More than any other news network, the PBS News Hour has devoted the first few months of the second Trump administration focusing on the sad stories of proposed and actual Trump administration budget reductions, finding sympathetic victims to personalize the trauma and harm done. Then it turns around and runs a story about Moody’s downgrading the U.S. credit rating due to the growing U.S. debt – somehow, both budget restraint and budget profligacy reflect badly on the Trump administration.
PBS went all out to fight Monday evening for a relatively obscure federal program, the once-controversial AmeriCorps, which places young adults in schools (e.g. the Teach for America program) and other public service roles, created to liberal media fanfare during the Clinton administration.
A 1999 commentary from the libertarian Cato Institute called AmeriCorps an “ill-designed, if well-intentioned, program” bugged by “high costs....high dropout rates (almost 30 percent), questionable training (sex education, video presentation skills, diversity)" and “wasteful spending ($400,000 to the AFL-CIO for “training and technical assistance”)."
We heard none of that from PBS. Instead, co-anchor Geoff Bennett leaned hard on local media headlines to bolster the fight for AmeriCorps, then solicited sob stories from no less than four nonprofit executives fighting to continue the federal funding.
Geoff Bennett: A federal judge in Maryland today heard arguments in a major legal challenge to the Trump administration's sweeping cuts to AmeriCorps. That's the federal service program that places young adults in schools, community health centers, disaster relief efforts and other public service roles across the country; 24 states and the District of Columbia have filed suit, arguing that the administration overstepped its authority in slashing the program.
In the past month, the headlines have told this story, as communities from Alaska to Miami grapple with the funding fallout. The Trump administration has slashed nearly $400 million in active AmeriCorps grants, a move expected to shut down over 1,000 programs and cut more than 32,000 jobs. We spoke with four nonprofits around the country about what this means for them.
Bennett finally got to the news-gathering aspect, where the pro-funding fight continued.
Geoff Bennett: Our Lisa Desjardins has been following all of this and joins us now. So, Lisa, as we just saw, these cuts have a real impact….
Lisa Desjardins: ….meanwhile, what's happening across these countries is, these programs are shuttering, they're laying off staff, they're not sure if they can go forward. This is a billion dollars’ worth of programs that were already funded….
Bennett: A billion dollars’ worth of cuts. So what other kinds of cuts are affecting these nonprofits?
That taxpayer funding is the same pile of money PBS and NPR currently have access to while its fighting tooth and nail to preserve its own federal funding.
Desjardins: The total spending for a year is about a billion dollars. There are other important nonprofit cuts. And we're raising this because this is really where I think local areas are feeling the Trump administration effects on a personal level, for example, FEMA. There's a program that is also almost a billion dollars which helps communities get ready, be more resilient, build up perhaps dilapidated infrastructure that's at risk for hurricanes. That's been cut suddenly. Also, how about USDA?....
Prodded by Bennett (“there are also conservatives who support” the cuts) Desjardins finally outlined the conservative case for cutting federal spending, in the absence of any conservative talking heads on the program, noting Republicans “want philanthropies to step in.” Desjardins stepped on that vaguely expressed argument: “….there are some areas, rural areas or low-income areas, where there aren't really those philanthropies that have been built up yet to support these groups….”
This fierce defense for government funding was brought to you in part by Raymond James.
A transcript is available, click “Expand.”
PBS News Hour
5/19/25
7:33:03 p.m.
Geoff Bennett: A federal judge in Maryland today heard arguments in a major legal challenge to the Trump administration's sweeping cuts to AmeriCorps.
That's the federal service program that places young adults in schools, community health centers, disaster relief efforts and other public service roles across the country; 24 states and the District of Columbia have filed suit, arguing that the administration overstepped its authority in slashing the program.
In the past month, the headlines have told this story, as communities from Alaska to Miami grapple with the funding fallout. The Trump administration has slashed nearly $400 million in active AmeriCorps grants, a move expected to shut down over 1,000 programs and cut more than 32,000 jobs.
We spoke with four nonprofits around the country about what this means for them.
Akilah Webster, Executive Director, Indianapolis Neighborhood Resource Center: My name is Akilah Webster. I'm the executive director of the Indianapolis Neighborhood Resource Center.
Paula Fynboh, Aspire Afterschool Learning: I'm Paula Fynboh. I work for Aspire Afterschool Learning as their executive director in Arlington, Virginia.
Mary Dunne Stewart, CEO, Greater Richmond Fit4Kids: I'm Mary Dunne Stewart. I'm with Greater Richmond Fit4Kids.
Deborah Mann, Emmanuel Family and Child Development Center: My name is Deborah Mann. I am in Kansas City, Missouri. I'm with the Emmanuel Family and Child Development Center.
Paula Fynboh: We found out on Sunday night, April 27, that our AmeriCorps contract that had already been obligated for this year had been terminated.
Mary Dunne Stewart: I got the notice at my mother's birthday party and was initially just very, very shocked.
