OPINION: Trump wants to terminate AmeriCorps. The country needs it more than ever

A sweeping blow to national service has hit America as the government moved to stifle a 30-year old program dedicated to the pursuit of progress.  

In April, President Donald Trump’s administration terminated $400 million in AmeriCorps grants—about 40% of the federal agency’s roughly billion-dollar budget. Across the country, 32,000 people, 374 in Arizona, had to stop work. Many were pulled straight from jobsites to be sent home.

However, a federal judge ruled on Thursday that the Trump administration must restore grant funding and reverse the discharge of corps members, but only for the states that sued the administration over the agency’s dismantling, according to the Associated Press.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes was among the Democratic state officials who filed a legal challenge against the dismantling of AmeriCorps. 

“AmeriCorps represents the best of public service in this country—from tutoring students in rural and low-income communities to helping seniors stay in their homes,” Mayes said in a press release. “The Trump administration’s reckless attempt to dismantle it was not just wrong, it was unlawful.” 

The judge also ruled that all National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) members who were discharged from their service terms be reinstated.

AmeriCorps is a federal agency dedicated to national service and volunteerism, engaging individuals in a variety of programs that address poverty, education, natural disasters, and other areas. It was formed in 1993 by the Clinton administration to build on service programs created in the wake of the Great Depression. AmeriCorps estimates more than 1.25 million Americans have served in the NCCC program across 36,000 locations since its inception.

Studies show as much as a $34 return on investment for every federal dollar invested into AmeriCorps.

Last summer, I would have been among those caught in limbo between layoffs and returning to work. I spent over 350 hours with AmeriCorps NCCC, part of a shortened “Summer of Service” program, and I don’t believe the millions of hours other AmeriCorps members have put towards making this country a better place were “wasteful government spending.”

I dedicated my time to constructing affordable homes with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Newburgh, in Newburgh, New York—a city facing one of the worst housing crises in the country. 

READ MORE: This is what a summer building affordable homes with AmeriCorps taught me as a journalist

“Habitat AmeriCorps members have helped build homes, revitalize neighborhoods and respond to disasters over the last three decades,” said Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International, in a press release. “Now, amid a national housing crisis, would be a terrible time to jeopardize the additional capacity these talented, passionate teams bring to local Habitat affiliates partnering with families to bring affordable homes within reach.”  

Programs range from NCCC, a team-based residential program for 18-26 year olds who support environmental stewardship, build affordable housing, assist with disaster response, and more — to Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), an office-based program to work on anti-poverty initiatives. 

Members who serve in these programs receive an education award and small wages or stipends to better understand the reality of the communities they serve.

Between January of 2023 and January of 2024, 200,000 AmeriCorps members and AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers supported student success, connected veterans to benefits, provided services to fight the opioid epidemic, helped seniors live independently, and rebuilt communities after disasters, according to the 2025 national service reports.

AmeriCorps doesn’t “break the budget” or “drain government resources;” it contributes to America’s progress in quiet, yet tangible ways, providing critical services to countless Americans every year, and it needs to be protected.

This program represents the best of what our country can be—the idea that service matters, young people can change the world without a profit motive, and the government can do good—something that the Trump administration seems intent on destroying.  

Funding here should be a nonpartisan issue. Democrats and Republicans alike have long supported AmeriCorps—in fact, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican, addressed my class of Corps Members as we departed from our service project based out of the North Central Region NCCC campus in Vinton, Iowa—congratulating us and thanking us for our commitment to making America a better place. That Iowa campus has now been vacated. 

DOGE made cuts to numerous federal agencies and fired tens of thousands of federal employees since the beginning of Trump’s second term, and his budget includes zero funding for any AmeriCorps program.

AmeriCorps NCCC and FEMA Corps were both completely dissolved, approximately 50% of the AmeriCorps State and National Projects were terminated, and more than 32,000 AmeriCorps positions nationwide were affected. Approximately 85% of the agency’s federal staff were placed on paid administrative leave.

All Arizona AmeriCorps programs experienced cuts, according to a spokesperson from the Arizona Governor’s Office of Youth, Faith and Family, which administrates Arizona’s AmeriCorps State and National funds. 

An NCCC team serving in Prescott, working on wildfire risk mitigation, was forced to leave their project halfway through, and Arizona Serve of Prescott College had its VISTA grant terminated, affecting eight members, the spokesperson said in an email. And to make matters worse, Arizona just experienced one of its worst wildfire seasons in 2024. 

I could write a book detailing the extent of loss communities will face with AmeriCorps shuttered—but the reality is, you can’t put a price tag on committing to make your community, your state, and your country a better, more equitable, place for all Americans.