Statement on AmeriCorps Funding Cuts

Over the weekend, DOGE cut $400M (41%) of all AmeriCorps programs for the current year, impacting 1,000+ organizations and over 30,000 AmeriCorps members. 

Unfortunately, these AmeriCorps cuts impact Aspire. 

On Monday, April 28th, Aspire was notified that our funding was cut and we needed to cease our AmeriCorps program effective immediately. This impacts the 17 Aspire AmeriCorps members who serve our students every day after school and during the summer. They lead lessons, manage classrooms, coordinate activities, liaise with students’ parents, and help keep our program running. Our students consider them to be role models, teachers, and confidants. 

Here’s what we know:

• Aspire isn’t going away. Aspire is resilient, resourceful, and community-driven. We have weathered challenges over the last 30 years, and have always risen to the occasion, centering the needs of our students and families. 
• We do not anticipate major changes to our afterschool programming through the end of this school year. In true Aspire fashion, we are quickly pivoting and will continue providing vital educational out-of-school time programming and filling our students with love, care, and hope. We will not give up on our students. We never do. 
• Aspire will continue offering programming beyond this school year. 

Here’s what we’re still figuring out: 

• These cuts leave us with a significant gap in funding going into our summer programming and 2025-2026 school year. Prior to these cuts, we were on track to serve a record number of students and expand program offerings. We hope that we are still able to fully execute this plan, because we know how important this programming is for our community.
• We are finalizing a few possible scenarios for our programming moving forward. In the coming weeks, we will work to secure funding to try to fill the gap left by the AmeriCorps funding cuts, and then we will finalize our program plans and determine how many students we can serve during our full-day, six week summer program and next school year based on available funds, all while keeping our programs at no-cost to our students and families. 

Here’s how you can help:

• Make a donation to Aspire. Your contribution will help us close the funding gap, support our students, and sustain and strengthen our work this year and beyond. 
• Spread the word about the impacts of these cuts. We will be sharing language you can use shortly, and we urge you to share Aspire’s statement on these funding cuts.

We will continue to share updates and information. Please reach out to Paula Fynboh with questions.

Media Contact: 

Paula Fynboh, Executive Director, paula@aspireafterschool.org, 703-379-6488 x102