SCHUMER REVEALS: ‘DOGE’ & TRUMP JUST SLASHED $26+ MILLION FOR AMERICORPS PUBLIC SERVICE COMMUNITY PROJECTS ACROSS NEW YORK, AXING 3,600 AMERICORPS NATIONAL SERVICE MEMBERS, WITH MORE DEVASTATING CUTS ON HORIZON; SENATOR SHOWS IMPACTS REGION BY REGION, DEMANDS NY HOUSE REPUBLICANS STAND UP AND PROTECT AMERICORPS

Thousands Of AmeriCorps Members Were Just Fired By ‘DOGE’ And NY Community Grants Ripped Away, Cancelling Funds To Help Build Houses, Provide Rural Health Care, Respond To Disasters, Tutor Students, And More

Every Year Over 22,000 AmeriCorps National Service Participants Work On 1,700+ Projects In Every Corner Of NY, But Now Grants Are Being Cancelled Across The State With Even More Cuts Expected – Senator Breaks Down Impact Region By Region Thus Far And Demands Funding Be Restored

Schumer: Calling Service-Led Community Projects ‘Government Waste’ Makes No Sense, AmeriCorps Is One Of The Best Bang For Your Buck Programs That Helps NY Communities In Need

After Trump and ‘DOGE’ placed a majority of AmeriCorps employees on leave and terminated nearly $400 million in AmeriCorps grants nationally earlier this month, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer today revealed this has impacted over 3,600 NY community service members slashing over $26 million in federal funding for local community projects in every corner of New York State, and with more potential cuts on the horizon the senator broke down the impacts region by region to show just how deep these cuts go. 

Schumer said this is the first step towards dismantling AmeriCorps entirely would devastate New York, which has over 1,700 AmeriCorps projects, and is demanding that NY House Republicans stand up to protect this vital public service and join him in his push to immediately reverse these cuts. All of these AmeriCorps programs have long-standing bipartisan support having been previously authorized by Congress and funded by the annual appropriations bill passed by Congress and signed into law, making ‘DOGE’s’ cuts unlawful.

“AmeriCorps is one of the world's greatest service programs, and one of the best bang for your buck federal investments in addressing community needs and in the future of our country. But across New York hundreds of AmeriCorps community service participants were just egregiously fired and had their funding ripped away halting their critical work helping the communities they serve. This is funding that provides rural healthcare in the Southern Tier, helps children learn to read in Buffalo, expands job training opportunities in Albany, and so much more to fill in the gaps by linking national service participants with opportunities to gain experience serving their country. This critical work will now cease as these members are dismissed and funding is ripped away from our communities by Trump and ‘DOGE,’” said Senator Schumer. “I am all for cutting out inefficiency, but you use a scalpel, not a chainsaw. You don’t dismiss thousands of members who have dedicated their time to public service and giving back to underserved communities – it makes no sense. These are community projects that wouldn’t happen without AmeriCorps and we need these cuts reversed NOW and for NY Republicans to stand up in opposition to eliminating funding for AmeriCorps.”

In recent days, Trump and ‘DOGE’ cut roughly 75% of full-time AmeriCorps employees and dismissed thousands of national service participants working on projects in every corner of the country, including over 3,600 community service participants across New York and cancelling over $26 million in grant funding, meaning in many instances these projects will not continue. You can find a full list of cut projects across Upstate NY according to AmeriCorps linked HERE. Some projects cut or facing threats by the Trump administration include:

• In Buffalo, AmeriCorps members were tutoring more than 2,500 students across 4 schools in the school district through City Year, helping students improve attendance and academic performance. In addition, more AmeriCorps members were building homes through Habitat for Humanity.
• In the Southern Tier, AmeriCorps members based in Binghamton were providing health care services to rural communities across the Southern Tier through the Rural Health Network of South Central New York.
• In Rochester, AmeriCorps members were improving academic engagement and college and career readiness throughout the Rochester City School District through Monroe Community College and providing public health apprenticeships through Flower City Public Health Corps.
• In the Capital Region, AmeriCorps members were providing free support for high schoolers applying for federal student aid through SUNY and training to be dispute resolution practitioners.
• In Central NY and the North Country, AmeriCorps members were working with local children providing mentoring, nutrition, and fitness education through Oswego AmeriCorps and working supporting outdoor-based education initiatives in the Adirondacks community through the Wild Center.
• In the Hudson Valley, AmeriCorps members were working with local children through We Prosper Family Organization.

