Public Allies members joined True Skool in 2016 to conduct several projects at Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Place. All activities for the group have been paused. (NNS file photo)
By Edgar Mendez
This story was originally published by Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, where you can find other stories reporting on fifteen city neighborhoods in Milwaukee. Visit milwaukeenns.org.
Public Allies Wisconsin, a program that fostered the careers of many Milwaukee leaders, is in jeopardy.
It’s one of many programs impacted by $400 million in funding cuts to AmeriCorps, including $14 million in Wisconsin, ordered by billionaire Elon Musk’s U.S. Department of Government Efficiency.
The outlook was grim for the organization, which posted the following on its Facebook page on May 7.
“All activities had to be paused and Allies were asked not to report to placement,” it read.
But there is hope, said Nanis Rodriguez, executive director of Public Allies Wisconsin.
“We have a short-term solution to continue to support our members,” she said.
The Public Allies Wisconsin cohort and staff will be funded through a federal AmeriCorps program through its current term of service.
While that news is much better than last week’s when state grants from AmeriCorps were terminated and leaders were forced to send members home, it doesn’t bring long-term sustainability to an organization that has been operating in Milwaukee for three decades.
“If we don’t have AmeriCorps dollars, it essentially cuts 90% of our budget,” said Rodriguez, a 2009 alum of Public Allies who assumed the lead role of the local chapter in 2022.
Alums speak out against cuts
Among the elected officials speaking out against the cuts to AmeriCorps and their impact on Public Allies is State Rep. Darrin Madison.
Madison served in Public Allies for two years, first working with the Urban Ecology Center and then helping to launch Milwaukee’s Environmental Collaboration Office, which still operates today.
“[AmeriCorps] programs that help provide critical services to working families across the state now have huge staffing gaps and resource gaps,” he said. “People that have these high needs will now be in a position where they don’t know where to go to find help.”
He credits Public Allies with helping him establish the core values he carries into his role as a state leader, such as community development and collaboration. He said many AmeriCorps members join because they also share those values.
“Committing to a year of service is both an honor and a sacrifice for the corps members. Folks do it because they care about communities,” Madison said.
County Executive David Crowley said AmeriCorps is critical to fostering the next generation of leaders in Milwaukee County.
“AmeriCorps Public Allies was where I learned the foundation of community organizing and found my calling as a public servant. Simply put, we need AmeriCorps to build up stronger, healthier communities that Milwaukee County residents deserve,” wrote Crowley in a statement issued after the cuts were announced.
AmeriCorps, a federal agency that was centered on volunteerism and service, had thousands of active members, including many in Wisconsin, when the program’s funding was cut.
What are Public Allies?
Public Allies is a national program that provides training and other support to help cultivate leaders from underrepresented backgrounds. In addition to leadership and other training, Public Allies Wisconsin places participants in 10-month apprenticeships at nonprofits, including health clinics and youth-serving organizations.
Examples of past partner organizations include Arts at Large, Southside Organizing Center and the Milwaukee Justice Center. Other allies are also placed within county and city departments.
Notable Public Allies alumni from Milwaukee also include Reggie Moore, director of Violence Prevention Policy and Engagement for the Medical College of Wisconsin Comprehensive Injury Center; Ald. Sharlen Moore, activist Shavonda Sisson; and former state representative David Bowen.
‘Cutting out the potential’
Terron Edwards, who served with Public Allies in 2004, said the program placed him on a trajectory toward nonprofit leadership.
“I may have been successful at something else.But I definitely would not be doing what I am doing, and there would definitely not be a Fathers Making Progress,” said Edwards referring to the program he founded to help strengthen families in 2020.
Edwards called the cuts to AmeriCorps devastating.
“We are literally talking about cutting out the potential for the next crop of young leaders or community champions without these supports,” he said.
Julio Guerrero served in Public Allies in 2011 and 2012, and he worked as a program manager for a year. He said cuts to Public Allies and AmeriCorps in general will impact communities like Milwaukee the most.
“I think it’s tragic. It’s really going to impact a lot of underserved communities,” he said.
He said with no guarantees that funding for AmeriCorps will ever return, it’s important for the community to come together to help mitigate that harm of losing the program.
“We have to find a way to build new partnerships and alliances so that we can all work together to live to fight another day and to try to help each other until things get better,” Guerrero said.
What’s next?
Gov. Tony Evers announced recently that Wisconsin would join 24 other states in a lawsuit against President Donald Trump in an attempt to block the cuts.
Madison said he has hope that the lawsuit will save AmeriCorps, or at least give the program time to find additional support.
“When these cases are successful, sometimes there’s a delay in execution of some of these executive orders,” he said. “The best hope is that it forces the administration to draw back these actions and reinstate funding.”
Madison said that with the federal government slashing away at the critical needs of the most vulnerable, it is important for the state to step in and fill the gaps. Still, he said, the fight to save AmeriCorps is far from over.
“AmeriCorps is something we’re fighting for because it has so many impacts on the needs of communities across the state,” he said. “Rural, urban or suburban communities are all going to feel the impact of its loss.”
Rodriguez said the lawsuit and other actions being taken across the country bring hope that AmeriCorps can be saved.
Losing the types of people who serve for groups like Public Allies, she said, would be a huge loss.
“They don’t make a lot of money but have committed their time and energy and passion into building a better Milwaukee and Wisconsin and world,” she said. “Groups like Public Allies give them an ability to harness their passion and move towards who they want to be in their careers.”