Bay Area nonprofits have started planning for a potential future without AmeriCorps volunteers after the Department of Government Efficiency announced cuts to some of the national service organization’s staffing and programs last week. News about grants for next year is also delayed.

While nonprofit directors say they have yet to feel the impacts of cuts to the national-level workforce, the elimination of one national AmeriCorps branch of service has sparked concern that others may follow, which would result in the cutting of staffing and services for nonprofits that rely on AmeriCorps volunteers to carry out their missions.

These volunteers, who receive a “modest living allowance,” according to the federal agency, do work that ranges from tutoring kids in reading and providing support for people navigating the justice system to responding to natural disasters and installing solar panels. There are currently 890 AmeriCorps California members working in the Bay Area, plus volunteers for federally funded programs.

John Hiester, executive director of Breakthrough Silicon Valley, a nonprofit that supports students who would become the first in their family to graduate from college and provides hands-on experience for aspiring teachers, has hosted AmeriCorps volunteers for the past three years. The program’s current grant, which is set to last through August, supports nine volunteers.

But the organization’s application for grant funding to support the next cohort of volunteers has had its decision date pushed back twice — from April to May to “we don’t know when,” Hiester said.

“What we don’t know is what to tell students and families and our staff about what the programs we will offer will look like after Sept. 1,” Hiester said. “With the reductions in force at the federal level, we’re concerned. Will there be a grant? And if there will, when will we learn about it?”

“Our staff are holding their breath in terms of: What will services look like (and), frankly, what will staffing look like after this current AmeriCorps group ends?” he said.

DOGE placed most national AmeriCorps staff members on leave last week and discharged volunteers in AmeriCorp’s National Civilian Community Corps, one section of its national service programs. The Washington Post reported Friday that DOGE has also told AmeriCorps to cut $400 million in grants — more than 40% of the organization’s annual budget.

In response to those cuts, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that California would challenge the action in court and double down on recruitment for the California Service Corps, which is the country’s largest service program, according to a news release from the governor’s office. The state coordinates some 10,000 volunteers through several service programs.

California Volunteers, the sector in the governor’s office that administers AmeriCorps in the state, had not received any guidance from AmeriCorps or DOGE as of Friday afternoon, said Katie Vavao, communications director for California Volunteers.

“While this is a fluid situation, we remain steadfast in our commitment to continue serving Californians,” Vavao said. “In California, we value service and are continuing to recruit for paid service positions in the California Service Corps.”

Bita Nazarian, executive director of 826 Valencia, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that helps under-resourced kids develop their writing skills, said that her organization has not yet seen an impact from the national-level cuts. But she and her team have started to plan for a potential future without AmeriCorps.

“There’s a lot of disbelief because, historically, AmeriCorps has garnered bipartisan support, and it’s striking to think that we can’t all agree that service to our community is really important,” Nazarian said.

The 826 Valencia workshop has 15 AmeriCorps volunteers each year, allowing the organization to provide individualized learning support to 7,000 students at three locations across San Francisco and in-school programs, Nazarian said. The volunteers work with the organization for 11 months, tutoring students in writing to help them develop their voices, critical thinking and creativity.

“It’s a big group of people who we love,” she said. “They’re great teammates, they’re committed to our mission and our youth and communities, and we need them to provide that individualist attention.”

Nazarian said she is worried about what further cuts could mean, including whether the organization would be able to afford to hire full-time staff in place of volunteers in an area with a high cost of living and whether they would be able to attract the current level of talent.

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“If there is an elimination of these roles, well, who provides the one-on-one attention that our kids need?” she said. “Instead of spending my time thinking about how [we can] provide the best programs for our community – that’s our mission – we are thinking about scenario A, B, C. What would that look like? How do we fund it?”

Breakthrough Silicon Valley has also started to plan ahead, Hiester said. If Breakthrough Silicon Valley loses its grant money, it may have to decrease its staffing and services.

“There’s a lot of ways in red states and blue states that AmeriCorps members are adding value to communities. We think it’s a just amazing return on investment of public funds. Everything is matched with private investment,” Hiester said. “It fills a lot of gaps for vulnerable members of our communities, and so we hope that it is retained, but we are concerned about the future, and we’re planning for what that might look like for us.”