Akilah Webster: This was really out of the blue for us. We kind of felt we had dodged a bullet and unfortunately found out that evening that wasn't the case.
Deborah Mann: Our center is located in a childcare desert, meaning we don't have enough qualified centers around our community to serve the most vulnerable population.
I was talking to one of the fathers who told me about his son being in the speech program and how he's starting to really be verbal and use his words, and now we don't know what that's going to look like anymore. That's devastating.
Akilah Webster: What it is, is a 10-month apprenticeship that young leaders who are looking to engage in the nonprofit or civic or government sectors, where they can gain hands-on experience through an apprenticeship that's paid.
We did receive federal funding through AmeriCorps. And that was approximately 50 percent of our revenue.
Paula Fynboh: Aspire has been in the Arlington community for 30 years. Our students and families can't afford tutors, camps, after-school programs, babysitters. Without this program, we know that a third of our students are going to be left behind. And I don't think enough of us understand what that means when you really focus on the names and the faces. And that's just heartbreaking.
Akilah Webster: I'm all for efficiency. Don't get me wrong. That doesn't feel efficient to me. It feels that — it feels like it's going to incur larger costs for us down the road.
Mary Dunne Stewart: The health prevention work that we're doing with children and families is what helps save costs in the future by introducing kids and families to health and wellness and taking care of themselves.
Paula Fynboh: I don't know if people understand what is happening and what it means for the average person.
Deborah Mann: I don't know what tomorrow is going to bring. Our goal and our plan is to try to reach out to foundations and private donors and corporations to see if they can help fill up the gap.
Mary Dunne Stewart: My bigger concern over the next couple years is the philanthropic sector, foundations, corporations, individual donors cannot make up for these federal cuts.
Geoff Bennett: Our Lisa Desjardins has been following all of this and joins us now.
So, Lisa, as we just saw, these cuts have a real impact. First, bring us up to speed. Where do the AmeriCorps cuts stand in the courts?
Lisa Desjardins: Just in the past, oh, let me check my phone, hour or so, that court hearing finished. There is not a ruling yet. So that is a big one. That will determine if there is a preliminary freeze on these cuts for now.
But, meanwhile, what's happening across these countries is, these programs are shuttering, they're laying off staff, they're not sure if they can go forward. This is a billion dollars worth of programs that were already funded. By the way, something odd happening is, at the same time as they're being shut down on current funding, they're getting requests for proposals for next year's funding.
So it is, in the words of Paul Solman, complete uncertainty and difficult times for these groups.
Geoff Bennett: A billion dollars worth of cuts. So what other kinds of cuts are affecting these nonprofits?
Lisa Desjardins: The total spending for a year is about a billion dollars.
There are other important nonprofit cuts. And we're raising this because this is really where I think local areas are feeling the Trump administration effects on a personal level, for example, FEMA. There's a program that is also almost a billion dollars which helps communities get ready, be more resilient, build up perhaps dilapidated infrastructure that's at risk for hurricanes. That's been cut suddenly.
Also, how about USDA? There are programs, again, $600 million to almost a billion dollars, that would take local food from farms and give it to — gives it to school lunch programs, also to food banks.
We spoke to someone here runs a food bank in Chester County, Pennsylvania, in Exton, Pennsylvania. They said they just recently were — suddenly had canceled $100,000 worth of food, pork chops, eggs, things that their clients need, that it's the only fresh food they have. They have made up for that in the meantime, but they're not sure what the future holds and there are real concerns.
Nick Imbesi, Chester County Food Bank: We have not filled dollar for dollar with what has been lost. When we combine everything together, we're actually talking about a $2 million swing per year. That is a huge gap that we're going to have to fill.
Lisa Desjardins: Now, part of the concern here that runs through a lot of these nonprofits has to deal with the economy. There are housing concerns, a lot of problems with affordable housing that runs through these communities. They don't have good childcare, so some of these nonprofits have stepped in. They may have a food desert.
I talked to a farmer also, for example, in Wisconsin, who said this is good for her farm to try and get the money, but now they're worried about that source of income being cut off.
Geoff Bennett: And there are Republicans who oppose these cuts, but there are also conservatives who support them, who say they're necessary. You have been talking with folks on both sides of that debate. What are they telling you?
Lisa Desjardins: This is an important part of the story. This is a debate that goes back more than 100 years in America. And, right now, there are members of Congress, Republicans, who say, listen, I like what these nonprofits are doing. They are important parts of my community, but I don't think it's a federal role to support them.
And, instead, they want philanthropies to step in. Now, the trick is, as these nonprofits say, is, there are some areas, rural areas or low-income areas, where there aren't really those philanthropies that have been built up yet to support these groups. But it is a question for Congress, and conservatives are saying it's time to cut off this kind of, they see, much-inflated federal support. They think communities need to be more on their own.
Geoff Bennett: Some important reporting. Thanks to you and the team for bringing it to us.
Lisa Desjardins, thank you.
