‘It’s Traumatic’ KC Child Center feels immediate impacts of AmeriCorps Cuts

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Federal cuts to the AmeriCorps program have left staff at a Kansas City child development center devastated, thinking of the children who will be impacted.

The Emmanuel Family and Child Development Center said it was notified at 8 p.m. Friday that its AmeriCorps services would be terminated, effective immediately. The announcement follows drastic cuts to the national AmeriCorps program last week, which oversees more than 200,000 nationwide.

In response, two dozen states have filed lawsuits against the Trump istration, claiming the cuts violate federal law and are part of a larger effort to dismantle the program. According to the complaint, 85 percent of AmeriCorps employees have been placed on istrative leave ahead of expected job cuts.

Staff at the Emanuel Family and Child Development say the decision has been devastating.

Federal funding is what helps keep their doors open. They receive funding from the Department of Education and Head Start and now AmeriCorps is another crucial source on the chopping block.

“We have children, we’re teaching them how to express how they feel. We have adults that can’t even do that right now and so as a result, this means that we have to start early with our children,” said Deborah Mann, executive director of the Emanuel Family and Child Development Center.

Mann says AmeriCorps provided wraparound services, including speech and language therapy, mental health counseling, and classroom that help children bloom into healthy adults.

“We have children that have experienced a lot of trauma in our program so these were able to provide those extra hands to these children and now that’s gone,” Mann said.

Over the weekend, AmeriCorps Program Director Faith McMillan said she was left with the difficult task of letting 21 staff go.

“It’s gonna be a major traumatic event for them,” McMillan said.

The program s more than 200 children, many of whom come from vulnerable backgrounds. McMillan says staff worked to help children develop critical skills, improve their speech, and learn to communicate.

She recalled one child from an immigrant family who made significant progress while working with an AmeriCorps member.

“He was just quiet, a really reserved kid, and you know that happens sometimes. Kids are reserved but she kind of broke him out of his shell, so AmeriCorps like that are just what are so crucial here,” McMillan said.

McMillan added that the timing could not be worse.

“Just to pull that familiar face away from the children, especially so close to their graduation date and the end of the school year, it’s traumatic and so it just you know it’s hard on them especially if they may not have that stability in their life,” she said.

Now, staff who relied on living stipends and educational benefits are left wondering where they go from here. The center’s director is calling on the public to ask for change.

“We have to speak up, we have to open our mouths for our children. These children are our future. If they perish, we don’t have a future,” said Mann.

The center hopes foundations will step in to bridge the gap while their federal funding remains uncertain.

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