Posted on 06/05/25
| News Source: WMAR2NEWS
A federal judge in Maryland is ordering the Trump Administration to reinstate hundreds of millions in AmeriCorps funding, and to bring back more than 700 workers who lost their job as result.
In April the organization was directed to immediately cease operations because the federal government determined they "no longer effectuate agency priorities."
The feds instructed Americorps to tell affected members they were being let go for "compelling personal circumstances due to the agency’s termination of the grant and program closure."
As result roughly $396.5 million in funding for 1,031 AmeriCorps programs were halted, impacting 32,465 AmeriCorps participants.
While the government first sought to transfer participants most impacted to other programs, those plans never came to fruition for a majority of members.
This led 24 states, including Maryland and Washington D.C., to sue accusing the administration of illegally dismantling AmeriCorps.
On June 5 judge Deborah Boardman, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, ruled the government's decision to close AmeriCorps was “categorical in nature" and "vague," and therefore in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act (APA).
"By law, the agency could only make those changes through public notice-and-comment rule making," Boardman's order states. "Accordingly, the Court will enjoin the [government] from effectuating and enforcing the April 15, 2025 removal of [National Civilian Community Corps] members from service, require the agency to return [them to service] (if they are willing and able to return), and require the agency to engage in notice-and-comment rule making before instituting this significant change."