“It was unconscionable”: Funding Cuts Eliminate Environmental AmeriCorps Program in Northern Ohio

At 6 P.M. on a Saturday, Erica Matheny, executive director of Tinker’s Creek Watershed Partners in Twinsburg, Ohio, received the email that halted six years of environmental restoration work through the Northern Ohio Watershed Corps (NOWCorps) program.  As both Earth Week and National Volunteer Week drew to a close, several of the 32 AmeriCorps members dedicating a year of service to environmental organizations across northern Ohio were out working at local events. On Monday, they were informed their positions had been terminated, effective immediately.

“It was the worst-case scenario,” recalls Matheny. “It shouldn't have been a big surprise, but it was . . .  Even though we had talked about it, we never really thought it would happen the way it came down.”

Managed by Tinker’s Creek Watershed Partners, NOWCorps had a successful six-year track record of ecological restoration, stormwater mitigation, and invasive species removal, among other projects. It was one of 20 AmeriCorps programs to receive similar termination notices in April from ServeOhio, the organization responsible for distributing federal AmeriCorps funds at the state level.

In total, the AmeriCorps grant provided Tinker’s Creek Watershed Partners with almost $1 million, which largely passed through the nonprofit to facilitate environmental projects at organizations throughout the region. “That was more than half of our budget as an organization,” says Matheny.

She refers to the weeks that followed as “horrific.” As soon as the NOWCorps members were informed of the funding cuts, they were immediately divested of their monthly stipends, health insurance, and, in some cases, housing. In the aftermath, Matheny and her colleagues scrambled to find ways to support people who suddenly had no safety net, many of whom had relocated to northern Ohio specifically to serve in this program.

As AmeriCorps service members are not considered employees, they were ineligible to collect unemployment.

“The level of reimbursement they were receiving—their stipend level—was so low that they could qualify for food stamps,” says Matheny. “It was unconscionable to do this to individuals who were giving a year of service to help the environment.”

Northern Ohio Watersheds Now Threatened

Founded with nine AmeriCorps members in 2019, the Northern Ohio Watershed Partners program had grown to welcome 32 members across 17 host sites by early 2025. Hosts included Tinker’s Creek Watershed Partners, Cleveland Metroparks, Holden Arboretum, the Nature Conservancy, the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes, Chagrin River Watershed Partners, and the Cuyahoga County Board of Health, among other organizations.

“Our partners included large and small watershed nonprofits, parks, and local government entities, all different kinds of groups that benefited from having an entry-level environmental professional who was trying to get their foot in the door through a year of service,” says Matheny.

NOWCorps members included both recent college graduates and mid-level career professionals looking to pivot into the environmental sector. Through NOWCorps training opportunities, these individuals were able to earn certifications in relevant skillsets like first aid, chainsaw operation, and wildlife education that would help them serve their future communities. Their wide-ranging work involved removing invasive species, expanding green infrastructure, monitoring water quality, increasing environmental resilience, educating the public, restoring habitats, maintaining trails, planting trees, managing greenhouses, and much more.

Without this work, Matheny says urban areas surrounding the NOWCorps service area will be ill-prepared for “more violent, unpredictable, wetter, wilder weather.”  For example, without tree canopies to provide cooling shade or green infrastructure for better stormwater management, these areas will be less resistant to the impacts of climate change.

This diminished capacity has a ripple effect.

“Tinker’s Creek is the largest tributary to the Cuyahoga River, which drains to Lake Erie, a source of drinking water for much of northern Ohio,” says Matheny. “Pollution here can have a big impact on water quality for drinking water from the lake.”

Although some NOWCorps organizations were able to identify other funding sources to help support their service members through the end of the program year in September, many lost out on essential support during their busiest season.

“There were places where they had greenhouses filled with plants and trees, and then they suddenly had no one to maintain or plant them,” says Matheny. “They were just left. It was really frustrating for people that had invested all of this into this system.”

A Fork in the Road

In June, a federal judge ruled that more than $184 million in nationwide AmeriCorps funding must be reinstated, but Matheny says the damage to the NOWCorps program had already been done. Given the loss of resources, staffing, and cancelled work, Tinker’s Creek Watershed Partners has decided not to accept reinstated funding or pursue AmeriCorps funding in the future.

 “It feels like there’s been trust broken between the federal government and all the organizations we were partnering with for this program,” she explains. “We couldn't trust that the funding wouldn't get pulled again.”

That doesn’t mean Matheny and her colleagues are giving up. Currently, Tinker’s Creek Watershed Partners is having conversations with local foundations, corporate sponsors, and individual donors in the hopes of creating a new workforce development program for young professionals in northern Ohio.

“Through our experience with NOWCorps, we’ve seen firsthand the need for a strong pipeline into environmental work, and we’re exploring creative, sustainable ways to fund it,” says Matheny.

In some ways, this decision has been liberating. Without the pressures of federal government restrictions, Tinker’s Creek Watershed Partners no longer must comply with directives that limit diversity, equity, and inclusion. They can also explore expanding their program to local universities and trade schools.

“This has been an unprecedented and difficult setback, but we’re not giving up,” says Matheny. “We’re turning it into an opportunity to strengthen our mission and design programs that empower local residents, stakeholders, and young people to take an active role in caring for their region. We’ll get through this, and we’ll be better for it.”