AmeriCorps — one of the programs in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump administration’s quest to downsize the federal government — is a “substantial part” of the work a West Virginia housing construction organization does in Kanawha and Putnam counties, an official from the organization said.
Last year, volunteers from AmeriCorps’ National Civilian Community Corps contributed 2,880 man hours to work with Habitat for Humanity of Kanawha and Putnam, executive director Andrew Blackwood told West Virginia Watch.
“Just to kind of put that in perspective, a full-time employee would work 2,080 hours in a year,” Blackwood said. “So that’s the equivalent of a little more than a full-time person.”
The Trump administration put most of AmeriCorps’ approximately 650 staff members on administrative leave last week. Members from the National Civilian Community Corps were told they would exit the program early “due to programmatic circumstances beyond your control,” according to reporting by the Associated Press.
Blackwood said if the federal AmeriCorps funding goes away, the organization will lose the services it provided. The for-profit sector won’t replace it, he said.
“The needs will go unmet. We only have access to so many volunteers in our community we’re already maximizing the service that they can provide,” he said.
“And so it’s really frustrating when we lose access to that,” Blackwood said. “It’s simply going to mean for us that it’s going to take longer to build each house, which means that there are delays in improving access to affordable housing.”
Last year, the NCCC sent a team of 12 members who worked 40 hours a week for six weeks for Habitat of Kanawha and Putnam. Members also did other volunteer work in the area during their free time, Blackwood said.
“So their impact actually went beyond their service with us,” he said.
Habitat for Humanity of Kanawha and Putnam typically partners with volunteers to build two to three houses a year, Blackwood said. The program requires that the homeowner put in at least 250 hours of sweat equity building their home and that of others in the program. In exchange they get a home with an affordable mortgage.
The organization employs one construction manager and relies on the homeowners and volunteers for the rest of the work, Blackwood said.
Blackwood said the work Habitat does is important, particularly in Kanawha and Putnam counties where there’s not a lot of new housing construction. Existing housing stock is old and in need of repair, the cost of rent has increased to an unaffordable level for many families, he said.
“Very often, people are spending 40 or 50% of their take home income on housing costs,” he said. “And that just means that they have less money to spend on quality food, education, opportunities, and other things that would strengthen them, whether it’s as an individual or as a family.”
In addition to working with nonprofit organizations, volunteers with NCCC serve with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Forest Service, according to the AmeriCorps website.
When Hurricanes Helene and Milton struck the southeast United States last year, more than 870 AmeriCorps members responded to recovery operations in Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas. Members removed debris, tons of sand, managed
Warehouses and mucked and gutted homes, according to the AmeriCorps website.
The organization also responded to West Virginia after the 2016 floods killed 23 West Virginians and destroyed countless houses. The Corporation for National and Community Service, which oversees AmeriCorps, sent more than 300 service members to flood-affected areas of the state to assist with recovery.
White House officials told reporters the cuts are warranted.
“AmeriCorps has failed eight consecutive audits and is entrusted with over $1 billion in taxpayer dollars every year,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said, according to the Washington Post. “It is a target-rich environment for President Trump’s agenda to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse.”
An email to AmeriCorps headquarters went unanswered.
Blackwood said AmeriCorps solicited requests for the year and his organization submitted a request. He’s not gotten any official word from the agency about its plans for the year following news of the program cuts.
“We’ve received no official notification, which is also disappointing to hear that partner organizations around the country are really going to be, in some ways, blindsided by these, I’ll call them reckless and thoughtless cuts to a program that directly serves communities across the country,” Blackwood said.
This article originally appeared on West Virginia Watch.
West Virginia Watch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: info@westvirginiawatch.com.
