AmeriCorps faces major budget cuts.

Byline: Rebecca Nolan The Register-Guard

CORRECTION (ran 7/01/03): A story on Page B1 on Saturday about the local impact of federal funding cuts to the AmeriCorps program gave the incorrect number of volunteer positions that could be lost at University of Oregon-based Resource Assistance for Rural Environments. The program will reduce its 21 members to 10 or 15, depending on a variety of factors.

The Northwest Youth Corps in Eugene and other local AmeriCorps-dependent programs stand to lose as many as 55 volunteer positions unless President Bush steps in to prevent deep funding cuts to the national public service institution.

In addition to Northwest Youth Corps, which could see 30 of its positions evaporate, Resource Assistance for Rural Environments, based at the University of Oregon, will lose 20 to 25 of those positions, although some will be saved through alternative funding. And other smaller programs will fold if AmeriCorps withdraws its support.

Though the positions are volunteer, participants receive a stipend of $9,800, or an education award of $4,725, or both in exchange for 1,700 hours of work.

Overall, Oregon stands to lose about two-thirds of its AmeriCorps volunteers unless Bush asks Congress for a supplemental appropriation of $200 million to fund the program this year, said Kathleen Joy, executive director of the Oregon Commission for Voluntary Action and Service.

"It's very grim," she said Friday. "Across the nation right now, without any further intervention, there will be 80 percent fewer AmeriCorps volunteers on the street in every state."

AmeriCorps was started under the Clinton administration as a kind of domestic Peace Corps. Volunteers work for nonprofits, public agencies and faith-based organizations.

Last year, Oregon had about 650 workers. The cuts could reduce that to around 200.

The loss will affect a number of programs at Northwest Youth Corps, modeled after the Civilian Conservation Corps and designed to offer summer education and work experience to teens.

AmeriCorps volunteers mentor students at its private alternative high school, help out with afterschool programs and assist with community service projects, executive director Art Pope said.

"Unfortunately it was a fairly large surprise," Pope said. "We were thinking we might lose some positions, but not 100 percent."

The Resource Assistance for Rural Environments, a volunteer placement service run from the UO's graduate program in community and regional planning, will see its stock of volunteers available to work in rural areas of Oregon cut in half, director Megan Smith said.

"The extent of the cuts have been a shock to everyone," Smith said.

AmeriCorps volunteers also work for the Department of Human Services program to reduce adolescent pregnancy, FOOD for Lane County, the HIV Alliance, and the Cascade Raptor Center, Joy said.

The problems started last year, when the Corporation for National and Community Service, which oversees AmeriCorps, realized its educational trust was underfunded, Joy said. To make up the difference, enrollment in the program was suspended from November to February.

In the meantime, Congress cut the program's financing by $68 million and limited the number of participants to 50,000 people, Joy said. The president is the only person who can restore the funding, but so far he has not made a move.

- The Associated Press

contributed to this report.