Local AmeriCorps workers serving at Community Rebuilds, the Youth Garden Project, and the City of Moab were notified of their immediate termination this week, after an order from the quasi-governmental Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) canceled $400 million in AmeriCorps grants nationwide.
The Youth Garden Project lost grant funding for its Community Garden Development VISTA position. The City of Moab lost funding for two VISTA positions—one for a sustainability specialist and one for a housing specialist who were scheduled to begin their terms in coming weeks.
The most affected organization, local affordable housing organization Community Rebuilds, was informed of lost grants for nine staff members—over 50% of the organization’s total crew.
“From drafting affordable housing plans to outreach and project management, these service members directly filled our objectives,” Community Rebuilds Executive Director Rikki Epperson said. “Not to mention being the hands on our construction sites.”
The organizations received emails from AmeriCorps stating “your [grant] award no longer effectuates agency priorities,” and requesting immediate termination of grant-funded volunteers, according to staff. Other organizations in Moab have AmeriCorps workers but were not included in the cuts.
The abrupt announcement left the organizations scrambling to make contingency plans early this week, despite imminent financial strain, in an effort to soften the blow for affected workers.
“We’re doing what we can to support the members, like going out on a limb to cover free rent for May,” Epperson said. “We are offering work exchange with increased food stipends, but can’t match AmeriCorps stipends on our own.”
Two dozen states filed a lawsuit on Tuesday over the cuts, alleging the Trump administration is trying to “dismantle” the volunteer service organization. Utah is not one of the plaintiff states as yet, nor have state officials commented on the cuts.
DOGE’s stated aim is to reduce wasteful or fraudulent government spending, a priority set by President Trump’s administration in its first 100 days, under counsel from businessman Elon Musk.
“What they’re doing is, I’m sure, illegal,” Epperson said. “This was already obligated funding. They just don’t care. Everyone’s mad and sad and feels unsafe.”
Epperson mentioned working with directors of other impacted organizations to tally up the total financial loss from cuts and hunt for alternative funding sources.
The Impact of AmeriCorps in Moab
Moab locals familiar with the AmeriCorps program say that the volunteer-based program should be low on the list of cuts.
“I don’t think sad even illustrates what I’m feeling,” Emily Niehaus, Community Rebuilds founder and former Moab mayor, told the Sun. “I’m at the point where it’s so awful I want to come up with a new emoji. You’d think the low-paid volunteers of our community would be safe.”
AmeriCorps was founded in 1993 as a homeland version of the international Peace Corps program, sending fresh, talented graduates to build gap-year work experience while providing services to the underserved at local organizations.
AmeriCorps is the federal agency for “national service and volunteerism,” the program’s mission statement reads. Volunteers are assigned to diverse projects including mentoring students, supporting disaster recovery, helping older adults age with dignity, and helping build affordable housing.
Niehaus emphasized how the program used public spending to solve complex social issues, which the private sector can’t tackle as readily, at a low cost.
“Our senators and congressmen need to step in and say we’re trimming muscle instead of fat,” Niehaus said. “We’re going to end up an unhealthy nation in the name of falsified fiscal responsibility.”
“I don’t disagree that waste, fraud, and abuse need to be cut down,” Kaitlin Myers, Moab City council member, told the Sun. “But the way this administration is going about it is short-term catastrophic to local business models.”
If finding cost savings within the government is the goal, said Myers, “service workers making less than $20k a year aren’t an effective cut.”
Another point of concern for Myers is that Moab and other rural areas may lose the workforce development tool that AmeriCorps has become—attracting public servants who eventually become community leaders.
Myers became the first AmeriCorps VISTA worker in Housing and Economic Development for the Grand County Planning Department in 2016. Since then, she leapt into local leadership as the Moab Area Community Land Trust’s executive director and elected city council member.
Several of her colleagues at the City of Moab also came to the area as AmeriCorps volunteers, and all of Youth Garden Project’s permanent staff also began their careers in Moab as AmeriCorps.
“There will be an immediate negative impact,” Myers said. “It’s a reduction in workforce, which means there will be a reduction in services. Nonprofits are going to have to look at budgets and decide how to move forward.”
In addition to long-term volunteers, DOGE cuts impacted AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps services—traveling teams of volunteers who often contributed to local projects run by organizations like Rim to Rim Restoration.
“Watching this play out in Moab is frustrating because it’s the people at the bottom—the people in service working the hardest—being impacted,” Myers said. “They’re not targeting the bloated middle part of the government.”
Karen Pieces is one of nine Community Rebuilds apprentices who have been laid off. In an interview with the Sun, Pieces said that she sold her house and almost all belongings to join CR’s build team in Moab.
“Living in Moab, working alongside my peers and the homeowners has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life,” she said. Now her future—and that of the program—is up in the air.
For more information or to contribute privately, go to www.communityrebuilds.org and www.youthgardenproject.org.
Appreciate the coverage? Help keep local news alive.
Chip in to support the Moab Sun News.