Submitted photos AmeriCorps members joined community volunteers to clean and restore historic Peninsula Cemetery in Wheeling in July 2024. The effort honored the veterans buried in the historic cemetery.

ELKINS — Hundreds of AmeriCorps workers have been cut in West Virginia in recent days, including several in our local region.

Approximately 250 AmeriCorps members in West Virginia were told to stop serving by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on April 29. This included all 22 members serving at 20 historic sites within the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia’s Preserve WV AmeriCorps program — the statewide national service initiative, through which AmeriCorps members have “helped main streets thrive, cultivated cultural heritage tourism, and preserved beloved West Virginia history,” officials said.

“Not only will the sites and communities suffer from this unexpected and sudden loss of AmeriCorps members, but the individuals serving in these positions are hurt as they no longer are receiving their modest stipend they received during service, as well as a critical workforce development opportunity for the state,” said Danielle Parker, Executive Director of the Alliance.

“Many communities already recognize the impact these cuts are going to have locally, and they are responding to try to figure out ways to keep the positions intact in some way,” Parker said. “Members are trying to find other jobs, but some are hoping to volunteer for the time being while searching for work to continue the programs they had planned. Although public funding that nonprofits rely on is being cut in all directions, including AmeriCorps and the Community Development Block Program, we are mobilizing and strategizing. Our local residents and businesses recognize how important our work is, even if the new administration does not agree. We are working together to figure out how to rise above this.” 

High Rocks Educational Corporation received orders last week to end AmeriCorps programming immediately, impacting High Rocks home offices in Pocahontas, Greenbrier and Nicolas counties, and 22 AmeriCorps partner sites that serve in all 55 counties of West Virginia. 

AmeriCorps members provide restoration work at Craik-Patton House, an historic home and public museum in Charleston.

High Rocks places nearly 70 members across the state. “This cut will not only end the AmeriCorps program, but puts the entire High Rocks organization and all High Rocks programs in real and sudden jeopardy,” officials said.

“Our program is strong, efficient and lean,” High Rocks Executive Director Sarah Riley said. “For the 2023/2024 program year, our AmeriCorps enrollment rate was 98.4%, and our retention rate was 95.2%. We delivered over 92,000 hours of high-impact programming to 9,354 participants and engaged 1,122 volunteers serving over 67,000 hours.

“Our program has a real impact on workforce development. Out of our 60 AmeriCorps members for the 2022 and 2023 program year, 11 were returning members, and 49 entered the program because of unemployment. 100% of our AmeriCorps members went on to jobs or continuing education and training. Most of our members come from West Virginia and stay here.”

In all, 32,000 AmeriCorps positions were cut nationwide. Currently, more than two dozen states have begun legal battles against the DOGE decision. West Virginia declined to participate, but affected Mountain State organizations hope they can at least finish out their program year, scheduled to end in December, in order to plan for next year.

For more information, go online to highrocks.org, or call 304-653-4891.

AmeriCorps members help with a civic service project, moving and documenting logs from an historic fort.

The Preservation Alliance of West Virginia’s website can be found at www.pawv.org.