Every year, the U.S. National Civilian Community Corps, better known as AmeriCorps NCCC, organizes teams of volunteers to help communities across the U.S. with environmental work, including habitat restoration, emergency response and wildfire mitigation. It’s also the latest federal agency on the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) chopping block. Most of the staff have been placed on leave and volunteers abruptly sent home.
AmeriCorps was created in 1993 to engage Americans in community service. A diverse group of nearly 200,000 members and volunteers are placed across all 50 states annually. More than 2,000 volunteers are young people, aged 18-26. In exchange for 10 months of service, participants receive housing and a stipend of roughly $4,000, and become eligible for an education award of up to $7,400.
Former volunteer Maria Wilkinson said in a commentary for the New Hampshire Bulletin that the cuts to AmeriCorps remove “a path of purpose, growth, and opportunity for thousands of young Americans. Cutting AmeriCorps NCCC isn’t a budgetary win. It’s a national loss.”
The 2025 budget for AmeriCorps was $1.3 billion. A 2022 study found that for every federal dollar spent, AmeriCorps volunteers generate as much as $34 in value.
Their work can include helping the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in a subgroup called FEMA Corps. They’re trained to support disaster recovery following increasingly common extreme weather events, such as Hurricane Helene that devastated the U.S. Southeast. DOGE has already fired more than 200 FEMA employees.
Volunteers also commonly work in the national parks. Earlier this year, DOGE fired roughly 1,000 park service employees and directed park administrators to rely more on volunteers and seasonal staff.
AmeriCorps volunteers are normally one of the best sources of support for the parks, Adam Auerbach, a former AmeriCorps volunteer and park ranger, wrote in the National Parks Traveler. They “carry out necessary projects that park staff alone simply would not be able complete,” he said.
Similarly, roughly 3,400 employees were recently fired from the U.S. Forest Service; a key part of their work is managing forests to mitigate the growing risk of wildfire amid climate change. AmeriCorps, through a partnership called Forest Corps, trains volunteers in all manner of wildfire mitigation, including “hazardous fuels reduction, protecting threatened habitats, conducting prescribed burns [and] wildlife surveys,” according to the AmeriCorps website — work they won’t be able to do as the summer fire season approaches.
Wildfire-prone states like California will be especially hurt by the loss, prompting California Governor Gavin Newsom to post on social media that, “California will be suing to stop this.”
Of the broader impact to the spirit of service, Newsom said on a state website that this is a “federal government that gives the middle finger to volunteers serving their fellow Americans.”
Mongabay reached out to AmeriCorps but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
Banner image: AmeriCorps volunteers working in wildfire management. Image courtesy of AmeriCorps.
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