CINCINNATI — The Trump administration is responsible for approximately 45% of all layoffs this year. The most recent cuts will impact hundreds of local public service workers as the Department of Government Efficiency sets its sights on AmeriCorps, a federal agency focused on volunteerism and community service.
WCPO, through council member Meeka Owens, learned organizations like Seven Hills Neighborhood Houses, Lighthouse Youth Services, Catholic Charities and more have lost corps members to cuts.
“These nonprofit organizations that are doing this work on the frontlines that cities, quite frankly, don’t have the capacity to do," Owens said.
Owens told us the city had one employee working in historical designations who was let go, while the United Way of Greater Cincinnati had 11.
One organization that WCPO spoke to directly is The Mill Creek Alliance, a nonprofit that works to restore and maintain a stream of water that flows through the heart of Cincinnati.
Executive Director David Schmitt has spent eight years at the nonprofit dedicated to bettering the creek and building up the careers of young environmentalists — two of whom he said are now without jobs.
"(It) totally came out of the blue," Schmitt said. "You know, we started to get word over this past weekend that the program was being cut with no notice whatsoever to the affected members.”
Watch Schmitt detail how extensive these cuts could be:
The Trump administration said federal cuts save $400 million in taxpayers' dollars in grant funding. But Schmitt said these cuts will only slow down their hard work.
“We normally work with up to 2,000 kids a year, and right now we have seven different stream restoration projects going on, and it’s just going to make it a lot harder," Schmitt said.
Schmitt said it leaves the organization without the services they paid for.
“Mill Creek Alliance and other organizations have to pay half of the stipend," Schmitt said. “We pay our half up front, the program has now been cut with less than 50% of the time, of the services of these young people have been received, and now the federal government is telling us that we’re not even going to get a prorated refund.”
About two dozen states have sued the Trump administration over the cuts at AmeriCorps.
“For many of these young people, this is their first job out of college," Schmitt said. "It gains them experience, but they also rely on it to pay rent and to buy groceries."
We are looking for solutions for nonprofits that may find themselves in this bind. We reached out to Serve Ohio, the state entity that oversees AmeriCorps here in Ohio. We asked why money paid to the corps for volunteer stipends can't be refunded. WCPO is waiting to hear back.
