RALEIGH, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Attorney General Jeff Jackson announced Friday that AmeriCorps will release all previously withheld funds for programs supporting recovery efforts in Western North Carolina. The federal government informed the court Thursday evening that it would distribute the money.
“The federal government knew that it would lose against us in court because it had no right to cut funds for AmeriCorps that Congress had already authorized,” Jackson said. “This money belongs to North Carolina and is crucial for western North Carolina’s recovery. I’m deeply grateful for the AmeriCorps members on the ground who can keep helping our communities rebuild after Helene.”
The restored programs include:
- Project MARS (Big Brothers Big Sisters of WNC): Employs 45 people serving 18 western North Carolina counties after Hurricane Helene, delivering supplies and meals to homebound families, distributing food and clothing, assisting shelters and crisis hotlines, and supporting schools reopening.
- Project Conserve: Employs 25 people in 25 counties performing debris removal, tree replanting, storm repairs, and rain-barrel distribution.
- Project POWER: Employs 14 people assisting more than 10,500 residents in Buncombe, Henderson, and Madison counties with food distribution, wellness checks, and cleanup efforts.
- Other programs providing literacy services, community gardens, support for future teachers in rural areas, mental health services for students and food distribution.
The dispute began April 15 when AmeriCorps ordered more than 50 full-time volunteers to stop working on Helene recovery in Western North Carolina, as part of a broader termination affecting more than 750 National Civilian Community Corps volunteers and over $400 million in service programs nationwide. On April 29, Jackson joined a coalition of 22 attorneys general and two governors in suing AmeriCorps for failing to administer congressionally appropriated grants.
A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction in June, restoring all terminated programs in North Carolina while the lawsuit continued. Afterward, the Office of Management and Budget began withholding $184 million in nationwide funding, which also affected additional North Carolina programs. Jackson filed a motion earlier this month to release the funds.
In court filings Thursday evening, AmeriCorps and the Office of Management and Budget agreed to release all previously withheld money and distribute it promptly.
Jackson was joined in the lawsuit by the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin, and the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
