AmeriCorps placed employees at the Washington headquarters and around the country on administrative leave after a visit from DOGE.
AmeriCorp’s mission is “to improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering.”
Almost half of the 600 employees accepted deferred resignations.
It sounds like the agency has been wasting money:
A 2017 AmeriCorps Inspector General’s report found that the services volunteers provided were “four to eight times more than the same services” provided by other programs between 2012 and 2013.“Each member’s ten months of service costs $29,674 (for FY 2014), more than a year’s tuition, room and board at a public university; for that sum, four individuals could obtain two-year community college degrees,” the report stated.“Yet, despite this substantial investment, NCCC alumni achieve no better long-term outcomes than alumni of AmeriCorps programs that cost a fraction of that amount.”That was due to several duplicative activities performed by grant recipients who worked in other AmeriCorps programs — all of which “cost significantly less per member.”
This isn’t good: “Up to 27% of NCCC program participants also failed to finish their 10-month service term — and ‘inefficient’ use of some teams in deploying to disaster relief areas was noted.”
The New York Post reported earlier that AmeriCorps let go of numerous young volunteers:
Volunteers with AmeriCorps’ National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) program were abruptly sent notices Tuesday instructing them to pack up and go home, according to a memo obtained by The Post.“In alignment with the Trump-Vance Administration priorities … AmeriCorps NCCC is working within new operational parameters that impact the program’s ability to sustain program operations,” the memo said.“As a result, AmeriCorps is sending all NCCC members to their homes of record as soon as possible.”
AmeriCorps’s budget was $37.7 million in 2024, and it would have received $42.7 million in 2025.
The enrollees learned their roles would not exist by April 30.
“The work we perform for the American public is vital and we’ve now been stripped of our ability to do that,” an AmeriCorps employee told Politico. “I worry about the impact that this will have on grantees, members, and volunteers who have committed themselves to providing service for Americans.”
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