Interstate 40 construction from causeway in North Carolina
Watch video of the Interstate 40 construction from causeway in North Carolina near the Tennessee state line nearly a year after Hurricane Helene.
- The federal government will release $184 million in AmeriCorps funds previously withheld.
- The funds will support North Carolina’s recovery efforts from Tropical Storm Helene.
- A lawsuit by 22 attorneys general and two governors challenged the funding freeze.
The federal government has agreed to release $184 million in AmeriCorps funds it “unlawfully froze,” North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson told the Citizen Times Aug. 29. Those funds directly impacted jobs and grants supporting Western North Carolina’s Tropical Storm Helene recovery, he said.
After a federal judge ordered the Trump administration in June to restore AmeriCorps programs the agency suddenly cut two months before, the Office of Management and Budget withheld $184 million in funding nationwide, according to court filings. North Carolina was due to receive “millions,” Jackson said.
Jackson, alongside a coalition of 22 other attorneys general and two governors, filed a motion Aug. 7 to stop the “unlawful withholding” of funds already appropriated by Congress. It came as their latest push in a lawsuit filed in April, challenging what they said was an unlawful dismantling of AmeriCorps by Republican President Donald Trump’s administration.
The federal government said in a court filing Aug. 28 that the budget office has approved the plan for the $184 million and all AmeriCorps funds appropriated by Congress for this fiscal year “have now been apportioned and allocated.”
“On the last day the federal government had to respond to our lawsuit, they decided to cave,” Jackson told the Citizen Times in a phone interview.
“The federal government has now agreed to release every dollar it unlawfully froze, meaning the AmeriCorps programs currently operating in West North Carolina can keep people employed and keep doing the recovery work.”
AmeriCorps expects to receive the funds from the U.S. Treasury by Sept. 2 and plans to distribute them by the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, according to a copy of the filing obtained by the Citizen Times. This money is crucial for Helene recovery in WNC, Jackson said in the release.
The lawsuit came after an April visit by a Department of Government Efficiency team to AmeriCorps’ Washington, D.C., headquarters and amid ongoing efforts to “get the agency aligned with the Administration,” Interim Agency Head Jennifer Tahmasebi wrote in an April 17 email included in the suit.
AmeriCorps’ National Civilian Community Corps told workers April 15 they would exit the program early and must leave town — reporting back to their Louisiana campus — by the next morning, according to local volunteers working with the members and an email obtained by USA TODAY.
Over 50 AmeriCorps members were serving throughout North Carolina on Helene recovery efforts and at least 16 of these workers were helping rebuild Helene-damaged homes and staff distribution sites with Asheville Habitat for Humanity and United Way of Asheville-Buncombe, the Citizen Times reported.
The message sending them home early said DOGE’s cost-cutting initiatives impacted its “ability to sustain program operations,” the Citizen Times reported. Nationwide, 750 National Civilian Community Corps volunteers and more than $400 million for service programs were terminated.
Just over a week later, on April 25, AmeriCorps terminated another 84 members across three different projects in WNC, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
The second round of cuts included 24 members helping with land and wildlife conservation in WNC through Project Conserve, the Citizen Times reported. The cuts also impacted Project POWER members in Buncombe County who helped combat food insecurity with MANNA Foodbank, hosted afterschool programs, developed youth programs, assisted with FEMA applications and more.
On June 5, U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman in Baltimore issued an injunction requiring the AmeriCorps to reinstate millions of dollars in grants and restore thousands of volunteer service workers who had been sent home when the agency ended their program early.
After agreeing to release the remaining funds still withheld after Boardman’s injunction, attorneys for the federal governement wrote in their Aug. 28 response that the parties are discussing what the appropriate next steps are in the lawsuit.
AmeriCorps programs typically run from September through July. Despite the delay in funding, Jackson said he believes it will still be possible to run those programs this year.
“It’s unfortunate that they had to go through this ordeal of an attempt to defund them, but now that we are past that, I think they are going to march right along,” Jackson said.
The projects in North Carolina that can now continue include:
- Project MARS with Big Brothers Big Sisters of WNC: employs 45 people who served 18 western North Carolina counties after Helene by delivering supplies and meals to homebound and stranded families, distributing food and clothing, assisting shelters and crisis hotlines, and supporting schools as they reopened.
- Project Conserve: employs 25 people who partnered with local organizations in 25 WNC counties after Hurricane Helene to perform debris removal, tree replanting, storm-system repairs and rain-barrel distribution.
- Project POWER: employs 14 people who assisted more than 10,500 people affected by disasters in Buncombe, Henderson, and Madison counties by coordinating large-scale food donations, setting up distribution sites, conducting wellness checks and managing cleanup efforts.
- Programs that provide literacy services, community gardens, support for future teachers in rural communities, mental health support for students, and food and grocery distribution.
This story will be updated.
Ryley Ober is the Public Safety Reporter for Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at rober@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter @ryleyober
