Funding Cuts Threaten AmeriCorps Statewide

Advocates: Cuts would devastate community service program for college students, recent grads

By Danielle M. Smith - Public News Service
The Tube City Almanac
August 21, 2025
Posted in: State & Region

AmeriCorps members at a service project. Pennsylvania and other states are fighting against a proposed 41 percent funding cut imposed on the agency by so-called “DOGE” at the direction of Elon Musk. (AmeriCorps photo)

Federal cuts to AmeriCorps are shaking up public service opportunities for young Pennsylvanians.

The Trump administration slashed 41 percent of the agency’s funding this spring eliminating $400 million in grants and sidelining over 32,000 members nationwide.

Hillary Kane, director of the Philadelphia Higher Education Network for Neighborhood Development, said her group initially lost one of two AmeriCorps grants, which fund yearlong public service commitments with modest stipends. She noted the grants were later restored. The cut had threatened key career pathways into public service, education and health care.

Founded in 1993, AmeriCorps places college students and recent graduates in community service jobs. 

“AmeriCorps members also earn what’s called an AmeriCorps Education Award,” Kane said. “Depending on the type of service and the hours commitment they can get up to about a $7,000 scholarship that they can either use to go to college for postsecondary or they can use to pay off student loans.”

In April 2025, on the orders of the so-called U.S. Department of Governmental Efficiency, or “DOGE,” then headed by billionaire Elon Musk, 75 percent of employees were placed on leave and sent home.

Pennsylvania sued, along with 24 other states and the District of Columbia, and a federal court issued a preliminary injunction in early June, ordering programs and members to be reinstated.

Kane pointed out while her program serves Philadelphia, other AmeriCorps programs reach rural areas, such as Keystone Smiles in northwest Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Mountain Service Corps, which works with nonprofits across 15 counties in the state’s southwest and central regions.

In Allegheny County, a program called Knowledge to Empower Youth to Success, or KEYS, is funded by AmeriCorps to provide safe places for teens and young adults to participate in afterschool activities, along with homework assistance and implementing service projects.

Members serve full-time or less than full-time at one of KEYS’ partnering sites, mostly a variety of schools, after-school programs, community-based organizations and faith-based organizations.

Kane said in rural communities, AmeriCorps is a steppingstone on a path to good-paying jobs.

“There are fewer opportunities, I think, in rural communities in terms of jobs and careers,” Kane said. “This has been an important one, particularly for folks who aren’t quite ready for that next step. I mean, AmeriCorps takes everyone. We have people with Ph.Ds and master’s degrees doing AmeriCorps because it's just their passion or they want to change careers.”

Kane added their program coaches 10th–12th graders on college and career planning. Her AmeriCorps program also places members in schools, with many alumni becoming teachers in Philadelphia. She estimated about half of the 200 graduates stay in public service careers.

Danielle M. Smith is a producer for Public News Service, where this story first appeared. An award-winning radio journalist/personality with more than a decade of experience in broadcast media, she is a former audio journalist with American Urban Radio Networks and Sheridan Broadcasting Networks who also hosts a weekly community affairs show “Good News” on WGBN (1360 AM/98.9 FM). Tube City Almanac contributed to this report.

Originally published August 21, 2025.

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