Colorado and nearly two dozen other states led by Democrats sued the Trump administration Tuesday over the dismantling of AmeriCorps, the 30-year-old federal agency for volunteer service, and over the cancellation of hundreds of millions of dollars in grant funding for state and community projects across the U.S.
The federal lawsuit filed against the agency and its interim head alleged that President Donald Trump’s cost-cutting efforts through the Department of Government Efficiency illegally gutted the agency created by Congress and reneged on grants funded through the AmeriCorps State and National program, which was budgeted $557 million in congressionally approved funding this year.
The agency oversees a number of programs that dispatch hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of thousands of people to serve in communities across the country.
“In an attempt to dismantle the agency, the Trump administration and its DOGE demolition team made abrupt and drastic cuts to staff and volunteers and terminated grants,” said Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser in a statement. “We are suing to stop this illegal dismantling of AmeriCorps and preserve the spirit of community service in our state and nation.”
In Colorado, Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement, AmeriCorps members help support wildfire mitigation, students in schools and expanded mental health access.
“Their work touches every part of our state, and these cuts are taking important services away from Coloradans and our communities,” Polis said.
Last week, during a briefing on this year’s wildfire forecast, Polis said the state had 500 AmeriCorps workers lined up for fire suppression and mitigation work.
On Tuesday, the governor’s office said Trump’s cuts will “prematurely end the service” of nearly 300 AmeriCorps members at roughly 200 sites across Colorado.
“This decision will have devastating effects on communities across our state, impacting our ability to support students, provide families food and housing supports, protect against forest fires and lift up our neighbors,” Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera said in a statement.
Nationally, at least 85% of AmeriCorps staff were put on administrative leave this month, according to the complaint, with at least some notified last week that they would be let go because of a reduction in force.
AmeriCorps employs more than 500 full-time federal workers and has an operating budget of roughly $1 billion.
In addition, it sends roughly 200,000 corps members across the country as part of its service programs. Most corps members get a living stipend during their service and become eligible for funding for future education expenses or to apply for certain student loans.
A specific program, AmeriCorps’ National Civilian Community Corps, also covers basic expenses and housing for some 2,000 young people participating in a roughly 10-month service term. Those corps members, who work with community organizations and respond to natural disasters, were informed earlier this month they would be dismissed early.
As part of the AmeriCorps State and National grant program, state volunteer commissions distributed more than $177 million in formula-based distributions, as well as $370 million in competitive grants that supported nearly 35,000 corps members serving at 300 organizations, according to announcements in May.
Notices of grants being terminated were sent late Friday, explaining “the award no longer effectuates agency priorities” and directing grantees to immediately shut down the projects, according to a copy reviewed by The Associated Press.
Corps members would no longer be participating in the program and would no longer receive a stipend.
Hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to each of the 52 state and territory volunteer commissions were impacted, according to Rachel Bruns, chief engagement officer with America’s Service Commissions. That includes Washington, Puerto Rico and Guam; South Dakota does not have a state volunteer commission.
Bruns said commissions in Wisconsin, Alabama, Wyoming, Oregon and Maine have reported that their entire portfolios for that grant program have been cut.
There was no “rhyme or reason” given to the grantees that were affected, Bruns said, noting that there are cases of one organization seeing their funding cut in one state but not another. The cuts affect projects like after-school programs, services for veterans, food pantries, efforts to prevent child abuse and home builds.
“We don’t know what this means for these services in some of these communities that were impacted,” Bruns said.
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