Attorney General Bonta Secures Preliminary Injunction Restoring AmeriCorps Programs, Funding
AmeriCorps Serves the Nation! Local communities benefit!
Bringing Out the Best of America1
AmeriCorps is the federal agency for national service and volunteerism. From mentoring students to supporting disaster recovery, helping older adults age with dignity, and tackling other pressing needs, AmeriCorps helps communities across the country.
President Donald Trump has effectively been trying to kill the AmeriCorps program.
On June 5, a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration must restore hundreds of millions of dollars in AmeriCorps grant funding and thousands of service workers in about two dozen states. According to several news outlets, a lawsuit was filed againstthe Trump Administration by officials in Maryland, Delaware, California, Colorado, Arizona, Connecticut, Washington, DC, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.
I am a proud alumna of AmeriCorps. I served on a Health and Garden Team in East Oakland, CA. We built gardens, planted trees at several schools — and taught first and second bi-lingual students about health and nutrition (emphasis on cultural and organic food choices), watersheds and ecology, gardening, and local pollinators, and how to make worm bins.
We were extensively trained in local Northern California Ecology, tree planting, irrigation systems, and early childhood education. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a national day of community service, we joined other AmeriCorps members and locals in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park to collect native seeds. Another project that we helped with was the restoration of a stream bank. We took our supplies and tools to each school and we worked out of the trunks of our cars.
Our “home” center of operations was near the Oakland Ship Terminal. I remember the fumes from trucks serving the port and contributing to the impact of diesel emissions on air quality in the area, in West and East Oakland, particularly for Black, Latino, and low-income communities living near these industrial zones. While some progress has been made, the problem has not been fully cleared up. West Oakland residents still breathe in 3 times more diesel particulate matter than the regional average.
Congress started AmeriCorps by passing the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993. This bipartisan legislation created the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), the federal agency that launched and oversees AmeriCorps. President Bill Clinton signed the National and Community Service Trust Act, which officially established AmeriCorps. see more at: https://www.americorps.gov/newsroom/press-release/2020/americorps-unveils-new-logo-new-name-agency
President Barack Obama signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act a law that greatly expanded AmeriCorps with the goal of increasing membership to 250,000 and enhancing the program's impact and accountability.
Here is the press release issued by the State of California Department of Justice
Office of the Attorney General
Attorney General Bonta Secures Preliminary Injunction Restoring AmeriCorps Programs, Funding
Thursday, June 5, 2025
Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.gov
OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today secured a decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland largely blocking the Trump Administration from dismantling AmeriCorps while multistate litigation proceeds. AmeriCorps is an independent federal agency tasked with engaging Americans in meaningful community-based service that directly addresses the country’s educational, public safety, and environmental needs. In February 2025, the Trump Administration issued an executive order directing every federal agency to plan to reduce their workforce and scale back their functions. AmeriCorps subsequently shuttered its National Civilian Community Corps program and placed at least 85% of its permanent workforce on administrative leave, notifying these employees that they would be terminated effective June 24, 2025. And at the end of April, California received notice from the federal government that its AmeriCorps grant programs had been terminated. Attorney General Bonta, along with the attorneys general of Maryland, Delaware, and Colorado, led a coalition of 23 attorneys general and two states in suing to stop the dismantling of the agency. The District Court’s order grants the states’ request to restore AmeriCorps programs, including the volunteer servicemembers who support them, in California and in the other plaintiff states and reverse the shuttering of the National Civilian Community Corps program, while denying preliminary relief to address the layoff of AmeriCorps’ permanent staff.
“AmeriCorps volunteers represent the best parts of America. They are selfless and eager to serve their country – but the reality is, many of them wouldn’t be able to do so without the programs supported by AmeriCorps,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Today’s decision ensures this vital service work that brings volunteers directly into California communities will continue while we make our case in court. We will not stop fighting until we secure a permanent decision protecting AmeriCorps and the thousands of hardworking volunteers who have dedicated themselves to public service.”
BACKGROUND
AmeriCorps supports national and state community service programs by providing opportunities for Americans to serve their communities and by awarding grants to local, state, and national organizations and agencies which use funding to address critical community needs. These organizations and agencies use AmeriCorps funding to recruit, place, and supervise AmeriCorps members nationwide. AmeriCorps members and volunteers have connected veterans to essential services, fought the opioid epidemic, helped older adults age with dignity, rebuilt communities after disasters, and improved the physical and mental well-being of millions of Americans.
In 2024, more than 6,150 California members served at least 1,200 locations, including schools, food banks, homeless shelters, health clinics, youth centers, veterans’ facilities, and other nonprofit and faith-based organizations. AmeriCorps invested more than $133 million in federal funding to California that same year to support cost-effective community solutions, working with local partners on the ground to help communities tackle their toughest challenges.
A copy of the court’s order and opinion can be found here and here.
Read more at:
AP News ( Associated Press)
by HANNAH FINGERHUT Updated 9:23 AM PDT, June 5, 2025
AmeriCorps must restore funding to some states after Trump cuts, judge rules | AP News—
San Francisco Chronicle
‘Middle finger to volunteers’: Newsom blasts Trump for dismantling AmeriCorps
By Molly Burke,Hearst FellowApril 17, 2025
Newsom said California will take legal action against President Donald Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency while also ramping up recruitment for the California Service Corps program, the state’s service force that includes AmeriCorps volunteers.