The Trump administration’s cutting of funding for AmeriCorps is affecting organizations that serve mid-Michigan residents.
The federal program provides grants to programs in all 50 states, providing around 200,000 corps members with living stipends and money for education in exchange for their work at community-based organizations.
Lansing’s Allen Neighborhood Center has lost four AmeriCorps members. Executive Director Joe Enerson says two were serving at the Allen Center’s Garden House — a greenhouse that offers gardening education.
“One of the other members was serving our food pantry and farmer’s market,” Enerson said. “The other was working with our veggie box CSA program, which distributes food from local farmers.”
Enerson says the Allen Neighborhood Center has a long history with AmeriCorps.
“We’ve had over 100 AmeriCorps members serve at the neighborhood center over the last 26 years,” he said. “Over half of our staff were AmeriCorps members at one time or another.”
The Hope Network’s Michigan Education Corps provides tutoring services for elementary school students. Executive Director Holly Windram says the organization faces a nearly $3 million shortfall next year without the funding for AmeriCorps members.
“It really calls into question what we’re going to be able to do in order to provide the necessary services to our schools during a time where our achievement levels are at some of their lowest rates,” she said.
Windram says the loss of funding comes at a time when demand for the Michigan Education Corps’ services is high.
“We have upwards of 80-plus schools requesting over 180 interventionists to serve in schools next year,” she said.
Michigan, along with at least 23 other states and the District of Columbia, filed a lawsuit Tuesday in response to the AmeriCorps cuts. The White House says the funding was eliminated because of improper payments totaling more than $45 million dollars in 2024, along with issues auditing some of the agency’s accounts.
Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.