Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield and a coalition of other attorneys general successfully reversed a $184 million federal cut to AmeriCorps. However, some places that relied on the program are still reeling from the initial cut.
Some organizations that relied on AmeriCorps funding had already begun making cuts and laying people off after the first announcement. In Douglas County and southern Oregon, the organization that managed AmeriCorps members, United Community Action Network, had begun letting people go.
Kasey Hovik, the executive director of Umpqua Watersheds, said the back and forth between cuts and the lawsuit has resulted in delays and uncertainty. While the Roseburg conservation organization was able to retain its sole AmeriCorps member through member support, Hovik says other organizations have not been as lucky.
“When they took the funding away, [it was] like taking a wrecking ball to the old program, because it dismantled that,” said Hovik. “They sent all the AmeriCorps members home. They had to go home and find other jobs. So they left our communities.”
There were around 2000 AmeriCorps members working in Oregon in 2024. Even with the money, Hovik adds that the cuts and lawsuit have already derailed the application process for the upcoming year.
“Normally, we'd [have] already submitted an application to have a member next year. But [UNAC and] AmeriCorps had to suspend all their programs,” said Hovik. “We normally would have recruited next year's members already. So everything is on hold until we see what happens.”
