For more than 30 years Serve Tri-Cities has paired volunteer tutors with Pasco elementary school students struggling with reading and math. Now the program is all but dead after the sudden elimination of the federal AmeriCorps program.
More than 1,500 students relied on Serve Tri-Cities across nine of Pasco’s elementary schools.
AmeriCorps helped the nonprofit with funding and pulling volunteers from its network.
Pasco schools only had to pay for about 50% of the program costs, but they’re not likely to be able to take up the rest of that burden with districts across Washington in budget crunches of their own, said Serve Tri-Cities Director Jessica Sagdal.
“There is no future for Serve Tri-Cities at this point, after 30 years of working with the schools,” she said. “I don’t believe they’re able to take on that second half (of the funding).”
Sagdal said that even if the district found the roughly $600,000 the nonprofit is losing in funding, they wouldn’t have access to the AmeriCorps network, which helps them connect with volunteers, provides administrative support and more.
The program also helped college students in the Tri-Cities earn more than $180,000 in educational awards in 2023 while serving their community. Volunteers can earn up to the amount of a Pell Grant in education awards, which can be applied to paying for college, graduate school or paying back student loans.
Full-time volunteers get a small stipend to help with the cost of living in a community away from home while volunteering. Serve Tri-Cities had AmeriCorps members from all over the country.
Sagdal said their volunteers also gave time to other community organizations such as local food banks and help with events.
Sagdal said their service also helps the volunteers build their professional skills as they plan what they want to do after college or their service period.
In April they helped with Easter egg hunts, a softball tournament benefiting Elijah Family Homes and gave time at 2nd Harvest, according to posts on social media.
While the nonprofit itself is in a holding pattern, they’re unable to get any answers from AmeriCorps headquarters. Sagdal said they can hang on until they know more, but it would be difficult to revamp the program to function just from local funding.
The Trump administration eliminated 85% of the organizations administrative staff before announcing further cuts to programs last month.
Tutors removed from classes
Sagdal said volunteers were told they were being released, meaning those tutors were immediately removed from Pasco classrooms.
“We’ve been partnered with Pasco school district for 30 years, the schools have come to know this program and relied on it,” Sagdal said. “So those students will no longer have that one-on-one support they’ve had from a couple of AmeriCorps volunteers in each school.”
Sagdal said the sudden blow to the program has been hard on everyone.
“I feel like the students and the school district had the support they need and rely on just taken from us,” Sagdal said. “It feels rotten, awful and uncertain.”
Anna Tensmeyer, Pasco schools director of public affairs, told the Herald in an email that the Serve Tri-Cities volunteers supported students through in-class tutoring, small group intervention, and assistance with before- and after-school programs and clubs.
“We are incredibly grateful for our 30-year partnership with AmeriCorps, which has had a lasting, positive impact on our schools,” Tensmeyer said. “The abrupt loss of these services is deeply felt throughout the district and the broader Tri-Cities community.”
Tensmeyer said a full-scale replacement of these services is unlikely.
“At this time, the district is evaluating how best to address the gaps left by the program’s elimination. However, replacing the AmeriCorps model at the same scale is not currently feasible due to statewide budget limitations and available resources,” she said. “We are reviewing the fiscal implications and exploring whether any transitional support can be provided using existing funds previously allocated for member compensation.”
In a news release last week, Sen. Patty Murray, D-WA, said the proposed 2026 federal budget appears to show the AmeriCorps agency is set to be eliminated altogether.
Sagdal encouraged community members who want to help can reach out to their congressman and other elected officials.
About AmeriCorps
The Tri-Cities area benefits from a variety of programs funded and staffed by AmeriCorps. Those programs also include Attendance Matters through the United Way of Benton and Franklin Counties. That program has also been all but eliminated.
Attendance Matters paired volunteer mentors with 700 at-risk middle school students across the Tri-Cities to help keep them on track to stay in school and graduate high school.
AmeriCorps is a national service program with several divisions that help communities with volunteering, disaster response, employment and more.
The National Civilian Community Corps, which sends disaster response teams to communities, was the first to be cut last month. Shortly after, most of the AmeriCorps administration staff was laid off and $400 million in grant funding was terminated.
The largest AmeriCorps program in the area is the Seniors RSVP program, which is a flexible program that relies on seniors to fill critical needs in the community and provide experienced volunteers to local food banks, nonprofits and other organizations. The seniors program is run through Catholic Charities of Central Washington.
While Seniors RSVP only received about $135,000 in 2023, they paired 275 volunteers with local organizations. Their counterpart through Yakima Valley Community College had 350 volunteers that year.
A second senior-oriented volunteer program through the Diocese of Yakima paired 170 volunteers with home-bound seniors to provide help and companionship. That program was the most costly in the region, at $1.2 million in 2023.
Washington is one of two dozen states suing the Trump administration in a bid to save AmeriCorps.
