Beginning in April 2025, the Trump administration moved to shut down AmeriCorps by canceling roughly $396.5 million in grants, placing most of the agency’s staff on administrative leave, and sending home tens of thousands of volunteers. The AmeriCorps cuts have since been partly blocked by two federal court injunctions, rejected in part by a bipartisan Senate committee vote, and followed by the release of $184 million in funds the White House had continued to withhold. The agency is still operating, but its future depends on unresolved litigation and a pending FY2026 appropriations fight.
What the Administration Did in April 2025
On April 15, 2025, AmeriCorps demobilized hundreds of members of the National Civilian Community Corps, the residential program that handles disaster preparedness and environmental conservation work, and placed them on administrative leave. The next day, the agency placed hundreds more headquarters and field employees on administrative leave, leaving only a handful of senior officials active. Nearly half of the agency’s roughly 600-person workforce had already accepted deferred resignation offers.1Politico. DOGE Comes for AmeriCorps Staff in Washington and Across the Country
On April 25, the agency issued termination notices for 1,031 grants totaling about $396.5 million. The notices said the awards “no longer effectuate agency priorities” and offered no further explanation. They covered 838 AmeriCorps State and National awards ($371.1 million), 145 VISTA awards ($9.3 million), 18 Volunteer Generation Fund awards ($7.8 million), 16 AmeriCorps Seniors awards ($2.7 million), and smaller research and Day of Service grants. Recipients were told the termination was “final agency action and is not administratively appealable” and were instructed to stop all work immediately.2Justia. State of Maryland et al v. Corporation for National and Community Service et al3Voices for Service. DOGE Orders Major Cuts to AmeriCorps Funding, Imperiling Agency’s Work
Notices went to organizations in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Roughly 80 percent of AmeriCorps State and National programs received one, and some states lost every program.4Afterschool Alliance. Widespread AmeriCorps Grant Terminations Will Have a Devastating Impact Remaining staff who had not resigned or been fired were scheduled for termination on June 24, 2025, which would have reduced the workforce from about 720 to 116.5NPR. Trump’s Gutting of AmeriCorps Hits Hard for Both Volunteers and Communities
Who Lost What
The cuts displaced more than 32,000 AmeriCorps members and AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers, most of them young adults working in education, disaster recovery, environmental stewardship, and public health. Members were told to pack up and leave their work sites immediately. Many lost their living stipends and were left uncertain about whether they would still receive their education awards, keep health insurance, or qualify for federal unemployment benefits.5NPR. Trump’s Gutting of AmeriCorps Hits Hard for Both Volunteers and Communities
In schools, AmeriCorps members had staffed reading and math tutoring, after-school programs, and early childhood literacy work. California districts using AmeriCorps tutors reported closures and canceled programs; a family resource center in Madera shut down in May 2025 after losing its federal support.6EdSource. AmeriCorps Cuts Slash Support Services, Programs for Vulnerable Communities A Michigan tutoring program serving 3,740 students received a stop-work order that effectively canceled its 2025–26 school year.7Michigan Advance. DOGE Cuts to AmeriCorps Leave Michigan Tutoring Program Searching for New Funding Jumpstart for Young Children had grants terminated across three states, forcing university-based preschool literacy sites to close before the school year ended.8Education Week. Tutoring, After-School, and Other Student Services at Risk as Trump Cuts AmeriCorps
NCCC and FEMA Corps teams that deploy to disaster zones were effectively deactivated when members were sent home in April. The AmeriCorps Seniors program, which coordinates nearly 200,000 older volunteers providing daily living assistance to other seniors, was also hit with terminations. Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican, said publicly that the cuts affected programs providing hurricane recovery support and services for veterans in his state.3Voices for Service. DOGE Orders Major Cuts to AmeriCorps Funding, Imperiling Agency’s Work
The Administration’s Stated Reason
The termination notices themselves said only that the awards no longer aligned with agency priorities. White House spokesperson Anna Kelly gave a more specific justification, stating that “AmeriCorps has failed eight consecutive audits and identified over $45 million in improper payments in 2024 alone.”5NPR. Trump’s Gutting of AmeriCorps Hits Hard for Both Volunteers and Communities
The audit record is more mixed than that statement conveys. The agency’s Inspector General confirmed that AmeriCorps had been unable to produce auditable financial statements for eight consecutive years, and independent auditors issued a disclaimer of opinion for fiscal year 2024, identifying five material weaknesses.9AmeriCorps OIG. Audit of AmeriCorps Fiscal Year 2024 National Service Trust Financial Statements A separate OIG payment integrity audit, however, found that AmeriCorps met eight of ten compliance requirements under the Payment Integrity Information Act for FY2024, with deficiencies in only two areas. That report listed zero dollars in questioned costs and zero dollars in funds for better use. The specific “$45 million in improper payments” figure cited by the White House did not appear in either report.10Oversight.gov. AmeriCorps Compliance With the Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019, Fiscal Year 2024
The Courts Stepped In
On April 29, 2025, a coalition of 23 attorneys general, the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia sued in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. Led by Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown and New York Attorney General Letitia James, the coalition argued that the cuts were “unlawful, arbitrary and capricious,” violated the Administrative Procedure Act, and intruded on Congress’s power of the purse. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser framed the core constitutional argument bluntly: if the president opposes the law, the answer is to ask Congress to change it, not to dismantle the program unilaterally.11Office of the New York Attorney General. Attorney General James Joins Coalition to Stop Dismantling of AmeriCorps12Courthouse News Service. Judge Orders Trump Administration to Restore AmeriCorps Services in 24 States
