Volunteers at The Green Bay Conservation Corps Earth Day event, April 22, 2023. PC: Fox 11 Online
(WTAQ-WLUK) – Green Bay’s city council unanimously voted Tuesday night to keep its Conservation Corps around a little longer after losing federal funding.
President Donald Trump’s DOGE team cut the program, along with nearly $400 million worth of other AmeriCorps contracts.
Ahead of the council’s vote, and one week after being sent home due to federal funding cuts, Green Bay Conservation Corps members outlined the work they’d like to resume.
“We’re the ones removing thousands of invasive species and restoring the land to its native habitat,” said Cailie Kufura, a Conservation Corps member. “We’re mulching your trails and your rain gardens and installing biofilters to mitigate flooding and improve water quality.”
Green Bay launched its Conservation Corps two and a half years ago and was hoping to expand this fall to add a Community Corps and to take conservation efforts to a new level with larger scale restoration beyond city property.
“The program of AmeriCorps was created by Congress,” said Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich. “A presidential administration cannot simply come in and eliminate both funding sources and programs that have been put in place by our legislative body.”
Wisconsin is one of two dozen states suing to stop the AmeriCorps cuts.
“AmeriCorps has failed eight consecutive audits and identified over $45 million in improper payments in 2024 alone,” said White House spokesperson Anna Kelly in a statement. “President Trump has the legal right to restore accountability to the entire Executive Branch.”
Trump supporters on the city council sided with the Conservation Corps.
“I support this project,” said Alderperson Chris Wery. “I support our president. It’s as simple as that.”
The city council agreed to use $115,000 in ARPA interest funds to have up to 13 workers fulfill the rest of the program’s third year. That is beyond an initial ask to pay for one more month of work at a price of nearly $26,000.
“It’s really a band aid,” said Genrich while acknowledging the difficult of paying for the program beyond August. “There’s no such thing as a free lunch and it hasn’t been that for the city of Green Bay. We put real money up to make this program happen, but it’s a three to one match. So we’d have to come up with three times the grant amount that we’ve allocated to this.”
Despite the difficulty, city council members expressed a desire to find money to keep the work going.
City officials have said before the Conservation Corps, the projects the group performs were either neglected or only done when volunteers approached the city looking for work.
Maria Otto, the coordinator of the Green Bay’ Conservation Corps, says they were planning to have 15 additional members for this summer’s work. The hope is community volunteers will step forward to help fill the gap.
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