AmeriCorps at risk: What federal cuts mean for Minnesota

Originally published on MPR News

For more than 30 years, AmeriCorps has been a powerful driver of national public service.

The federally funded program was launched in 1993 under President Bill Clinton with a simple but powerful idea that people of all ages and backgrounds could serve their communities.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have joined AmeriCorps to tutor students, support seniors, clean up parks and rivers, assist during disasters and strengthen communities across the country, including here in Minnesota.

That work is now at risk.

Because of deep federal budget cuts by the Trump administration, 85 percent of AmeriCorps staff members are currently on administrative leave. Many have been told their jobs will come to an end this June.

For the communities that rely on them — especially rural areas, low-income neighborhoods and schools already stretched thin—the loss could be staggering.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks about the work AmeriCorps does in Minnesota and why it matters.

Guest:

• Brooke Rivers is a former AmeriCorps member and executive director of Reading Partners Minnesota, a nonprofit organization that recruits and trains people to teach reading to students in under-resourced schools.
• Jesse Chang is a former AmeriCorps member and national service program director with Literacy Minnesota. He used to oversee the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits AmeriCorps VISTA program.

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Header image credit: Nikhil Kumaran | MPR News