The June 5 Injunction
On June 5, 2025, U.S. District Judge Deborah L. Boardman granted a preliminary injunction for the state coalition. She found that the administration likely violated the Administrative Procedure Act by skipping the advance notice and public comment period that AmeriCorps’s own appropriation bill required before substantial changes to national service programs. The agency, she noted, had announced the terminations after business hours on a Friday with no prior warning. She wrote that “AmeriCorps members are not fungible” and could not simply be replaced once let go.12Courthouse News Service. Judge Orders Trump Administration to Restore AmeriCorps Services in 24 States
The order required the administration to restore terminated programs in the plaintiff states, reinstate more than 750 NCCC members, and stop making further closures without notice-and-comment procedures. Judge Boardman denied the states’ request to reverse the staff reductions in force, finding those harms too speculative. The order also applied only to the 25 jurisdictions that had sued, leaving programs elsewhere without protection.13Maryland Matters. Judge Rules That Trump Administration Must Restore AmeriCorps as Litigation Continues
A Second Injunction
A separate lawsuit brought by AmeriCorps grantees, service members, and the AmeriCorps employees’ union (AFSCME Local 2027), represented by Democracy Forward, produced a second preliminary injunction on July 7, 2025, also from the U.S. District Court in Maryland. That ruling likewise blocked the plan to eliminate nearly 90 percent of the workforce, cancel more than 1,000 grants, and pull NCCC members from the field. The court found that the president lacked “unilateral power to cut or end AmeriCorps grants and service programs.”14Democracy Forward. AmeriCorps Preliminary Injunction Win
The Fight Over $184 Million in Withheld Funds
Even after the June injunction, the White House Office of Management and Budget continued to withhold $184 million in competitive grants and senior service funding that Congress had already appropriated. On July 24, the state coalition filed an amended complaint adding OMB as a defendant. California Attorney General Rob Bonta said OMB was sitting on more than $38 million meant for California alone, including funding for Senior Companion and Foster Grandparent programs.15Office of the California Attorney General. Attorney General Bonta Challenges Trump Administration’s Withholding of AmeriCorps Funding
The coalition moved for another preliminary injunction on August 8. Facing an August 28 deadline to respond, the administration chose not to oppose the motion and told the court it would release the full $184 million “as quickly as possible.” The release covered programs in all states, not just those that had joined the lawsuit, and secured pay for volunteers and staff through the current year.16Office of the Maryland Attorney General. Attorney General Brown Prevents $184 Million Cut to AmeriCorps Service Programs17Office of the New York Attorney General. Attorney General James Stops Dismantling of AmeriCorps Programs
Because the June injunction covered only plaintiff states, AmeriCorps programs in the other jurisdictions were left in limbo for weeks. Stop-service orders from April remained in effect in many Republican-led states through at least mid-June, and with 85 percent of agency staff on leave, there were few people left at AmeriCorps to process restorations even where the court had ordered them.18Chalkbeat. AmeriCorps Injunction Leaves Behind Rural Communities
The FY2026 Elimination Proposal
The administration’s fiscal year 2026 budget request went beyond the April cuts and asked Congress to eliminate AmeriCorps outright. It sought $107.7 million, a decrease of more than $1.15 billion from the enacted FY2025 level, with every dollar dedicated to the “orderly shutdown” of operations: $43.3 million for workforce reduction costs, $20.9 million for a final year of NCCC operations, and $11.5 million to wind down remaining grants.19AmeriCorps. FY 2026 AmeriCorps Congressional Budget Justification One analysis estimated the proposal would eliminate 71,000 service positions if enacted.20Afterschool Alliance. FY 2026 Budget Proposal Details Released
On July 31, 2025, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education spending bill by a bipartisan 26–3 vote, with Vice Chair Patty Murray noting that the legislation “rejects” the president’s plan to end AmeriCorps.21U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee. Senate Appropriations Committee Approves Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Bills Final spending legislation had not been enacted.
Where Things Stand
As of early 2026, AmeriCorps is operating but not stable. The agency posted a FY2026 State and National competitive grant solicitation with a March 31, 2026 application deadline and expects to notify successful applicants by mid-June 2026.22AmeriCorps. FY 2026 AmeriCorps State and National Grants The solicitation warns that it “does not obligate AmeriCorps to award any specific number of grants or to commit any amount of funding” and that actual awards depend on available appropriations.23AmeriCorps. 2026 AmeriCorps State and National Notice of Funding Opportunity
A federal funding lapse at the start of FY2026 in October 2025 added another constraint. During the lapse, AmeriCorps could not close out grants, extend dates, review applications, or issue new awards. Existing grants from FY2025 and earlier continued to operate, and FEMA Corps members kept serving under separate disaster-response funding, but traditional NCCC members could not be deployed on new projects.24America’s Service Commissions. ASC Statement on FY26 Federal Funding Lapse
The core conflict is unresolved. Two federal courts have said the executive branch cannot dismantle AmeriCorps on its own; the administration’s budget still asks Congress to do exactly that; and the Senate committee vote suggests Congress is unlikely to agree, though a final appropriations bill has not passed. For programs and volunteers, that means restored grants and released funds in the short term, and continued uncertainty about whether the agency will be funded on the same scale next year.