BOISE, ID – Tom Alvarez had been working with AmeriCorps for about two years in Idaho when he got the email in April.

Effective immediately, he was pulled off of his assignment and told not to have any contact with the project going forward.

It was all due to millions of dollars in AmeriCorps grant cancellations made by President Donald Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, as part of largescale cuts and reductions to the federal government.

In Idaho alone, the cancellation of AmeriCorps grants and zeroing out of remaining grant fund balances totaled $1.9 million, according to the America’s Service Commission, which represents governor-led service organizations in all 50 states, including Serve Idaho.

Alvarez had been bracing for cuts to nonprofit organizations, but he didn’t understand why. In two years with AmeriCorps he had helped at the St. Vincent de Paul food pantry in Boise, done outreach with people facing homelessness in Caldwell and helped the Idaho Youth Ranch with communications and marketing. At the time the grant was terminated, he was helping a Boise nonprofit organization develop a strategic plan and public outreach campaign.

Alvarez said he never had any reason to expect there was waste, fraud or abuse in the programs he worked with.

“I have skepticism that a program such as AmeriCorps falls into the category of waste, fraud or abuse,” Alvarez said in a phone interview Thursday.

“When I think of the (Trump) administration’s America First policies, I can’t think of any organization that epitomizes that more than AmeriCorps because they are going into communities and helping out in ways nobody else is,” Alvarez said.

The cancelled AmeriCorps grants are among a growing number of nonprofit organizations and arts organizations that have told the Idaho Capital Sun this year that they have had grants cancelled or zeroed out at the state or federal level.

What does AmeriCorps do in Idaho?

Founded in 1993, AmeriCorps is an independent U.S. government agency that supports public service and volunteerism by working with individuals and nonprofit organizations.

AmeriCorps provides grants to local and national organizations for programs to reduce poverty, expand access to health services and technology, mentor students and more.

In Idaho, the terminated AmeriCorps grants affected funding and programs across the state, from Moscow, to Boise, Pocatello, Salmon and Clayton.

The University of Idaho’s Positive Youth Development AmeriCorps program, which offers a 4-H STEM program for youth; the Student Conservation Association’s Idaho Corps program; Teach for America; White Clouds Preserve and the Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute all saw grants terminated this spring.

“AmeriCorps programs really include a wide range of activities to support and address the community’s needs by supporting youth mentoring, after school programming, financial literacy, teachers shortages, conservation efforts and other work to make the land accessible to community members,” America’s Service Commissions Chief Engagement Officer Rachel Bruns said in a phone interview Friday. “There are a wide range of issues and needs AmeriCorps members are addressing, and we are starting to see the impact of those services being halted. But the real concern is the infrastructure for these service organizations is being completely upended, and not everybody is going to be able to bounce back from having federal funding unexpectedly pulled out from under them.”

AmeriCorps members abruptly told to immediately walk away from their projects

Beginning in November, Alvarez took an assignment to develop a strategic plan and work on public outreach for Idaho Smart Growth, a Boise-based nonprofit organization that works on sustainable growth, promotes safe routes to school and supports affordable housing.

After the presidential election in November, Alvarez said a rumble of uncertainty passed through the nonprofit community and folks started wondering if their funding was in jeopardy. Alvarez said he was told that funding was in place in this year’s federal fiscal year budget, which runs through September.

But on April 28 Alvarez said he got an email informing him he had been pulled off of the Smart Growth project immediately and was not to have any other contact with the project. Initially, Alvarez thought the email could be a scam because the message told him he could reach out with any questions or concerns, but it wasn’t signed and didn’t have a person’s name at the bottom like all of the other AmeriCorps emails he had received.

People all across the state had a similar experience.

Darlene Carnopis, communications and research bureau chief for the Idaho Department of Labor, said AmeriCorps notified Serve Idaho (which is part of the Idaho Department of Labor) on April 25 that seven awards totalling nearly $1.4 million were cancelled immediately.

“This impacted 133 AmeriCorps members, 69 currently serving and 64 summer members,” Carnopis said in an email on Thursday. “The remaining balance of $420,635 for one Serve Idaho grant and a $60,000 VISTA grant were also terminated. All award activities were to be ceased immediately. Serve Idaho communicated this information to the impacted programs and is working with the subrecipients to close out the programs.”

The news frustrated and confused Alvarez. He joined AmeriCorps as an adult after working as a photojournalist and contractor because he wanted to work with nonprofits, where he found his level of job satisfaction and the rewards of working hard to be the highest.

Although Alvarez said he was able to finish the bulk of his strategic plan and submit it in the days before the grant termination, he is frustrated by not being able to refine the plan and then work to implement it.

“Overall I feel it’s unfinished business,” Alvarez said.

List of terminated AmeriCorps grants in Idaho

This story first appeared on Idaho Capital Sun.