May 9, 2025

Impact of recent funding cuts on community engagement programs in UAA

UAA’s Community Engagement and Leadership Education (CELE) Center is among the programs and organizations impacted by the federal government’s April 25 termination of $400M in AmeriCorps grants. The grant termination led to the abrupt cessation of CELE Center’s AmeriCorps K-12 Community-Engaged Learning Coordinator position. The impact of these grant terminations on the 40 CELE Center students currently enrolled in an AmeriCorps-affiliated program is not yet known.

This came about on April 25, when one of the CELE Center’s partners for AmeriCorps volunteers, the Washington Campus Coalition for the Public Good (WACC), had its AmeriCorps grant terminated, effective immediately, along with 1,000 other AmeriCorps programs engaging over 32,000 AmeriCorps members across the country. WACC provides funding and support for AmeriCorps positions on more than 30 campuses across Washington state, including all three UW campuses. As AmeriCorps members, students and volunteers contributed to the success of our state and nation by supporting K-12 academic engagement, housing and food security and other critical social issues. AmeriCorps members receive modest education grants or stipends for living expenses, depending on their type of service.

As the federal agency for national service and volunteerism, AmeriCorps has provided opportunities for more than 1.3 million individuals to serve their country, providing billions of hours of service to meet basic needs, improve communities and positively impact young people.

Additionally, the CELE Center recently received notification from National Jumpstart, the umbrella nonprofit the University of Washington Jumpstart program is under, that all 31 of their university-affiliated partner sites will close by this summer. This includes the UW Jumpstart program. The national organization cited financial constraints, a shift in their operational model, and uncertainty about the future of AmeriCorps funding as factors leading to this outcome.

Over the last 20+ years of Jumpstart at the UW, more than 1,200 UW undergraduates worked with over 5,000 Seattle preschool children from low-income families across Seattle to promote quality early learning so all children can be prepared for kindergarten. The lifelong impact of early childhood education is well-documented, and we are proud to contribute to that work. In the last several years, Jumpstart at the UW — which launched in 2003 as a collaboration between Undergraduate Academic Affairs, the Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity, the College of Education, and the Work Study Office — enrolled dozens of UW students annually to serve as AmeriCorps members to work with preschoolers. Read one student’s experiences here.

These programs make our communities, state and country stronger, safer and more compassionate. Community-engagement opportunities help student AmeriCorps members develop interpersonal, critical thinking and leadership skills that benefit them in their future communities and careers. CELE Center staff are exploring ways to support affected UW students, staff, AmeriCorps members and community partners.