April cuts drawn up by the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency and implemented to the beleaguered AmeriCorps, stopping recovery work form Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, are in limbo.
The Corporation for National and Community Service, as the organization is formally known, on April 15 had a loss of 50 positions in the state from 750 nationwide. On April 30, three programs with 84 people employed were impacted when AmeriCorps cut federal funds to grant programs that run through the North Carolina Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service.
Litigation in Maryland was joined by North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson, a first-term Democrat, and on Thursday, a preliminary injunction was placed on the cuts by Judge Deborah Boardman in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.
“Western North Carolina will get the funds it needs so AmeriCorps members can keep helping people, keep cleaning up after Helene, and rebuild their homes and neighborhoods,” Jackson said. “The people in western North Carolina can keep rebuilding while I keep fighting this case.”
It is unclear if volunteers will be immediately available to resume work in the programs.
Project MARS was helping in 18 western counties, providing supplies and meals to homebound and stranded families. Clothing, crisis hotlines and school supports were also aided. Project Conserve was in 25 western counties helping with debris removal, tree replanting, storm-system repairs and rain-barrel distribution. Project POWER helped large-scale food donations for more than 10,000 people in the hard-hit counties of Buncombe, Henderson and Madison.
The White House has defended its accountability actions and did so on the April move. AmeriCorps has an annual budget of about $1 billion.
Helene killed 107 in North Carolina and caused an estimated $60 billion damage.
The storm made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in Dekle Beach, Fla., on Sept. 26. It dissipated over the mountains of the state and Tennessee, dropping more than 30 inches of rain in some places and over 24 consistently across more.
U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., said last year AmeriCorps has a legacy of “incompetence and total disregard for taxpayer money.” She was chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and Workforce, which requested the report showing repeated failed audits and financial management troubles.
“AmeriCorps,” Foxx said, “receives an astounding $1 billion in taxpayer funds every year but hasn’t received a clean audit for the past seven years. As instances of fraud continue, the agency has proven time and time again incapable of reforming itself and should never be given another opportunity to abuse taxpayer dollars.”
