Across the United States, AmeriCorps members dedicate nearly a year of their lives to community service in a program often dubbed the “domestic Peace Corps.”
They work in schools, food banks, disaster relief and environmental restoration. But this spring, more than 32,000 AmeriCorps members found their service terms abruptly cut short after the Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, terminated their grants.
Among them were 135 members serving in Oregon. Most were just months away from completing their terms when they were informed that DOGE had canceled the grant funding their work — effective immediately.
“We have a group Signal chat to help just keep in touch because we’re all rural, and it can get kinda lonely,” said Ann Moorhead, an AmeriCorps member focused on emergency preparedness for Tillamook County. One day, the chat started exploding. “And suddenly everyone was like, ‘Did you see the email?’ I was like, ‘What? Email?’”
For Moorhead, who had been planning evacuations and disaster response protocols for the coastal county, the news came as a shock.
“It was instantly chaotic,” she said. “I started just randomly calling people, like I can’t just stew in this alone.”
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Milo Greenberg, who works on community resiliency after natural disasters for Northeast Oregon Economic Development District, found out when he was already on the way to spring training for Resource Assistance for Rural Environments, or RARE, AmeriCorps members. Despite the cancellation, most members traveled to Bend anyway.
“It was nice to just have a chance to be confused with everyone else, so at least we weren’t alone,” Moorhead said.
Meanwhile, in Portland, Sima Seumalo was just months away from finishing her second AmeriCorps term doing environmental science outreach with the Johnson Creek Watershed Council. Seumalo had already lined up the summer field trips and programming.
Sima Seumalo, seen in a provided photo from November 2023 in Leach Botanical Garden, was one of 135 Oregon AmeriCorps members who had their term of service ended early due to the federal government. Seumalo worked at the Outreach and Riparian Specialist at Johnson Creek Watershed Council.
Johnson Creek Watershed Council / Johnson Creek Watershed Council
“So things were running along pretty smoothly,” she said. Then came the email: Her program’s funding had also been pulled.
“All of the members I had talked to were just in shock,” said Seumalo. “Those last five days were a bit of a whirlwind. There were a lot of projects that I had to wrap up. Other projects I had to cancel entirely.”
She and fellow AmeriCorps members waited to see the result of a multi-state lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s funding decisions. Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said the lawsuit was filed because appropriate public notice was not given.
“The federal agencies have to give public notice and take comments when you make big changes like that,” said Rayfield.
“For almost two weeks we were in limbo,” Seumalo said. But on May 13, the decision was finalized. Her job ended three months early, along with her pay and a reduced education award.
“A lot of us, whether we’re hopping into our first career or our second, we sacrifice a lot to be an AmeriCorps member,” she said. “Members give a lot to the positions. I remember hearing at one point, for every dollar that’s invested in the AmeriCorps program, the community gets $35 in return.”
Related: AmeriCorps is the latest federal program pitting Northwest states against Trump administration
Despite working full-time hours and being paid a modest stipend, AmeriCorps members are classified as volunteers for the federal government, making them ineligible for unemployment benefits. Seumalo is now job-hunting and doing side gigs.
Back in Tillamook County, Moorhead worked with her supervisors and county officials to become a temporary employee so she could continue her work.
“Tillamook County did the best it could with a set budget and limited amount of time to figure this whole thing out,” she said. Ultimately, after a federal judge granted an injunction, some AmeriCorps funding was reinstated in Oregon, allowing Moorhead to complete her term — but not without substantial disruption.
“It was impersonal for sure... the federal government. They don’t know us. They don’t know what we do,” Moorhead said. “And based on how things ended, I don’t really know if anyone took the time to figure out what we do.”
Greenberg also finished his term, this time as a temporary employee of the University of Oregon, which administers the RARE AmeriCorps program he was part of. While he lost AmeriCorps benefits, like the full education award, he was able to complete his work doing resiliency planning for Northeast Oregon.
Even if the Trump administration planned to end the AmeriCorps program, Greenberg wishes it could have been done less dramatically.
“You could have just given me three months and then canceled it for next year,” he said.
Though Congress had already approved annual funding for the next AmeriCorps cycle starting August 1, the Trump administration has not released it. If no congressional funding is allocated beyond 2026, the 32-year-old AmeriCorps program will be terminated.
In addition, the majority of the federal employees who administer the grants at the Corporation for National and Community Service were laid off by DOGE. As a result, most Oregon AmeriCorps programs have shuttered, unwilling to risk enrolling a new cohort amid uncertainty.
Related: Trump’s gutting of AmeriCorps hits hard, for both volunteers and communities
Talent Business Alliance Executive Director Darby Ayers-Flood said the timing of the cuts, along with the loss of their RARE AmeriCorps position for the food bank, have had a devastating impact on a community still in wildfire recovery.
“It is a real sucker punch to withdraw funds from an established contract. These are vital resources for rural communities,” said Ayers-Flood in an email.
Moorhead agrees that the biggest disappointment is for small towns like Talent in Southern Oregon that rely on AmeriCorps members to fill needed roles.
“It’s pretty much dead and it’s not coming back... and I love the RARE program. I love it so much. I’ve seen what it does in these small communities and all the people just get so excited,” said Moorhead. “And so it’s really disappointing that that’s going to be gone. At least for now.”
Instead of welcoming new AmeriCorps members this fall, many rural communities are now left trying to fill the gap.
