AmeriCorps Program Gets Its Funding Back After DOGE Cuts

More than 200,000 AmeriCorps volunteers lost their jobs during April’s defunding of federal agencies by the Elon Musk–led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Among those forcibly laid off were 25 volunteers working in agencies across Santa Barbara County. On Friday, August 29, the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) re-funded $184 million to AmeriCorps nationwide, of which $11.5 million comes to California.

In Santa Barbara, AmeriCorps operates under the umbrella group, Partnership for Veterans and People Experiencing Homelessness. This group places AmeriCorps volunteers in nonprofits and government agencies that work with military veterans and people needing shelter. Most volunteers serve as case workers, handling required paperwork and finding needed housing. The lead agency for the partnership, Northern Santa Barbara County United Way, receives the funds for AmeriCorps and works with the California Volunteers commission to bring funding and volunteers together.

Lyiam Galo, chief impact officer for Northern Santa Barbara County United Way, said that he had been checking the budget at an internal web platform on Wednesday morning when he was surprised to see that the program had received notice of the funding. According to State Attorney General Rob Bonta, the Trump administration was due to file a response to the lawsuit filed by a coalition of states, that included California, hoping to restore AmeriCorps funding. Instead, OMB released the previously withheld funds.

To say Galo was happy at the news is an understatement. “You can draw a direct line from our program to people being housed,” he said. At least 2,000 people were served by the AmeriCorps volunteers annually, and at least 160 of them found housing. “We are going to over-obtain that number this year,” he said confidently. 

Since April, when the instruction came from DOGE to stop all activity and send everyone home, Galo said they immediately started talking with their many partners, looking for cash matches to keep their volunteers employed. The AmeriCorps volunteers in Santa Barbara  work at the county Housing Authority, Public Defenders Office,  Department of Social Services, YMCA’s program for transitional-age youth, S.B. City College, and the PATH homeless shelter. They work on a part-time or full-time basis with annual stipends ranging from $10,000 to $20,000, and an opportunity for education grants.

The emergency bridge funding was provided from the United Way, the County of Santa Barbara, the Fund for Santa Barbara, the Santa Barbara Foundation, and several other partners, Galo said. This allowed the 25 AmeriCorps volunteers to continue working which, in turn, helped more than 150 people to move off the streets and into housing since April. 

The OMB announcement means the fiscal year 2025 appropriation is being sent out and another service year can begin. “Our orientation is mid-September,” Galo said.