DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A 30-year-old community service program that sends young adults to work on projects across the U.S. was the latest target of the Trump administration 's campaign to slash government spending.
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.
The unsigned memo to corps members said NCCC’s “ability to sustain program operations” was impacted by the Trump administration’s priorities and President Donald Trump’s executive order creating the Department of Government Efficiency. Members would be officially dismissed April 30.
AmeriCorps did not respond Wednesday to an AP email seeking comment.
AmeriCorps NCCC, which completed its 30th year last year, employs more than 2,000 people ages 18 to 26 participating for a roughly 10-month service term, according to the program’s website. The teams of corps members are tasked with working on several projects related to education, housing, urban and rural development, land conservation, and disaster relief, driving from one assignment to another across the country.
The agency pays for volunteers' basic expenses, including housing, meals and a “limited health benefit,” as well as a “modest” living allowance, according to the program. The program also provided 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.
Funding for AmeriCorps and NCCC has long been scrutinized when Congress talks of budget trims. The federal agency’s budget showed NCCC funding amounted to nearly $38 million last fiscal year.
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 traditional NCCC volunteers worked with sponsors including community and faith-based based organizations, nonprofits, schools, cities and tribes. Some of the recent service projects included working at a food bank in Washington state, building homes with Habitat for Humanity in North Carolina, and facilitating after school programs in Arizona.
AmeriCorps NCCC also has a partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and, more recently, the U.S. Forest Service. Those volunteers over the last year responded to tornadoes and flooding in Iowa, hurricane damage in North Carolina and wildfires in California, among other natural disasters, when volunteers are especially visible.
Young corps members were told Tuesday night to pack up. Many started long road trips from their latest assignment to campuses in Vicksburg, Mississippi; Vinton, Iowa; Sacramento, California; and Aurora, Colorado. Members would receive their allowance and health coverage through the end of April, according to the memo.
Members were told in the memo that those who have completed 15% or more of their term would be eligible for a prorated amount of their education award.
But Kate Raftery, who was NCCC director from 2011 to 2014, said she's worried about the corps members, many of whom were the “unusual suspects” who “saw this as a really impactful education or career launching pad.”
“They were not young people who had been striving to be service members somewhere,” Raftery said. “They were looking for an opportunity to improve their life. They were looking for an opportunity to build some skills, and to be part of a community.”
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)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Thursday displayed apparent progress in the construction of a nuclear-powered submarine, with state media photos showing a largely completed hull, as leader Kim Jong Un condemned rival South Korea’s push to acquire the technology.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Kim visited a shipyard to inspect the construction of what the North describes as an 8,700-ton-class nuclear-propelled submarine, which the leader has called a crucial step in the modernization and nuclear armament of North Korea’s navy. The North has indicated it plans to arm the submarine with nuclear weapons, calling it a “strategic guided missile submarine” or a “strategic nuclear attack submarine.”
During the visit, Kim described South Korea’s efforts to acquire its own nuclear-powered submarine, which have been backed by U.S. President Donald Trump, as an “offensive act” that severely violates the North’s security and maritime sovereignty.
He said that the South Korean plan further underscores the need to advance and nuclear-arm North Korea’s navy, and claimed that the completion of his nuclear-powered submarine would be an “epoch-making” change in strengthening its nuclear war deterrent against what he called enemy threats.
The agency did not specify when Kim visited the shipyard but released photos showing him inspecting a huge, burgundy-colored vessel, coated with what appears to be anti-corrosion paint, under construction inside an assembly hall with senior officials and his daughter. It was the first time North Korean state media had released images of the submarine since March, when they mostly showed the lower sections of the vessel.
It was not immediately clear how close North Korea is to completing the vessel. But because submarines are typically built from the inside out, the release of what appears to be a largely completed hull suggests that many core components, including the engine and possibly the reactor, are already in place, said Moon Keun-sik, a submarine expert at Seoul’s Hanyang University.
“Showing the entire vessel now seems to indicate that most of the equipment has already been installed and it is just about ready to be launched into the water,” said Moon, a former submarine officer in the South Korean navy, who believes the North Korean submarine could possibly be tested at sea within months.
A nuclear-powered submarine was one item on a long wish list of sophisticated weaponry that Kim announced during a major political conference in 2021 to cope with what he called growing U.S.-led military threats. Other weapons were solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missiles, hypersonic weapons, spy satellites and multi-warhead missiles.
North Korea has conducted a series of tests to develop some of those systems and recently unveiled a new naval destroyer, which Kim hailed as a major step toward expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of the country’s nuclear forces.
If North Korea obtains a submarine capable of operating stealthily for extended periods and launching missiles from underwater, it would be a worrying development for its neighbors, as such launches would be difficult to detect in advance. But there have been questions about whether North Korea, a heavily sanctioned and impoverished country, could get resources and technology to build nuclear-powered submarines.
Some experts say North Korea’s recent alignment with Russia — including sending thousands of troops and military equipment to support President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine — may have helped it to receive crucial technologies in return.
While some analysts suspect North Korea may have sought a reactor from Russia, possibly from a retired Russian submarine, Moon said it's more likely that North Korea designed its own reactor, while possibly receiving some technological assistance from Russia.
During a summit with Trump in November, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung called for U.S. support for South Korea’s efforts to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, while reaffirming a commitment to increase defense spending to ease the burden on the United States.
Trump later said that the United States is open to sharing closely held technology to allow South Korea to build a nuclear-powered submarine, but it’s not immediately clear where and when the vessel would be built and how Seoul would get the nuclear fuel and reactor technology required.
In a separate report, KCNA said Kim on Wednesday supervised a test of a new, long-range anti-air missile that was fired toward its eastern sea. South Korea’s Defense Ministry didn’t immediately comment on the launch.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have worsened in recent years as Kim accelerated his military nuclear program and deepened alignment with Moscow following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His government has repeatedly dismissed calls by Washington and Seoul to revive negotiations aimed at winding down his nuclear and missile programs, which derailed in 2019 following a collapsed summit with Trump during the American president’s first term.
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, a test of a long-range anti-air missile is launched towards its eastern sea, as seen from an undisclosed location in North Korea, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
In this undated photo provided Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025, by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un, with his daughter, inspects a nuclear-powered submarine under construction at an undisclosed location in North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
In this undated photo provided Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025, by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un, third left, visits a shipyard as he inspects a nuclear-powered submarine under construction at an undisclosed location in North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
In this undated photo provided Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025, by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un inspects a nuclear-powered submarine under construction at an undisclosed location in North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
In this undated photo provided Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025, by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un inspects a nuclear-powered submarine under construction at an undisclosed location in North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
