federal government, under the Trump administration, slashed hundreds of millions<\/a> in funding across California and the nation earlier this year, local and statewide programs were forced to either use their own funding to continue services or shutter their doors.<\/p>\nWithout AmeriCorps, \u2018services are going to go away\u2019<\/p>\n
Fryday said program participation in AmeriCorps is down. As of Sept. 26, AmeriCorps California had filled about one-third of its 2,219 openings, including 570 of 1,388 positions focused on education.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cascading ripple effects of it mean that fewer children are able to thrive in California,\u201d said Avo Makdessian, executive director of the First 5 Assn. of California. The statewide organization, funded by the tobacco tax, provides support for early childhood healthcare and education.<\/p>\n
For First 5 programs in places such as Madera, Modoc, Colusa and Sacramento counties, the funding cuts earlier this year led to the elimination of critical staff, according to Makdessian.<\/p>\n
Appointments were canceled for kids who were scheduled to be screened for developmental delays. Home visits to check for child health and safety had stopped. Family resource centers that offered free child care and preschool closed.<\/p>\n
Although federal funding has been restored, many organizations, including some that provide AmeriCorps members to First 5, have decided not to depend on AmeriCorps dollars, Makdessian said.<\/p>\n
Eleven long-running programs discontinued their services through AmeriCorps due to funding uncertainty, including five that supported struggling students in the K-12 education system.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose services are going to go away,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Uncertainty wreaks havoc<\/p>\n
Some community-based organizations are trying to avoid extinction. During the temporary funding cuts, San Francisco-based 826 Valencia restructured and raised additional funds to continue providing individualized writing support to more than 7,000 students from under-resourced communities.<\/p>\n
To get through the period without funding, Bita Nazarian, the organization\u2019s executive director, said 826 Valencia hired writing tutors as hourly employees rather than AmeriCorps members, costing the organization $250,000 more and depriving the tutors of living stipends and $10,000 awards they receive through AmeriCorps.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was more expensive and less beneficial to the participants,\u201d said Nazarian.<\/p>\n
When 826 Valencia was paying hourly, it meant less time with students, Nazarian said, because as part-time workers, the tutors worked 29 hours a week, rather than a 40-hour workweek.<\/p>\n
Less individualized attention means less support for the neediest students, she said.<\/p>\n
In preparing for the current school year, there was \u2014 and continues to be \u2014 worry that funding could be yanked midyear.<\/p>\n
When hiring 14 tutors, 826 Valencia warned that \u201cwe don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen with AmeriCorps,\u201d Nazarian said. \u201cThat\u2019s not a constructive way to run an organization. Hiring people. Telling them they might lose their jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the Stockton Unified School District, the positive outcomes of the AmeriCorps-funded Improve Your Tomorrow, a mentorship and college access program for young men of color, can be seen at Cesar Chavez High School. Mentor Nicole Davidson worked with a junior who disclosed that he had contemplated suicide every day for at least four months.<\/p>\n
To help the student, Davidson, who is a program manager for Improve Your Tomorrow, increased the frequency of their one-on-one sessions and check-ins, leading to an \u201cinspiring transition,\u201d she said. After one school year, the student is now on a leadership committee.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want our young men to succeed, but it\u2019s also making sure that they\u2019re OK,\u201d she said. \u201cWe want them to be well-rounded students.\u201d<\/p>\n
When funding was cut, Improve Your Tomorrow was expected to stop offering the mental health resources students needed. But the program used its reserves and turned to community donations to continue paying mentors who provide services to about 1,000 young men in Stockton and 6,000 across California to help them finish the 2024-25 school year. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt caused a lot of uncertainty within the kids because we just didn\u2019t know if we were going to be here [this school year] or not,\u201d said Tony Vang, a Franklin High School mentor for Improve Your Tomorrow. \u201cThey\u2019re like, \u2018What are we going to do if you guys aren\u2019t here anymore?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re on the ground,\u201d helping with the challenges students must overcome, he said.<\/p>\n
In an emergency fundraising campaign, Improve Your Tomorrow raised $300,000 to sustain the program, even if there are cuts this year, according to the organization.<\/p>\n
But the effects of AmeriCorps\u2019 roller coaster are being felt across California schools; 650 mentoring and tutoring positions did not return this academic year because of funding uncertainty, according to California Volunteers.<\/p>\n
Leaders at the state level hope that continued state funding and advocacy will prevent other AmeriCorps programs from ending their services.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand how incredibly impactful these programs are,\u201d said Fryday, with California Volunteers. \u201cCalifornia\u2019s going to continue to fight for these resources because they\u2019re so critical, whether it\u2019s through the legal process or pushing Congress to continue to fund this critical work. I think that\u2019s the most certainty we can provide right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lasherica Thornton writes for EdSource.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For programs across California that rely on federal AmeriCorps funding to provide services such as mentoring and tutoring,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46983,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[30787,30793,30791,7,30792,9,8,30789,4110,4576,4747,4574,6008,30790,30788,3306,72],"class_list":["post-46982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-americorps","tag-avo-makdessian","tag-bita-nazarian","tag-california","tag-california-americorps-program","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-community-based-organization","tag-funding","tag-program","tag-service","tag-student","tag-tomorrow","tag-tutor","tag-uncertainty","tag-valencia","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}