I stood in front of a classroom for the first time in the summer of 2009. I was a member of the inaugural cohort of the Inspired Teaching Fellows program, a rigorous, hands-on experience designed to prepare new educators to serve students with compassion, creativity, and high expectations. I trained under the guidance of seasoned educators, learning how to engage students as active learners and to cultivate a classroom culture grounded in inquiry and joy.

But I wasn’t doing this work alone. At the time, the Inspired Teaching Fellows Program was part of the nationwide network of AmeriCorps volunteers and alums. As a member of AmeriCorps, I was part of something big: a national commitment to educating our youngest learners and strengthening communities. And thanks to the Segal AmeriCorps Education Award, which AmeriCorps members can receive after completing their service, I was able to pursue a Master of Arts in Teaching. That financial support didn’t just help me earn a degree — it helped me grow as an educator and education leader.

During my first teaching position at a public school in Washington, D.C., I worked alongside fellow AmeriCorps members who served as tutors and mentors to my students. Their presence made a tangible difference by offering students academic support, encouragement, and consistent, caring relationships. These were young people who showed up every day to ensure students had the resources, tools, and attention they needed to thrive.

The Trump Administration’s decision to eliminate nearly $400 million in AmeriCorps grants — roughly 41% of its funding — and place 85% of AmeriCorps staff on administrative leave is deeply misguided.

AmeriCorps is more than a line item in a federal budget. It’s a catalyst for public service and a source of support to communities across the country. It places passionate individuals in schools, health centers, and nonprofit organizations, helping to fill critical gaps where systems fall short. In education alone, AmeriCorps members work as tutors, mentors, and teachers in thousands of schools — often in under resourced communities where support is most needed.

Like many of its other proposed spending cuts, the Trump administration’s effort to defund AmeriCorps masquerades as a tactic to save dollars when the real purpose is to divest from communities. Moreover, this move starkly contradicts the values and desires of the American people. Just as two-thirds of Americans oppose shutting down the U.S. Department of Education, a recent poll by Data for Progress found that voters overwhelmingly support AmeriCorps, including 70% of Republicans.

AmeriCorps is not a perfect program. It is, in many ways, a band-aid to problems of our own making. If our country sufficiently invested in public education, public health, efforts to address climate change, and ensured that all people receive a living wage, we could imagine a very different kind of national service and volunteer corps. And because of the low living stipend given to AmeriCorps members, the program is often inaccessible to people from low-income backgrounds, who — due to systemic racism and the generational wealth gap — are disproportionately people of color. Of course, the solutions to those challenges are increasing investments in public services and acting on a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, the very opposite of this Administration’s agenda.

At a time when many schools and communities need more resources and support, we should improve and strengthen programs like AmeriCorps — not dismantle them.