Jabari Courtney
Towards the end of April, DOGE, headed by Elon Musk, cut over $400 million in Americorp grant funding.
Americorp program is a federally funded National Service initiative that employed hundreds of thousands of American across the county.
Americorp was created by President Bill Clinton in 1993 as a national service program to improve communities and assist those who served financially through a small stipend and educationally through an educational award.
The Americorp program is open to Americans over the age of 17 with a high school degree and helps guide its young people with their next steps, giving them career development and higher education funding for an education award.
The $400 million cut caused the Americorp programming to halt operations almost immediately.
In 2025, the program boasted around 200,000 members.
However, the DOGE cuts left many of them scrambling to take the next steps.
On Sunday, April 27th at 6:04pm, Americorp members participating in an Atlanta program, One World Link, received an email from the One World Link’s executive director, Ade Oguntoye, sharing that
“We have been instructed to pause AmeriCorps programming with immediate effect. This means members and staff can no longer serve as AmeriCorps members or staff.”
Caleb Keith was one of those cuts.
A recent Morehouse Graduate, class of 2022, he was completing his service at One World Link’s partner program the Ke’nekt Cooperative, the Ke’nekt Cooperative is a self- proclaimed black-liberated third space that hosts community programming, finances local businesses, and provides technical services near West End in Atlanta, GA.
His work helped to support small black business owners and community members in the face of rapid development around the existing community.
His service at the Ke’nekt Cooperative was connected with One World Link’s larger mission to provide support and contribute to the improved economic status of economically disinvested people throughout Georgia.
“It’s really disheartening and random to wipe out programs that are made to help everyday people,” Keith said.
Similarly, on May 29th, Job Corps received a gut due to a “pause of operations” announced by the Department of Labor for all contractor-operated Job Corps centers.
Young adults who lived in Job Corps career training center faced unexpected homelessness as the Department of Labor cut contracts across the nation.
Graduates face a tougher job market this year, with unemployment rates up 1.2% from last year.
“It’s really not fair expecting to have an experience only for it to end for essentially no reason. It hurts a lot of people.” Keith said.
Fortunately, Caleb was able to continue employment with the Ke’nekt outside of the Americorp program; however, not all Americorp members have the same opportunity.
Organizations like the America’s Service Commissions are working to support terminated and demobilized members with grants, and lawsuits have been filed regarding the funding cut in over two dozen states.
However, former members around the country are all working to find their next steps, as are the communities they serve.
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