FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ranit Schmelzer at ranit@schmelzerstrategies.com
Voices for National Service Calls on OMB to Release Impounded AmeriCorps Funds
WASHINGTON, DC (June 27, 2025) – Voices for National Service today called on the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to release the approximately $200 million in fiscal year 2025 funds that it is withholding from AmeriCorps programs across the country.
“Congress appropriated these funds, and OMB does not have the authority to impound them – and yet they are doing just that,” said AnnMaura Connolly, President, Voices for National Service. “The impact to communities across the country is immediate. This will affect the ability of AmeriCorps members to help kids in classrooms, their ability to respond to natural disasters as wildfire and hurricane season gets underway in earnest, the ability for AmeriCorps Seniors to take elderly individuals to their doctor appointments, and much more. The national service community calls on OMB to release these funds immediately, and Congress to do all it can to ensure that funds that were appropriated through the continuing resolution can be invested In communities.”
Nearly a hundred AmeriCorps State and National grantees have been notified by the AmeriCorps agency that their FY25 grants are “funded pending release of FY25 appropriated dollars”, impacting thousands of AmeriCorps members across the country. The total amount of AmeriCorps State and National funds being held back by OMB is likely close to $114 million.
Close to 130 AmeriCorps Seniors grantees are also affected, with more than $50 million in funds impounded. The Foster Grandparent and Senior Companion grants end on June 30. If OMB does immediately release their funding, many of the programs will shut down and send nearly 7,000 senior volunteers home – each of whom is themselves a low-income senior who has been serving in the program and earning $4 per hour.
The refusal to release the FY25 congressional appropriated funds is also resulting in AmeriCorps VISTA members – many whom have already been recruited and selected – from being enrolled and starting their service in the communities that are counting on them.
This latest development comes on top of cuts to AmeriCorps earlier this year, including $400 million in funding and a majority of federal employees at the Agency.
Every year, AmeriCorps enrolls more than 200,000 individuals in nonprofit, faith-based, and local organizations. These men and women make a tremendous difference in communities across America, from equipping young people and returning veterans with job training and marketable skills in high-demand sectors to playing a crucial role in disaster response and recovery.
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Voices for National Service empowers citizens to solve pressing community problems with unique local solutions by elevating AmeriCorps. Founded in 2003, Voices for National Service has built strong bipartisan support for national service programs, which generate $17 in benefits to the United States for every tax dollar invested. AmeriCorps annually enables 200,000 Americans to serve their country and community in public-private partnerships with local nonprofit, faith-based, and community organizations.