Politics
Chicago-Area Organizations Working on Everything From Youth Mentorship to Homelessness Lose Positions Following AmeriCorps Cuts
Video: Joining “Chicago Tonight” on May 5, 2025, are Patricia Rivera, the founder of Chicago Hopes for Kids, which supports students and families experiencing homelessness; Mark Mulroe, the president of A Safe Haven, a group that offers comprehensive approaches to addressing homelessness; and Mark Payne, the executive director of Public Allies Chicago, which helps underrepresented emerging leaders with pathways to education and careers. (Produced by Emily Soto)
Natasha Al-Rafie credits the AmeriCorps program with helping develop her skills that led to her current job working on alleviating homelessness in Chicago.
While serving in AmeriCorps in her early 20s, Al-Rafie worked on disaster preparedness projects with FEMA, ran community arts programs for children in Boston and worked with the University of Texas at Austin to create a sustainable food conference.
“That had a huge impact on me and where I am now,” said Al-Rafie, who served in two different programs from 2012 to 2015. “I saw what people experienced when they were in a crisis.”
The federal agency AmeriCorps oversees various volunteering programs and gives young people opportunities to work on community service projects across the U.S. The program is also the latest target of the Trump administration’s stated efforts to cut federal spending.
AmeriCorps was directed to terminate nearly $400 million in grants, with grant terminations starting to go out late last week, the Washington Post reported. The federal cuts are expected to shutter more than 1,000 programs and prematurely end the service of over 32,000 AmeriCorps members and AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers, according to the nonprofit America’s Service Commissions.
Several leaders of Chicago-area organizations with AmeriCorps programs told WTTW News they’ve notified a number of members that their positions have been cut after receiving federal grant terminations earlier this week that were effective immediately.
Leaders are now working to assess the impact the abrupt cuts will have on services.
On Tuesday, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul joined a coalition of about two dozen states in filing a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s termination of AmeriCorps grants and the dismantling of the agency after the majority of its staff was placed on leave earlier this month.
AmeriCorps NCCC FEMA Corps members working on trash collection in Baltimore, Maryland on Nov. 16, 2013. (Courtesy of Natasha Al-Rafie)
“The damage is done, the damage is critical and what they’re gonna find out is that the damages are gonna have more of a cost than their perceived savings,” said A Safe Haven Foundation President Mark Mulroe, whose organization was impacted by AmeriCorps cuts.
Five AmeriCorps VISTA members at A Safe Haven Foundation, which provides services to individuals experiencing homelessness in the Chicago area, were told Monday that there was no longer funding for their positions after the nonprofit was informed of grant terminations, according to Mulroe.
Mulroe said A Safe Haven Foundation has utilized the AmeriCorps program to help fill in needed gaps that the organization would not be able to afford otherwise.
“They just looked at it as a single line item without looking at the domino effect it’ll have in the community as these services are either lost or interrupted,” Mulroe said. “It impacts the most marginalized individuals in the community, and it also impacts people who’ve decided to take a year or two of their lives to give back to their community.”
Every year, AmeriCorps dispatched more than 200,000 individuals to serve communities across the U.S, according to the agency. AmeriCorps programs include providing services such as disaster relief, tutoring and student mentorship, working to improve health outcomes and assisting veterans.
AmeriCorps members receive an allowance to cover basic expenses, and an education award at the end of their service to help cover the cost of college or trade school.
Last year, more than 9,400 AmeriCorps members and volunteers served in Illinois with an allocation of about $34 million in federal funding, according to an agency report.
An Illinois Department of Human Services spokesperson said Tuesday the department is reviewing a grant termination notice from the federal government that represents about $12 million in cuts, impacting 26 of 33 Illinois grantees who received AmeriCorps grants through the IDHS initiative Serve Illinois.
One of those grantees who experienced cuts was Chicago HOPES for Kids, which provides support to students experiencing homelessness.
Founder Patricia Rivera said positions of 19 AmeriCorps members were cut following Serve Illinois AmeriCorps grant terminations. The organization’s AmeriCorps VISTA program, which has two AmeriCorps members, was unaffected.
“When you’re working with students who’ve experienced trauma, a reliable, well-trained volunteer base is really important,” said Executive Director Rita Kahn.
Public Allies Chicago's Veterans Service Day in 2024. (Courtesy of Mark Payne / Public Allies Chicago)
Rivera said the AmeriCorps volunteers worked directly with the children the organization serves and can act as role models.
“When you have a contract that you’ve signed that you’re willing to do this for a minimal stipend, you learn that you’re supposed to honor your contact,” Rivera said. “To have this happen at the federal level, where the federal government is not honoring a contract? There’s a lack of trust.”
In order to make up for the lost AmeriCorps volunteers, Chicago HOPES for Kids is working on bringing in volunteers from the community to continue their programming through May 15, according to Kahn. However, leaders are not certain if they can hold their summer programming.
Sinai Chicago’s 33 AmeriCorps members were impacted by the federal grant cuts, according to a spokesperson with the hospital system, who added that AmeriCorps members make up 20% of its volunteer base.
“These cuts don’t just affect service delivery — they impact our 33 corps members, many of whom rely on the living allowance or plan to use their education awards for future studies or to support family,” spokesperson Olivia Arns said in a Tuesday statement. “About 60% are aspiring healthcare professionals gaining valuable experience under clinical mentorship.”
City Year, which has a site in Chicago and is one of the largest AmeriCorps partners in the country, works with members to offer tutoring and mentorship to young students. According to City Year spokesperson Joe Zappala in a statement on Tuesday, AmeriCorps grants terminations have impacted seven of its 29 sites: Columbus, Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia and Sacramento.
Another organization Public Allies Chicago, which was founded by former first lady Michelle Obama, was impacted by the AmeriCorps cuts. In the program, AmeriCorps members, who are referred to as “allies,” are placed in an apprenticeship at a local organization to gain leadership skills.
Their current class of 20 AmeriCorps members were impacted by the cuts.
“They were in a critical point in the seventh month where they had 3 months left and it had a huge impact on them because these folks just really care about what they do,” said Public Allies Chicago Executive Director Mark Payne, who is an alum of the program.
Note: This article was published May 1, 2025, and updated with video May 5, 2025.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Contact Eunice Alpasan: [email protected]
