From slashing the United States Agency for International Development to advocating for the dissolution of the Department of Education, the Trump administration has targeted nearly every aspect of the government through its notorious executive orders. One of the administration’s newest developments hits close to home for volunteers across the nation: the cancellation of more than $400 million worth of grants from AmeriCorps.

AmeriCorps, a government agency that funds community service organizations surrounding education, disaster preparedness, climate conservation and more on a local and national scale, serves nearly 200,000 volunteers through stipend programs in over 35,000 locations throughout the United States.

The Department of Government Efficiency’s decision to call off grants that amount to 41% of the agency’s budget on Apr. 25 arose with the purpose of better spending taxpayer dollars and shrinking the federal government. However, the cuts will affect tens of thousands of volunteers across the country in the coming months, not to mention the hundreds of AmeriCorps members who were already laid off by the Trump administration.

One such organization that is affected by the cuts is the Sanneh Foundation, a local nonprofit that provides resources to underserved communities in Minnesota. Led by SPA board member Tony Sanneh (‘90), the Sanneh Foundation relies on a multitude of youth volunteers for their programs, which include free after-school care at the Conway Community Center, educational support, mentoring, sports camps and nutritional services.

The Sanneh Foundation has partnered with AmeriCorps since 2011 through a variety of intermediaries. The organization started with Up2Us Sports, an AmeriCorps anti-poverty Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) program that provides coaching and mentoring in sports to children. AmeriCorps then recognized the Sanneh Foundation’s Dreamline program, which supports students’ academic endeavors, and sent members to work in the schools there.

“Over time, that relationship grew, and then the city of St. Paul was an intermediary for the VISTA program,” Sanneh said.

AmeriCorps members who volunteer through VISTA programs focus on capacity-building and handle administrative roles instead of direct service work. At the Sanneh Foundation, the Volunteer Generation Fund enables infrastructure and outreach work to take place; due to the grant cuts, the Sanneh Foundation will have to eliminate positions or find other means to afford resources, which could ultimately result in lower-quality programming.

The Sanneh Foundation was seeking AmeriCorps members to volunteer at the Girls First program, an initiative that focuses on fostering inclusive environments for female-identifying youth, to assist with developing the program and giving the organization more resources to do so. Unfortunately, those roles were shut down by the recent grant cuts.

“[It] is very disappointing because … we had done so much after COVID to stabilize [the Conway Community Center], and so the Girls First and the Conway coordinators were positions that were being developed to reengage teenage youth back to the community center,” Sanneh said. “It was good to help start a team to really be more intentional about our investments for women and girls through sports, but it takes people to do it … We just have to figure out how we’re going to do it with less people.”

After receiving an email at 4:45 pm on a Friday afternoon notifying the Sanneh Foundation of the grant cuts, the organization got straight to work to support their current 11 AmeriCorps volunteers.

“[We] just let them know that we heard this, we’re on this, we’re paying attention, but just really letting them know that we’re committed to making sure that each and every one of them ends up in a situation that they want to be in and feel supported as they made these commitments to us,” Sanneh said.

As of now, the Sanneh Foundation is still gathering information on how to handle the grant cuts effectively. Despite the wait-and-see status, the organization is raising money for resources to support the AmeriCorps members and leveraging new avenues for volunteerism, whether that be volunteering at food distribution sites, coaching camps at the Conway Community Center or running programming.
“There will be a new call for action to get more interns and some volunteers for people that are willing to come in and support us through a different kind of volunteerism this summer as we need to keep continuing this work to serve the community,” Sanneh said.