Caryn York received an unusually sterile email from AmeriCorps one evening last month. It said the federal agency for volunteering and national service was ending the terms of thousands of national members, including those in her program — effective immediately.

Another email from the Maryland Governor’s Commission on Service and Volunteerism, sent on behalf of AmeriCorps, soon arrived in the inboxes of more than a dozen other local programs. Their AmeriCorps award, they were told, “no longer effectuates federal priorities.”

“I’m likening it to someone who breaks up with you via text message,” said York, president and CEO of Baltimore Corps, which received funding directly from the federal agency. “But in a very cold way after years of being in a relationship.”

More than 250 AmeriCorps state members in Maryland have lost their jobs, according to Gov. Wes Moore‘s administration. State officials estimate that more than $7 million in grants were vaporized by the Elon Musk-led U.S. Department of Government Efficiency’s dismantling of AmeriCorps.

The overall impact on Maryland could be much greater.

There were nearly 5,000 AmeriCorps volunteers and more than $16 million in federal funding distributed in the state, according to the AmeriCorps 2024-25 annual report for Maryland. Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown is part of a multistate lawsuit filed Tuesday against the Trump administration to restore AmeriCorps programs.

AmeriCorps was formed in 1994 to help communities tackle their biggest challenges, from natural disasters to poverty. The agency dispatches nearly 200,000 members and invests more than $960 million across the country each year.

Members work with local organizations to offer direct services such as repairing homes after disasters, supporting the elderly and helping to conserve natural habitats.

During their service term of one year, members are paid a living allowance of up to $30,000 and offered child care benefits, student loan forbearance and an education award of about $7,500. Senior volunteers are offered a modest stipend and insurance.

The first signs of peril for AmeriCorps came April 8, when DOGE entered the agency with intentions to slash its workforce by half or more. Two days later, the Trump administration put about 85% of AmeriCorps’ full-time staff on administrative leave as of June.

A little over a week ago, DOGE ordered AmeriCorps to terminate nearly $400 million, or about 41%, of its grants, the Washington Post reported. President Donald Trump has said he is slashing the federal government to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse.

The abrupt changes to AmeriCorps left members and staff at Baltimore Corps shocked and in a lurch. Baltimore Corps fosters local talent in public service and connects people with work opportunities in Baltimore‘s nonprofits, government agencies and companies.

Baltimore Corps, which began in 2013, helped recruit, train and employ more than 300 Baltimoreans to serve as contact tracers and care coordinators during the COVID-19 pandemic. The organization also was the first grantee of an AmeriCorps public health program launched in 2022.

But, under extremely short notice, the organization had to tell 25 AmeriCorps members who were starting in early May, and their placement sites, that the program was canceled.

Removing members and snatching funding for communities who need it most has been like a “punch in the gut,” said Paul Costello, executive director of Project CHANGE, an acronym for “collaboratively helping America’s next generation emerge,” in Montgomery County.

Costello said he is especially worried about the children who have built strong bonds with the AmeriCorps members working in their schools who will question their absence.

Project CHANGE works with children in the county’s public schools to boost their self-esteem and change the narratives they have about themselves.

Under the Trump administration’s directive, Costello had to tell 15 AmeriCorps members not to come back. He believes it will directly impact around 80 children.

“The signal that it’s sending to these kids is that there are more important things than them growing up to be capable, educated, learning, thriving, happy and successful,” Costello said.

Several organizations in Baltimore and across the state have partnered directly with AmeriCorps since its inception. Civic Works was a “proud member of the AmeriCorps network,” said Dana Stein, its executive director.

Based in Baltimore, the organization primarily works with youth on services such as cleaning neighborhood alleys and making home repairs for older people. Civic Works volunteers also mentor local high school students at Reach! Partnership School, a charter school in Clifton Park, to help them prepare for college and careers.

Civic Works received two grants from AmeriCorps. One was cut, prematurely ending the service terms for 15 members and slashing the number of members it brings on for the summer program from 20 to 10.

“The school will certainly carry on and implement its mission. But, having members have shorter terms will mean that there won’t be as many services provided by AmeriCorps as have been planned,” Stein said.

The cuts are also impacting Maryland state agencies. Forty-one AmeriCorps members at the Maryland Conservation Corps, which works with the Maryland Park Service to manage public parks and natural resources, were terminated.

The loss of funding has “dire impacts on the hopes and dreams of our Corps members, but also the operations of the Maryland Park Service,” said Rachel Temby, deputy director of the Maryland Park Service.

Some Maryland universities also took a hit from AmeriCorps cuts. Programs at the Johns Hopkins University had 12 AmeriCorps members, Frostburg State University had 24, and Maryland Institute College of Art had 15 — all were let go.

However, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation is covering the cost of the former AmeriCorps positions and moving forward with its programming, said Doug Donovan, a Johns Hopkins spokesperson.

But Frostburg State University’s Appalachian Service Through Action and Resources program was eliminated after nearly 31 years of service. In a statement, Lisa Clark, the program’s director, called the program’s closure “a devastating loss.”

Some AmeriCorps members who were terminated before the end of their service terms will receive prorated stipends and education awards.

But they’ll likely join the thousands of federal workers who are looking for jobs.

Others have raised their hands to continue working with organizations and state agencies in a volunteer capacity, state officials said at a press conference Wednesday.

“The program is paying them less than $13 an hour, so they’re doing it out of love,” Costello said. “They’re not doing it for ulterior motives. They’re just doing it because they care.”

A previous version of this story implied that AmeriCorps members could apply for unemployment insurance. They are not eligible for those benefits.