DES MOINES, Iowa — Washington D.C. and 24 states are suing over the Trump administration’s $400 million funding cuts to AmeriCorps. Iowa is not one of the states suing, but local programs are being affected by the cuts. 

Nationally, this is affecting over 1,000 organizations and 32,000 AmeriCorps members. 

568 AmeriCorps members across Iowa and 15 service programs in the state are being impacted by the cuts that were announced Friday by the Department of Government Efficiency. 

Polk County Conservation has 22 members and two program coordinators currently on temporary leave. 

Another local program impacted is Seed Coalition. The two grant programs that fund their organization were cut, which helps pay for the 68 AmeriCorps members that work for them.

“Despair. My first reaction was despair,” Seed Coalition Executive Director Rob Barron said. “We got notice at 4:30 p.m. on Friday afternoon and were instructed that we had two weeks to take action to wind down these programs.”

“Yeah, the last few days has just been really devastating,” Rachel Bruns of America’s Service Commissions said. “We’ve been supporting our network of state service commissions and their AmeriCorps programs and AmeriCorps members, really helping them try to process it and how best to support the AmeriCorps members themselves.”

“Right now, folks are worried. You’ve got college students who’ve been active in AmeriCorps as a way to supplement their income and pay for their tuition and their books,” Barron added. “And they’re worried about their future and being able to fill out their service. You have organizations that are scrambling to try and figure out if we don’t have access to an AmeriCorps VISTA member, how are we going to be able to fulfill our mission?”

Many of these programs are at or with colleges and university students, so there are concerns for them but also concerns for the work and effort they produce.

“Both here in Iowa and across the country, our network is especially concerned about us entering kind of a heavy disaster season with all of these grants being terminated,” Bruns said. “Our country relies on AmeriCorps members during times of disaster and with flooding, tornadoes, hurricanes and the significant cut of over 80% of AmeriCorps, state and national programs will have an impact on our country’s ability to respond effectively during times of disaster.”

“We’re fortunate to be able to use AmeriCorps funds to do really good work in Iowa and Minnesota. Funding largely young people that are out there making change, doing things like supporting food pantries and food shelves on their campuses, or mentoring college students to stay in school,” Barron said. “The federal government is going to pull the rug out from under us and yank that away from all of these passionate, talented young people.”

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