For decades, the AmeriCorps program has sent millions of volunteers into communities around the U.S. to assist with projects that range from tutoring young people and building homes to maintaining national parks and supporting older Americans. In April, Trump’s newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, lead by billionaire Elon Musk, aggressively slashed the agency by placing around 75% of its staff on administrative leave. Nearly 1,000 AmeriCorps projects were terminated, abruptly leaving tens of thousands of volunteers high and dry with stipends and healthcare coverage abruptly cut. In Berkshire County, at least two organizations are feeling the crunch.
“The abruptness of the cancelation, the thoughtlessness of the cancelation around this action- And we've seen it across so many other aspects of what the Trump administration is doing, which is shoot first and ask questions later," said Greenagers Executive Director Will Conklin. “Just the idea to cancel a project that upends the lives of 30,000 people- 30,000 people that are getting paid at the lowest ends of the spectrum of pay, and saying to them, your lives are upended, you don't have a safety net- Good luck. It's horrific, it's terrible.”
The South Egremont group connects young people with work and skill-building in environmental conservation, natural resource management, sustainable farming, and more.
“We got that notice on a Friday evening and that our grant was terminated, effective immediately, and that led to the ensuing weeks of scrambling to first figure out how to do right by these AmeriCorps folks that had poured their heart and soul into work since last September for us," Conklin told WAMC.
Conklin says the AmeriCorps volunteers are already working hard in the Berkshires.
“They've been out in the community, working on local trails," he said. "They've been in local schools, working with our public-school children on a whole array of projects, and so their lives are just totally thrown up in the air and the decisions they've made around this career path.”
It's a bitter pill to swallow for both the volunteers and the organization.
“Thankfully for our folks, their lodging and is not tied up into this necessarily," Conklin sighed. "But when folks sign up for AmeriCorps, often they're basing their livelihoods their housing and education award that is now getting prorated, so where folks were kept counting on a certain credit towards their student debt or future education, now that's getting curtailed, and often their healthcare is tied to this. So, it's a really cruel move and it's really hard to see.”
Like Greenagers, Pittsfield-based Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity also saw support for its AmeriCorps volunteers evaporate overnight.
“There is a legal effort right now with 21 states to try to reverse this," said CEO Carolyn Valli. "But in the meantime, these are real human beings that were serving their community on poverty wages, and now the rug has really just been pulled out from under them.”
Valli says the volunteers play a significant role in Habitat’s efforts to expand affordable hosusing in the Berkshire community.
“They actually work to build homes, actual homes," she told WAMC. "And one of our theories of change was, we know that there is a very large shortage of people in the construction and the trades fields. So, we were using this AmeriCorps program as a way to train people to be able to go into the trades to solve this long-term problem that not just Habitat has, but our entire community has. And we were very excited because we had three of our AmeriCorps members that have been with us for about a year and a half that have been trained and now are licensed in hoisting. We're trying to get them accredited to be able to go on and get living wage jobs. So, we know our program works, except now we are no longer going to have the funding to do that work”
Valli says the cuts are going to have a very real impact on Berkshire County.
“We're worried that it's going to slow down our construction of homes," she said. "It's certainly going to drive up the cost of those homes, and it does make us very fearful for other nonprofits that are experiencing what I really have- The only other option, in my mind, is to call it this attack. So it is, seems to be an attack on nonprofits in particular, and we're not really sure why. We're doing good work, we're working hard, we're achieving our goals, and yet we see attacks on Head Start, on food insecurity programs, obviously on Habitat, Greenagers. I'm just worried about, what is going to happen to the people that live in our community without resources available to them?”
“The ethos and the idea behind AmeriCorps is one of the most patriotic and nonpartisan things that I can think of in terms of giving young folks an introduction into different communities from theirs,” Conklin said.
Both Greeangers and Habitat are asking the community to step in and support the volunteers. Conklin says Greenagers has to recoup $140,000 this year just to start.
“With a community-based organization like Greenagers, the first is to reach out to the community and say, hey, we could use some help," he told WAMC. "We'd love to honor our commitments to the AmeriCorps members even if the feds have not."
Valli says Habitat has received a $5,000 grant from anonymous donors with another $5,000 on the table until June 1st if other local givers can match it.
“I'm really hoping that the community steps up and says, yes, I have a little bit of extra money, maybe I can support this and help us build more affordable homes, because we have over 200 prescreen applications right now looking for housing, and more than half of them don't make enough money to qualify," she told WAMC. "But there's another big section of those that are paying more than 50% of their income on rent right now, and most of those are at a rent that is higher than what it would be to purchase a Habitat home.”
