The Food Bank of Delaware, Reading Assist, Literacy Delaware and others highlight the impact cuts to AmeriCorps and their organizations by the Trump Administration and DOGE are having.
The organizations were joined by Sen. Chris Coons and Gov. Matt Meyer as they categorized how the cuts are affecting critical services in Delaware.
AmeriCorps has seen 85% of its staff cut by DOGE and $400 million in grants lost. In Delaware, funding has been cut by $1.1 million across 10 projects, impacting 113 AmeriCorps members in the state.
The Food Bank of Delaware has seen the delivery of 19 tractor-trailers of food stopped by the U.S. Department of Agriculture which is 900,000 meals lost between April and July.
"We were expecting hard to get food: milk, eggs, frozen meat, fruits, vegetables and more. The USDA's emergency food program has long been a lifeline for food banks supplying essential items like fresh produce, dairy, protein and shelf-stable items. For years we've been steadfast partners with USDA," said Food Bank of Delaware CEO Cathy Kanefsky.
Reading Assist had tens of thousands of federal dollars cut with 17 AmeriCorps members informed the final month of their contracts would not be honored after spending the current school year helping young children learn to read.
Reading Assist CEO Caroline O’Neal says she’s especially fighting for those called in late January and told not to work by the Musk-led DOGE.
"We're here because many of our members were told on a Saturday night, not to show up on Monday for the kids that they've been working with all school year,” said O’Neal. “We were told that despite agreements and signed contracts that learning to read was no longer an agency priority."
should leave their work site - saying if the “feds says no, we will say yes.”
Eleven Literacy Delaware members were impacted by the cuts affecting not only the program but lives of people in the program as adults learning to read would be impacted as well.
Gov. Meyer announced the state will intervene.
"We've made very clear to any AmeriCorps program in this year, through August none of your members should leave their work site. We will make sure if the fed says no, we will say yes," said Meyer.
