What you need to know: DOGE’s actions to dismantle AmeriCorps threaten vulnerable Californians, disaster response and recovery, and economic opportunities. California is suing - and ramping up efforts to recruit for the state’s service corps program.

SACRAMENTO - On April 17, 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that as the Trump Administration dismantles the AmeriCorps service program, California will both challenge the illegal action in court and accelerate recruitment for the California Service Corps program - already the largest service corps in the nation, surpassing the size of the Peace Corps.

We’ve gone from the New Deal, the New Frontier, and the Great Society to a federal government that gives the middle finger to volunteers serving their fellow Americans. We will sue to stop this. - Governor Gavin Newsom

When the devastating fires struck Los Angeles earlier this year, AmeriCorps members were on the ground, distributing supplies and supporting families. As recently as this week, AmeriCorps members were on the ground assisting in recovery. The agency’s shutdown hamstrings these efforts.

“DOGE’s actions aren’t about making government work better - it’s about making communities weaker,” said GO-Serve Director Josh Fryday. “These actions will dismantle vital lifelines in communities across California. AmeriCorps members are out in the field teaching children to read, supporting seniors and helping families recover after disasters. AmeriCorps is not bureaucracy; it’s boots on the ground.”

JFK’s America:

“For I stand tonight facing west on what was once the last frontier. The pioneers… were not ‘every man for himself’ — but ‘all for the common cause.’ They were determined to make that new world strong and free, to overcome its hazards and its hardships…

“We stand today on the edge  of a New Frontier, a frontier of unknown opportunities and perils, a frontier of unfulfilled hopes and threats.”

“The New Frontier of which I speak is not a set of promises - it is a set of challenges. It sums up not what I intend to offer the American people, but what I intend to ask of them. It appeals to their pride, not to their pocketbook, it holds out the promise of more sacrifice instead of more security…”

“I am asking each of you to be pioneers on that New Frontier. My call is to the young in heart, regardless of age - to all who respond to the Scriptural call: ‘Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed.’ For courage, not complacency, is our need today.”

Today: 

Go f*** yourself. You’re on your own.

California Service Corps is the largest service force in the nation, consisting of four paid service programs:   

• #CaliforniansForAll College Corps  
• California Climate Action Corps 
• Youth Service Corps  
• AmeriCorps California  

Combined, it is a force larger than the Peace Corps and is mobilized at a time when California is addressing post-pandemic academic recovery, rebuilding from the LA fires and planning for the future of the state’s workforce. The federal government provides more than half of the funding for California Climate Action Corps and about 5% of College Corps, while the state fully funds the Youth Service Corps.

In the 2023-24 service year, 6,264 AmeriCorps members in California: 

• Provided 4,397,674 hours of service
• Tutored/mentored 73,833 students
• Supported 17,000 foster youth with education and employment  
• Planted 39,288 trees

Members helped 26,000 households impacted by the LA fires and packed 21,000 food boxes.