As the president and CEO of Mile High United Way, I have the honor to work to unite our community for the common good.
Historically, little has united Americans as strongly and as durably as a shared belief in and admiration of community service — of dedicating our time, love, energy and effort to something larger than ourselves.
On April 13, Mile High United Way thanked and said goodbye to seven young people who embody this ideal of service through their participation in AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps, or NCCC. They spent 15 weeks serving with our Tax Help Colorado program, putting nearly $4 million in tax refunds back into the hands of Colorado families. We wished them well as they traveled to their next project serving our northern neighbors in Wyoming.
Instead, two days later, our federal government abruptly sent them home along with the nearly 2,000 other Corps members serving across the country after the new Department of Government Efficiency deemed their work not worthy of taxpayer dollars.
This decision sends a devastating message not just to Corps members, but to our entire country and its young people: Your service is not needed.
The United States of America, through an agency created by our duly elected Congress, called on these young people to serve. They answered that call, entering into an agreement that was terminated by our government this month without explanation or warning.
A day after NCCC was dismantled, AmeriCorps staff across the country were placed on administrative leave, calling into question the future of the entire agency. Then, on Friday, DOGE ordered that $400 million in AmeriCorps grants be terminated, affecting nearly 32,500 volunteers. If we do away with this valuable pathway for national service, we will have made a heartbreaking error and a profound break with a proud tradition that represents the very best of our country.
Because make no mistake: Whether you know very much about AmeriCorps, it has almost certainly touched your life.
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1:30 AM MDT on Apr 25, 20257:32 PM MDT on Apr 23, 2025Members of AmeriCorps’ predecessor agency, the Civilian Conservation Corps, built Red Rocks Amphitheatre where you plan to enjoy the music of your favorite band this summer. AmeriCorps members made sure New Orleans could welcome you back after Hurricane Katrina. AmeriCorps members may have restored the Colorado trail you will hike during a gorgeous weekend.
These selfless acts of service have long enjoyed bipartisan support — a breath of fresh air amid our typically contentious political dustups. I should know; I served at the Corporation for National and Community Service (the federal agency that oversees AmeriCorps) under the administrations of both Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, including a day that demanded Americans come together in service to one another like few others in history.
No American of a certain age will ever forget where they were and what they were doing on Sept. 11, 2001. I was in Washington, on my way to a meeting at the White House. And by Sept. 12, my colleagues and I were mobilizing AmeriCorps members to support recovery efforts in Lower Manhattan and at the Pentagon.
I left Washington to come back home to Colorado, but I never left AmeriCorps and it never left me.
When I ran the American Red Cross Mile High Chapter, I knew we could count on AmeriCorps members to be our willing, talented partners in the face of any disaster.
At Mile High United Way, I have watched gratefully as AmeriCorps members taught our state’s youngest readers and completed thousands of tax returns for families and seniors.
Over the course of my career, I have spoken frequently and enthusiastically about AmeriCorps’ enormous impact. The words have never been hard to find, because they come from experience and they come from the heart.
But when I try to envision a future without AmeriCorps and the next generation of leaders it so ably and reliably creates, I find myself in a less familiar state: I am speechless.
There is still time to ensure that this future does not come to pass. It will require all of us finding our voices and raising them as one to our elected leaders: AmeriCorps represents the best of us. We abandon it at our own peril.
Christine Benero of Denver is the president and CEO of Mile High United Way and served as the director of public affairs and public liaison for the Corporation for National Community Service under Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush.
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