The Barnstable County Board of Regional Commissioners authorized the county to use surplus dollars to fund AmeriCorps Cape Cod through August.
This comes after AmeriCorps Cape Cod learned it was among many AmeriCorps programs across the country to have its funding cut by the Department of Government Efficiency.
The Barnstable County Commission called an emergency meeting that took place Thursday. More than 100 people attended the virtual meeting, many to express their support and gratitude for AmeriCorps Cape Cod.
AmeriCorps Cape Cod is an 11-month residential community service program funded half by the county and half through federal grants. Members help out with conservation projects, emergency preparedness and response, public health outreach and youth education.
AmeriCorps Cape Cod member Lydia Reinhart attended the meeting to give people a sense of what AmeriCorps members do.
“We spend early mornings with the shellfish departments, or knee-deep in poison ivy with land trusts,” she said. “We serve with the DCR [Department of Conservation and Recreation] doing prescribed burns and alongside IFAW [International Fund for Animal Welfare] carrying dolphins across the beaches, and we've cleared a lot of herring runs.”
Massachusetts is currently one of more than 20 states that are suing the Trump administration to restore funding for AmeriCorps programs. With that litigation pending, the future of AmeriCorps is unknown.
But at least until the end of this year’s program on Cape Cod, which is in August, the county will provide funds to keep the program going.
“The general fund budget for the AmeriCorps Cape Cod program can fully absorb the impact of an early grant termination without jeopardizing program operations,” Barnstable County Administrator Michael Dutton said.
AmeriCorps Cape Cod program manager Misty Niemeyer said she had not received a reason for why the program was cut.
“There's no consistency in the types of programs cut, so it's kind of thought right now that it was fairly random and it's not a reflection at all on our program,” she said.
Cape Cod’s Emergency Preparedness Director, Chip Reilly, was among the many people to speak at the meeting about their support for AmeriCorps Cape Cod. He recalled a time in 2023, when Hurricane Lee appeared to be headed for Cape Cod.
“In a state of panic of, 'we might have to open shelters here in a hurry,' I called the program director and said, ‘Hey, can you squeeze me in so we can do some quick training for the AmeriCorps members?’” he said. “By that evening, those members were trained and ready to deploy.”
The county is urging residents to reach out to their elected representatives and ask that funding for AmeriCorps Cape Cod be restored.
