AmeriCorps member Ellie Hughes has been working with the town of Chebeague Island to help with wildfire mitigation efforts. An abundance of dead wood and one-way roads that firetrucks are unable to turn around on are risk factors that contribute to high fire danger on the island. Daryn Slover/Portland Press Herald

Through her work as a member of AmeriCorps, Ellie Hughes has been helping Chebeague Island improve energy affordability and reduce wildfire risk, allowing the community of just 400 year-round residents to take on big challenges such as climate change despite limited resources.

Now, as the Trump administration looks to dismantle the volunteer service program, its work across the state is at risk. Along with many other Maine communities, Hughes said, Chebeague would feel the loss.

“Just adding one person to a community is not the end-all, be-all, but for Chebeague, it kind of is,” Hughes said. “There are only three full-time employees in the town office. I’ve already been able to advance multiple projects that weren’t even on the table before I came, just because there wasn’t staff capacity to pursue them.”

Chebeague is among the several Maine communities and nonprofits already reeling from sweeping federal cuts to AmeriCorps announced last week. The Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, headed by tech mogul Elon Musk, recently canceled $400 million in grants, or about 41% of AmeriCorps’ budget. The administration cited fiscal tightening and longstanding audit failures as justification.

‘UNDER ATTACK’

Volunteer Maine, the state’s commission for community service, oversees the distribution of AmeriCorps funds to local programs and organizations. Brittany Gleixner-Hayat, its executive director, said the news was both abrupt and deeply concerning.

“This puts at risk the service of more than 120 AmeriCorps members across the state,” she said, referring to eight grantee programs now in jeopardy. “Many had committed 1,700 hours of service. They’ll now only be able to complete about 30% of that.”

Hughes, 23 and originally from Kansas City, Missouri, moved to Maine in January after graduating from Middlebury College with a degree in environmental policy. Hughes has been coordinating electrification projects to reduce the town’s fuel costs and, in partnership with the Maine Forest Service, organizing a wildfire mitigation weekend with veteran volunteers.

AmeriCorps member Ellie Hughes has been working with the town of Chebeague Island to help with wildfire mitigation efforts and coordinating electrification projects. Daryn Slover/Portland Press Herald

Hughes said the cuts affect members personally, hitting all too close to home for her and her two AmeriCorps roommates. The trio was told recently that they’re funded through June thanks to leftover program reserves, but beyond the short reprieve, the future is murky.

The Trump administration’s decision to gut AmeriCorps was both “disappointing and not surprising.” But, she said, perhaps most disappointing of all was that the reasoning behind it rings hollow.

“If efficiency isn’t the real problem, what is?” Hughes asked. “Why are we under attack, and are they willing to stand by that position in the court of public opinion?”

Gleixner-Hayat noted that the decision could also cost many members the educational awards they were promised at the end of their service year.

Volunteer Maine is working with local grantees to explore ways to retain members in their communities, but Gleixner-Hayat acknowledged that their options are limited.

“We are committed to transparency, advocacy and uninterrupted support for our grantees,” she said. “And we’re coordinating very closely with our national partners, legislative allies and stakeholders, to try to seek sort of a resolution to this situation.”

On Monday, Maine joined 22 other states and the District of Columbia in a lawsuit seeking to reverse the AmeriCorps terminations. According to reporting by the Associated Press, the suit — filed in federal district court in Washington, D.C. — argues that the government violated the National and Community Service Act by ending contracts unilaterally and without proper notice. Plaintiffs also claim the cuts disproportionately impact underserved communities and youth from disadvantaged backgrounds.

“We are very glad and supportive of this legal action,” Gleixner-Hayat said. “We’re committed to upholding the integrity of these programs and serving the people of Maine.”

Gleixner-Hayat said the affected projects span critical issues including chronic disease prevention, conservation, workforce development and educational enrichment, often in rural or underserved areas.

“When this funding is pulled … in such an abrupt way,” she said, “it’s disrupting so many possibilities that people in Maine were looking forward to.”

IMMEDIATE FALLOUT

In the communities AmeriCorps helps serve, the fallout is immediate and severe. The Greater Portland Council of Governments, which operates the Resilience Corps, has relied on a dozen AmeriCorps members every year to improve municipal and nonprofit capacity throughout six towns in Greater Portland. Members, young professionals who began their service in January, are now facing an abrupt end to their positions and livelihood.

“These are people in their first professional experience, and the rug has just been pulled completely out from underneath them,” said Kristina Egan, GPCOG’s executive director. “The communities will suffer, too.”

GPCOG members serve communities like South Portland, Yarmouth, Long Island and Gray, as well as regional nonprofits like the Gulf of Maine Research Institute and Gateway Community Services, Egan said. Their work spans energy efficiency, sustainability, public health and digital inclusion.

On Long Island, for example, a member has been analyzing septic and well data to help the town protect its aquifer — its only drinking water source. Egan said other projects include distributing home compost bins in Portland and helping residents access energy rebates. In prior years and among many projects, the program supported pandemic-era restaurant recovery efforts and helped coordinate broadband expansion in the Lakes Region, Egan said.

