DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — 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 government 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 last year.
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 impacted by floods to ones in North Carolina touched by Helene. He and his team were on their final project at FEMA headquarters in Washington when they got word Tuesday that they wouldn't be able to finish.
Kinsler, who is from Long Island, New York, said they packed that night and left Wednesday morning for their home base in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
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.
A White House official said the Trump administration questioned using taxpayer money for the program. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. The AP sent an email Wednesday seeking comment from AmeriCorps.
Funding for AmeriCorps and 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 NCCC's “ability to sustain program operations” was impacted by “new operational parameters” laid out by the Trump administration's priorities and President Donald Trump's executive order creating the 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 to apply to 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 that have completed less would not be eligible.
There’s always been “bipartisan support” of NCCC — “and bipartisan criticism,” said Kate Raftery, who was NCCC director from 2011 to 2014.
Raftery said the abrupt departure of these service teams would have lasting damage both 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.”
Bud Maynard, mayor of Vinton, Iowa, which is home to a regional NCCC campus, said the program “has been without a doubt, a blessing for Vinton” and celebrated the opportunity to host “hundreds of people over the years with an unmatched passion and selflessness to want to help others.”
"All of Vinton should never forget what a great program, filled with great people, this has been for not only Vinton but every community that benefited from their mission,” Maynard said in a statement Wednesday.
FILE - As President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton mark the 20th anniversary of the AmeriCorps national service program, hundreds of new volunteers are sworn in for duty at a ceremony, Friday, Sept. 12, 2014, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, file)
