MAINE MONITOR • May 9, 2025
The notice came late Friday, April 25: Federal funding for all eight AmeriCorps programs that Volunteer Maine administers in the state — $2.5 million annually — was being immediately terminated. The cuts are part of a broader Trump administration effort to dismantle AmeriCorps, a 30-year-old independent federal agency whose mission is to “improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering.” Nationwide, more than 1,000 state and national AmeriCorps programs and $400 million in grants have been axed. In Maine, the move threatens services in dozens of communities spanning all 16 counties, including programs focused on climate resiliency and conservation, and more than 120 AmeriCorps positions. “These terminations are undermining the promise we made to those who answered the call to serve. You’re going to have generational loss.”