According to national data, every $1 spent on AmeriCorps yields about $4 in benefits, Egan said, and GPCOG is able to connect members with host organizations at roughly one-third of what a full-time employee would cost. Egan emphasized the value of the program not just for the services provided, but for the long-term benefits to Maine’s workforce. Around 60% of the members come from other states, and 70% end up staying after their service year, she said.

“We’ve spent years building a program that works,” Egan said, questioning the logic behind cutting a program that provides a return on financial and social investments. “To see it summarily terminated, with no thought to the people or communities affected, is just devastating.”

In Skowhegan, Kristina Cannon, president and CEO of Main Street Skowhegan, said losing AmeriCorps members would severely limit a key revitalization strategy centered on outdoor recreation.

“We’ve now run it for several years, and we’ve just seen significant impacts from it,” she said. “We’re serving more than 2,000 participants annually.”

Main Street Skowhegan’s outdoor recreation program launched in 2019 and has grown steadily, offering nearly 230 free outdoor programs last year, including forest bathing, fly-tying, whitewater paddling and mountain biking. Cannon said in 2024, the AmeriCorps members helped facilitate over 1,100 youth experiences through after-school and summer camp partnerships. Members also manage a free gear lending library in downtown Skowhegan that is stocked with about 300 pieces of outdoor equipment.

Main Street Skowhegan currently has four full-time AmeriCorps members serving in the community and has plans to bring on an additional four members to run the free outdoor programs and the gear library.

“Without … the manpower of our AmeriCorps members, we … could see significant impacts,” she said, adding that these programs help combat rural isolation and loneliness in addition to promoting physical health. “They engage people with one another. They create social connections, and they reduce loneliness.”

Main Street Skowhegan is also in the early stages of launching an outdoor career pathway program in partnership with the University of Maine at Farmington and Maine Outdoor Brands. The goal is to allow local residents to become AmeriCorps members as they receive training, a stipend and an education award, eventually matriculating into UMF’s outdoor recreation business administration program.

“We (see) this as a workforce development program as well,” Cannon said, adding that Skowhegan Savings Bank has already devoted $50,000 toward scholarships. “We are holding on right now and hoping that the AmeriCorps program will continue for sure. We will have to dramatically cut our budget if it does not.”

Cordelia Perry, an AmeriCorps member who works with Lights Out Gallery in Bethel, echoed concerns about the cuts and their potential consequences.

“AmeriCorps is providing opportunities for people that they wouldn’t normally have,” Perry said. “So, when we’re removing these opportunities, we’re removing capacity for communities to sustain themselves and build themselves.”

Cordelia Perry, right, shows artwork to their mother, Moriah Perry, center, and Karlë Woods, co-founder of Lights Out Gallery in Norway, where Perry is completing their AmeriCorps service. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

Perry, who works with local artists in printmaking and community arts programs, emphasized that the value of AmeriCorps extends beyond the immediate impact of the programs, it promotes the values of “honest care and compassion.”

For many, the cuts represent more than a financial loss; they’re a setback to community building, Perry said. Considering the breadth of work members do across the state, Perry said, the thought of losing the program is heartwrenching.

“Without AmeriCorps, it could be devastating,” Perry said. “I feel like this is really incredible and important work that I’m doing … I can’t speak for everyone, and I know there’s always circumstances, but when you meet AmeriCorps people, you think, ‘I understand why you’re doing this.’”

‘UP IN THE AIR’

That is why some are pushing ahead with their projects, including Brooklyn, New York, native Sean O’Connell, who works with the Maine Conservation Corps, a state program funded through AmeriCorps, to maintain eight small community orchards in Lewiston and Auburn.

O’Connell said he is proud of his work supporting food security and environmental education efforts.

“I’m passionate about food,” the 26-year-old said. “People don’t (truly) know where it comes from, or how it’s grown. That disconnect — especially with fruit, which is sweet and easy to love — is something I want to change.”

O’Connell spends most days pruning trees, spreading mulch and running workshops with local students. One of his favorite sites is Teisha’s Orchard, a 50-tree grove in Lewiston near Franklin Pasture, where “anybody can walk by and grab an apple.”

When O’Connell learned that the program was suddenly frozen because of the AmericaCorps cuts and that he was out of a job, O’Connell said it hit him hard. But he isn’t giving up.

“I thought, ‘I’m not done yet, and I’m not leaving until I’m done,’” O’Connell said.

He learned Wednesday that while the official affiliation between the Maine Conservation Corps and AmeriCorps would end, he and others in the state program will continue receiving living stipends.

He added that Maine Conservation Corps members are supposed to receive in the next 30 days a prorated education award — payments that AmericaCorps volunteers can earn at the end of their service and use to pay tuition, student loans and other eligible costs.

With the AmeriCorps grants eliminated, the conservation corps members were set to receive about $2,000, down from the original $7,395, O’Connell said, but he acknowledged that “a lot’s still up in the air.”

Though the partnership with AmeriCorps is over for the meantime, O’Connell has continued to show up at the orchards and keep in constant contact with stakeholders all over the twin cities. He said the experience has deepened his commitment to working in food security and environmental education.

“You’re going to have to pull me out of here,” he said. “I’ve got too much in the tank, too much planning. And it’s beautiful.”