Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark celebrated a court order Thursday that paused some of the Trump administration’s cuts to AmeriCorps programming. The federal agency facilitates national volunteer service through grants and job placement in six areas: education, environment, disaster preparedness, health, economic opportunity, veterans and military families.
In April, President Donald Trump’s administration terminated nearly $400 million in AmeriCorps grants and ordered the reduction of its professional workforce. The agency placed 85% of its federal workforce on leave and informed its professional employees their contracts would be terminated on June 24.
In Vermont, the terminated grants accounted for $2.4 million in funding, impacting 200 AmeriCorps volunteer positions related to housing services, food security, school programming, flood recovery and more. Also, the administration dismissed volunteers with the National Civilian Community Corps, which impacted work at a Habitat for Humanity project in Bennington.
The cuts prompted Clark to join a coalition of attorneys general from 22 other states and the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania in a lawsuit, arguing that the Trump administration acted unlawfully.
U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman of Maryland temporarily blocked the termination of grants and ordered the agency to restore AmeriCorps and VISTA volunteers, who work to alleviate poverty by supporting local organizations, within all the states that brought the lawsuit. The judge also stated that the agency must follow legal requirements to provide the public advance notice and the opportunity to comment before major service changes are made.
“I am pleased that the Court affirmed our argument that the Trump administration lacks the authority to unilaterally cut AmeriCorps programs. This is a win for the rule of law as well as for Vermont communities, which have been well served by AmeriCorps volunteers for decades,” Clark wrote in a statement.
The judge required that AmeriCorps notify award recipients of the order by the end of Friday.
Boardman did not provide all the relief that the states sought in their lawsuit. Her order did not affect the Trump administration’s order to put the AmeriCorps’ professional workforce on forced leave or the planned cuts to those federal positions. Also, the court ordered the Trump administration to restore one group — National Civilian Community Corps volunteers, who focus on disaster relief — “to the status quo” prior to April 15. But the order limited the restoration of grants and volunteers through other AmeriCorps programs to those in states that are parties to the lawsuit.
In 2024, AmeriCorps volunteers served at over 300 locations across the state, including homeless shelters, youth centers, food banks, schools, veterans’ facilities and other organizations.
SerVermont, the State Service Commission for Vermont that oversees the bulk of AmeriCorps programs in the state, declined to further comment Friday.
