200 West Virginians without work after AmeriCorps DOGE cuts
BRIDGEPORT, W.Va (WDTV) - Around 200 West Virginians are now without work.
This time, the cuts have hit an often invisible volunteer organization that gives thousands of Americans an opportunity to serve their community every year: AmeriCorps.
As of Friday, April 25, approximately $400M in AmeriCorps grant funding has been cancelled nationally.
Now, programs across the state are scrambling to figure out how to continue service without a large portion of their staff.
“The closure of Flipside AmeriCorps is not the closure of the Flipside Afterschool Program. However, it is the termination of 80 percent of my staff. And so what can I do with 80 percent less people? I can’t realistically do the same things,” says Shannon Yost, the Director of the Flipside Afterschool Program, “So the program’s not going away in terms of the afterschool program, but it will not be as robust and it will not be what we really wanted it to be.”
Until this week, Flipside was staffed almost entirely with AmeriCorps members.
Yost tells us that even though the program will continue for now, they are limited in what they are able to accomplish without the AmeriCorps service members.
Another group grappling with similar issues is High Rocks, an educational program that serves all 55 counties in West Virginia.
High Rocks says that they are concerned that the absence of these programs will have a larger impact on communities across the state.
“Here at High Rocks we have AmeriCorps members who are farmers, they are literally growing food that goes to our local schools - it’s part of the farmers market - this area is a food desert,” says Leah Deitz, Director of Development at High Rocks, “Without that service, who else is doing that? Who else is providing that for communities?“
The DOGE cuts have impacted over 1,000 AmeriCorps programs nationwide, laying off more than 30,000 members.
From what program officials can tell, the selection of services chosen for termination seems to be all but random.
“The cuts that were rolled out across the country, there is no rhyme or reason to them,” says High Rocks Director, Sarah Riley.
Leah Deitz adds, “This is not a compliance issue, it’s not a federal administration focus change issue. We weren’t out of compliance. And there’s no continuity between the programs, it’s not like we were all doing to same thing or there was overlap in our missions. It’s very random.“
Flipside and High Rocks will continue even without AmeriCorps service members.
However, program leaders tell us that for the young men and women who have dedicated their time to serving their communities, these terminations have a larger impact than just a missed paycheck.
“AmeriCorps members, they’re not employees. They’re volunteers who get a living stipend. And that means they’re not eligible for unemployment. There’s no safety net, there’s no cushion,” says Riley.
Shannon Yost adds that the cuts are taking away options for students, “You are basically taking away the workplace pathway for these students who then were interested in becoming teachers or educational professionals. You’re really are doing not only the programs a detriment but you’re doing the whole community a detriment.”
Copyright 2025 WDTV. All rights reserved.
