Attorney General Jennifer Davenport, as part of a coalition of 23 attorneys general and two governors, has reached a settlement that bars the Trump Administration from seeking to cut almost all funding from the AmeriCorps program again without warning. The post AG Davenport Welcomes Resolution of AmeriCorps Lawsuit appeared first on New Jersey Office of Attorney General.
What happened
– Jennifer Davenport, Attorney General
Joint Motion to Stay | Settlement Agreement
Key details
TRENTON – Attorney General Jennifer Davenport, as part of a coalition of 23 attorneys general and two governors, has reached a settlement that bars the Trump Administration from seeking to cut almost all funding from the AmeriCorps program again without warning.
The deal resolves a 2025 lawsuit filed in response to the Administration’s repeated attempts to gut the nation’s volunteer service programs.
The cuts prevented by the lawsuit had threatened the survival of those programs—including more than $6.6 million in funds for AmeriCorps programs in New Jersey.
This settlement protects the funding and participants of those programs for fiscal year 2026 as well.
In New Jersey, AmeriCorps members support a wide variety of programs, including recovery programs for individuals who have experienced addiction, educational programs for adults learning English, academic mentoring programs for children with special needs, maintaining parks and green spaces in urban areas, and disaster recovery and relief programs.
AmeriCorps supports national and state community service programs by funding and placing volunteers in local and national organizations that address critical community needs.
Organizations rely on support from AmeriCorps to recruit, place, and supervise AmeriCorps members nationwide.
In April 2025, the Trump Administration moved to eliminate nearly 90% of AmeriCorps’ workforce, cancel its contracts, and close $400 million worth of AmeriCorps-supported programs.
The coalition states sued and in June 2025, a federal court granted the states’ motion for a preliminary injunction requiring the administration to reinstate programs that had been unlawfully canceled.
Then in August 2025, following a further motion for preliminary injunction by the coalition, the federal Office of Management and Budget agreed to release more than $184 million in AmeriCorps funding it had withheld.
Should AmeriCorps take any of those actions, or make a material change to its delivery of volunteer services, it must provide the coalition states with written notice at least 30 days in advance and identify the legal authority under which it is taking the action.
AmeriCorps has also agreed to commit substantially all of its fiscal year 2026 funding by September 30, 2026, and to administer its National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) and AmeriCorps VISTA programs in accordance with the federal statutes that govern them.
Under the settlement, AmeriCorps may not disrupt the current terms of service of NCCC or VISTA participants, except under specific, lawful circumstances detailed in the settlement.
Should the states determine that AmeriCorps has not complied, they may move the court to lift the stay and resume litigation.
The states also retain the right to challenge other unlawful conduct by AmeriCorps, whether through an amended complaint during the stay or a new action during or after the stay.
Attorney General Davenport was joined in the settlement by the attorneys general of Maryland, California, Colorado, and Delaware, which co-led the coalition, along with Arizona, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
Background and context
Previously, as a result of the lawsuit, the Trump Administration was forced to reinstate nearly $400 million in terminated AmeriCorps programs and agreed to release over $184 million in funds to service programs in across the country.
Now, under the terms of this settlement, AmeriCorps states that moving forward it does not anticipate that, during fiscal year 2026, it will terminate grants on a large scale as it did in spring 2025, conduct reductions in force of union employees beyond certain previously planned cuts, or dismiss a large number of AmeriCorps service members.
What officials said
AmeriCorps members are indispensable to organizations across New Jersey, working as critical volunteers in our communities,” said Attorney General Davenport.
While this disruption never should have happened in the first place, I am pleased that by uniting together, states were able to not only stop these unannounced and drastic cuts to these important programs, but also to take steps to prevent this from happening again.
What happens next
The settlement pauses the litigation through February 1, 2027, at which point the states will voluntarily dismiss the case without prejudice, provided AmeriCorps has complied with its commitments.
Legal note: Charges and allegations are accusations. A defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
Source and attribution: Jersey Alerts reviewed the primary official release from NJ Attorney General and any additional sources identified above. Names, dates, figures, quotations, claims and characterizations remain attributed to their cited source unless Jersey Alerts states that they were independently confirmed.
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