Iowa
500-plus AmeriCorps members at 15 programs gone across Iowa after DOGE cuts this month
Part of a series.
When the order rescinding federal funding this year for AmeriCorps dropped on April 15, 568 people doing a wide array of service work stopped for at least 15 Iowa nonprofit, faith-based and community organizations.
Indian Creek Nature Center, the 400-acre Cedar Rapids attraction with scenic trails, an amphitheater, outdoor classrooms for children and classes, abruptly lost a team of 10 that did more work removing invasive species and conducting prairie burning in six weeks than the staff and volunteers could do all year.
But it lost the possibility of having any more corps members return for the rese of what was supposed to be eight months of service work.
“We hope there is a pathway for these programs to come back,” director John Myers said. “These people only get paid a stipend for what really is a national public service program that enables young people to get on-the-job experience.”
President Donald Trump and DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, have made headlines over the past four months amid roughly 140 executive orders, slashing tens of thousands of federal workers and laying waste to a wide array of federally funded programs amid campaign promise to squeeze the size of the budget and ease mostly wealthier Americans’ tax burden.
However, President Trump’s federal government has spent about $220 billion more in his first 100 days compared with the same period last year, and is spending more every day than was spent in nine of the last 10 years, according to a analysis released Wednesday of the Treasury Department’s daily financial reports by CBS News.
The exception, the news agency said, was 2021, when the government was spending trillions to fight the coronavirus pandemic and prevent an economic collapse.
With a budget of roughly $1 billion, AmeriCorps has long provided on-the-ground support to essential community programs in schools, food banks, homeless shelters, youth organizations, veterans’ facilities and other nonprofits — in much the same way the Peace Corps does abroad.
But there one day and gone the next was a helping hand for a wide mix of Iowa organizations with disparate needs: Iowa Legal Aid had been using corps members to help Iowans access legal information, resources and support.
Youth Connect, based at Iowa State University, used corps members to help with a child-welfare program, helping youth transition from foster care to independent living.
The University of Iowa had obtained an AmeriCorps grant to expand its public health program.Polk County Conservation had been using its funding for an environmental education program, engaging Polk County teens, building its volunteer programming and increasing adaptive programming with veterans.
The Economic Development Authority of Iowa used AmeriCorps members to address food insecurity and provide resources for Iowans in need.
World Relief, the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals in Scott County and Camp Fire Heart of Iowa, both received funding so corps members could do self-sufficiency work with refugees.
Since 1993, when AmeriCorps was created in the National and Community Service Trust Act signed by President Bill Clinton, the program enjoyed bipartisan support in Congress, sending tens of thousands of corps members into American communities.
The abrupt end this month to funding for AmeriCorps programs in all 50 states, several territories and Washington, D.C., promises to shutter more than 1,000 programs and end service opportunities for more than 32,000 AmeriCorps workers, according to America’s Service Commissions, the nonprofit that represents AmeriCorps’ state and territorial service commissions.
Chad Driscoll, training and technical assistance manager for the ASC and a Bondurant City Council member, is among those urging Iowans to contact their congressional delegation to protect the national service program.
Driscoll could not be reached April 30 for comment.
The White House, when it rescinded an estimated $400 million in remaining federal funding this month, cited “improper” payments totaling over $40 million to AmeriCorps, which already had been reported and largely addressed. About 85% of its 500 employees were sent home, uncertain of the program’s future.
Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, which also lost AmeriCorps funding, said the money was rescinded “in an effort by the federal government to rebuild the program,” according to Alex Murphy, communications director. “Iowa HHS is reviewing the areas impacted and determining what priority programming can be absorbed elsewhere.”
The cuts prompted about two-dozen states, including Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota, to sue the Trump administration for cancelling grants worth millions for projects across the country from the independent federal agency. It alleges DOGE illegally reneged on $557 million in congressionally approved funding this year. The state of Iowa is not a part of that federal lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges shutting down AmeriCorps violates both the Administrative Procedures Act and the separation of powers under the U.S. Constitution.
“Congress has created AmeriCorps and the programs it administers, and the president cannot incapacitate the agency’s ability to administer appropriated grants or carry out statutorily assigned duties. Further, by dismantling AmeriCorps and its programs, which are creatures of Congress, the Trump administration has violated the executive branch’s obligation to take care that the law is faithfully executed,” a press release issued by Minnesota’s attorney general says.
At stake for those serving in AmeriCorps positions in Iowa were promised stipends and access to certain student loans. Those in AmeriCorps’ National Civilian Community Corps received basic expenses and housing for roughly 10 months of service.