A breakdown of dismissed volunteers and cut federal funding by region for Upstate NY can be found below:

Across New York State, there are over 22,000 national service members working on over 1,700 projects. AmeriCorps and its partners generated more than $20 million in outside resources from businesses, foundations, public agencies, and other sources in New York last year. Schumer said AmeriCorps members and communities that are impacted by these latest cuts are just the tip of the iceberg, with more cuts being announced every day that could soon hit other projects such as the Rockland Head Start program which provides child care, Interfaith Works in Syracuse which supports Central New York seniors, and Lifespan which provides services to seniors across Upstate NY such as training for part time jobs as senior companions in Central New York and health and wellness programs for seniors in the Rochester Finger-Lakes region.

‘There is no rhyme or reason to the project and grant terminations, other than DOGE was forcing AmeriCorps to get to a bottom-line dollar amount. The reason for eliminating over half the staff is very clear: This administration does not value the contributions of public servants who have been quietly administering an extremely efficient agency that engages Americans all across the country in service, which in addition to providing critical services, strengthens civic engagement and ties between people of all backgrounds,” said Kelly Daly, President, AFSCME Local 2027.

“AmeriCorps gets things done by filling unmet local needs, while bolstering a sense of community,  advancing personal responsibility, and boosting the upward mobility of its participants.  We have used AmeriCorps members to build the capacity of anti-hunger organizations throughout the state. In many ways, AmeriCorps is a conservative program. You don’t get a penny unless you work, most program funding decisions are made by states rather than the federal government, and the vast majority of participants serve with nonprofit groups (not government agencies). AmeriCorps is one the most cost-effective ways to solve social problems because it harnesses the immense energy of citizen service. Thus, if conservatives were ideologically consistent, they would increase rather than gut AmeriCorps funding. We thank Leader Schumer for keeping the government running and keep many AmeriCorps projects alive as long as possible, and for taking on the fight to protect AmeriCorps,” said Joel Berg, CEO of Hunger Free America, a national nonpartisan nonprofit organization headquartered in New York.

Executive Director of PEACE, Inc., Carolyn D. Brown said, “PEACE, Inc.’s AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Program allows our community’s seniors to share their time and their expertise through mentoring. Statistics show how the program improves the lives of our Foster Grandparent volunteers and both the academic performance and the social emotional skills of youth in elementary schools, Head Starts, and children’s centers. If our program was eliminated, 68 Foster Grandparent volunteers would lose their positions, and 225 vulnerable youth would lose critical interventions. These numbers would prove devastating for a city like Syracuse where nearly 1 out of 2 children live in poverty.”

“InterFaith Works' Senior Companion Program connects older volunteers with older adults and caregivers, for in home companionship and friendly visits. For as little as $3000 per year, vulnerable older adults stay socially connected, get help with daily activities, and age well at home - and out of costly nursing homes. Working caregivers get free in home respite for up to 40 hours per week, so they can maintain their jobs and attend to their personal needs. Senior Companion volunteers are all low-income older adults who receive a small stipend, stay active, and keep themselves healthy, too. Funding cuts would eliminate these critical and cost-effective supports for over 300 vulnerable older adults and their caregivers throughout the Central New York community,” said Lori Klivak, Director of the Center for Healthy Aging at InterFaith Works of CNY.

“In the past five years, City Year AmeriCorps members have served in Buffalo schools to help thousands of students engage more deeply with their learning, stay on track to graduate, and reach their full potential, and these corps members receive professional development and gain skills that prepare them to enter the workforce as our region's most in-demand employees," said City Year Buffalo Executive Director Jacqueline Ashby. "We're grateful to Senator Schumer for his steadfast support in championing the national service program AmeriCorps that makes this important work possible, and that benefits our community, local economy, education system and workforce development here in Western New York.”

Across the country, AmeriCorps deploys more than 200,000 Americans annually to carry out results-driven projects at over 35,000 locations. National service participants serve in hundreds of nonprofit organizations, public agencies, and community and faith-based organizations, in rural and urban communities throughout the country. They mentor youth, build affordable housing, help communities respond to disasters, and build the capacity of nonprofit groups to extend and improve their impact by leveraging community service participants. In exchange for their services, AmeriCorps members earn an education award to pay for college or to pay off qualified student loans. A non-partisan study showed that there are an estimated $17 in benefits returned for every taxpayer dollar spent. In addition, Schumer said AmeriCorps is a long-standing, bipartisan program and failing to use AmeriCorps funding for its intended purpose as appropriated by Congress would be a violation of the law.

Schumer led dozens of his colleagues’ in a recent letter to the President on these devastating cuts, which can be found HERE.

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