff larger organizations like Habitat for Humanity, Teach for America, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. The funding can also be crucial for local economies.
"In states like West Virginia, it's a massive opportunity to keep young people, talented young people in the state, help them get ready for careers and to really invest in their communities there. And they were hit hard by this," she said.
It's also been a financial blow for many AmeriCorps service members.
In Chicago, 26-year-old Madly Espinoza spent several months helping to bring in grants for a nonprofit that supports homeless families. She was counting on the AmeriCorps education award at the end of the year-long assignment to help pay her community college student loan. But now she's not sure whether she'll get the full amount.
"Anything that you were planning, maybe an expense or whatever," she said, "now you have to scramble and think, 'How am I going to make up for that?' So it's tough."
"Right now I am currently rudderless," said Nate Rebosa, who'd only spent a few weeks helping the American Red Cross in Lubbock, Texas, before being dismissed. He still wants to go into this kind of community or government work, but says AmeriCorps funding supports so much of it that "I am in limbo now trying to find a job."
The loss of jobs can also mean no health insurance or federal unemployment benefits, a worry for many dismissed members. America's Service Commissions has raised money for an emergency fund to offer help.
The 85% of AmeriCorps staff who are on paid administrative leave will have their jobs terminated on June 24. Esgate said the agency still has other funding, but a staff shortage could make that difficult to administer. She also worried that nonprofits will now be wary of hosting volunteers. "Are they just going to say, you know what … there's too much risk here for us?" she wondered.
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