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AmeriCorps cuts have local impact

DOGE scraps estimated $400M in grants to 27 groups in NJ

By: Kyle Morel
and Joe Malincoico
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... Several North Jersey programs are among more than two dozen throughout the state affected by federal grant cuts announced recently by the Department of Government Efficiency.
..... The task force overseen by Elon Musk under President Donald Trump's administration canceled about $400 million in grans handed out nationwide, a Washington Post report said. the money comes from AmeriCorps, a government organization that offers various programs to help address community services such as education, environmental conservation and poverty.
..... The cuts affect roughly 500 members of27 organizations abased in New Jersey, including groups at Montclair State University and all three Rutgers campuses, in New Brunswick, Newark and Camden. Other local groups on the list include Zufall Health Center in Dover; the Social-Emotional Learning Alliance for New Jersey in Morris Township; and st. Paul community Development Corporation in Paterson.
..... AmeriCorps participants from St. Paul's work at a food pantry, homeless shelter and elementary school program. The nonprofit corporation has 12 AmeriCorps participants for each year, with an additional 10 during the summer, said executive director Richard Williams.
..... "This seems extremely shortsighted," he said of the planned cuts.
..... Representatives from Rutgers and Montclair State did not immediately respond to request for comment.
..... Williams noted that St. Paul's has not yet gotten official word from DOGE about the termination of its AmeriCorps program, but he said he has seen his agency included on a list of likely program cuts.
..... On April 29, [2025] New Jersey Attorney Gen real Matthew Platkin filed a lawsuit along with 23 other attorneys general and two states challenging the Trump administration's decision, which included mass layoffs and placing 85% of AmeirCorps' paid staff on leave. Platkin called the move "senseless' and contended that dismantling the agency will harm the state.
..... Gutting AmeriCorps is illegal and reckless, and will deprive our communities in New Jersey of key programs that educate students with special needs, support individual in addiction recovery, and help our state rebuild after national disasters," Platkin said. "AmeriCorps volunteers serve our communities every single day, and we will stand up for the critical programs AmeriCorps supports.
..... At the St' Paul's pantry, four AmeriCorps members do almost all the work, including intakes for new clients, packing groceries for distribution and lifting heavy boxes of food, Williams said. At the shelter,an AmeriCorps participant does case management with unhoused clients in an effort to get them the services they need.
..... Williams said most of the St' Paul's sumer AmeriCorps workers are assigned to tasks at other agencies. one helps build houses with Passaic County Habitat for Humanity, for example, and six others staff youth programs at the Boys and Girls Club of Clifton.
..... On April 25, [2025] the day DOGE sounded the death knell for AmeriCorps, some St. Paul's program members participated in a garden project at school 15 in Paterson.
..... If the St. Paul's AmeriCorps program ends, the agency will try to use volunteers to fill gaps, Williams said, but he noted, "We could have a significant disruption in operations."
..... In total, the planned DOGE cuts will affect1,031 organization and more than 32,000 AmeriCorps members and senior volunteers, the Washington Post reported.

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