About 20 states sued Trump administration on tuesday Deconstructing Americaorpsmore than hundreds of millions of dollars in grant cancellations for federal volunteer services agencies 30 years ago, and for state and community projects across the United States.
The federal lawsuit was filed by Democratic state officials against the agency and its interim chief. President Donald Trump’s efforts to cut costs Government Efficiency Bureau It illegally destroyed an agency created by Congress and was discarded with grants funded through the state of Americaorps and national programs.
The agency oversees many programs that send hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of thousands of people to serve in communities across the country.
“The Trump administration and its Doge demolition team suddenly drastically cut staff and volunteers and fired grants in an attempt to demolish government agencies,” Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said in a statement. “We are calling for stopping the demolition of this illegal Americanorps and maintaining the spirit of the state and country’s community service.”
According to the complaint, at least 85% of Americanorps staff took administrative leave this month, but at least some have been notified that they will be let go due to reduced power.
On Tuesday, the White House pointed to inappropriate payments reported by Americaorps, totaling over $40 million in 2024, resulting from insufficient documentation from grantees, calculation errors and false costs.
“President Trump has the legal right to restore accountability across the administrative department,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said in an email.
Americorps employs more than 500 full-time federal workers and has an operating budget of around $1 billion.
Additionally, as part of the service program, approximately 200,000 corps members will be dispatched nationwide. Most legion members will receive live scholarships during the service and are eligible to fund future education expenses or apply for certain student loans.
A specific program, Americaorps’ National Civilian Community Corps, also covers basic expenses and housing for around 2,000 young people participating in a service period of about 10 months. Members of the Corps, working with community organizations to respond to natural disasters, are I was notified earlier this month They will be rejected soon.
As part of the Americaorps State and National Grant program, the state’s volunteer committee distributed more than $177 million in formula-based distributions and a competitive grant of $370 million that supported nearly 35,000 corps members serving nearly 300 organizations.
A reviewed copy of the Associated Press said notification of the grant termination was sent late Friday, describing “the awards no longer cause agency priorities,” and directing the project to be closed soon.
Members of the Corps will no longer participate in the program and have not received scholarships.
According to Rachel Bruns, the chief engagement officer of the American Service Commission, hundreds of millions of dollars in grants have been affected to each of the 52 state and territories volunteer committees. That includes Washington, Puerto Rico and Guam. South Dakota does not have a state volunteer committee.
Bruns said commissions in Wisconsin, Alabama, Wyoming, Oregon and Maine have reported that the entire portfolio of their grant programs have been cut.
There was no “rhyme or reason” given to the affected grantee, Bruns said. Cuts will impact projects such as after-school programs, services for veterans, food pantry and efforts to prevent child abuse and home construction.
“In some of these communities that have been affected, I don’t know what this means for these services,” Bruns said.
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