214 – Defending National Service & Community Resilience with Kaira Esgate

May 14, 2026

Episode #214: Defending National Service & Community Resilience with Kaira Esgate 

Advocating for volunteerism isn’t something you do only when a crisis hits. Sometimes the crisis arrives without warning, and the work of building relationships with policymakers becomes the difference between a program surviving or disappearing overnight.

In this episode of the Volunteer Nation Podcast, host Tobi Johnson welcomes Kaira Esgate, CEO of America’s Service Commissions, to discuss the unexpected funding cuts that recently threatened AmeriCorps and the broader national service infrastructure. Kaira shares how sudden staff reductions and the termination of grants created a ripple effect, halting community projects, upending the lives of service members, and exposing the fragility of programs many assumed were secure.

The conversation explores Kaira’s personal journey into volunteerism, from planning a PhD in civic engagement to discovering the transformative power of AmeriCorps in California. She and Tobi unpack what effective advocacy really looks like: not just reacting to crises, but consistently educating elected officials and the public about the impact of national service. They also highlight the successful bipartisan efforts, including lawsuits and congressional support, that ultimately led to funding reinstatement.

If your organization depends on grants, government support, or any form of public funding, this episode is a powerful reminder that proactive advocacy and long‑term relationships with policymakers are essential to protecting the community safety net. Kaira’s story offers both a wake‑up call and a roadmap for defending the programs that bind our communities together.

Community Resilience – Episode Highlights

• [00:00] Introduction to Advocacy in Volunteerism
• [05:19] Kyra Esgate’s Journey in National Service
• [12:50] Understanding AmeriCorps and National Service Landscape
• [18:05] The Crisis: Funding Cuts and Their Impact
• [31:24] Mobilization and Advocacy Response
• [44:00] Impact of Delayed Funding on Programs
• [47:43] Ongoing Advocacy and Political Landscape
• [51:37] Lessons Learned from Advocacy Efforts
• [01:01:00] Future of National Service and Community Impact
• [01:09:00] Engaging Communities and Building Relationships

Helpful Links

• Volunteer Strategy Scorecard™ 
• Volunteer Management Progress Report 
• Volunteer Nation Episode #148 – Nonprofit Advocacy 101 – Yes You Can! 
• Volunteer Nation Episode #149 – Nonprofit Advocacy Strategies – A Checklist 
• Volunteer Nation Episode #150 – Launch a Community-based Advocacy Program in Six Steps
• America’s Service Commissions  
• Find Kaira on LinkedIn

If you are looking to show your support for AmeriCorps during these challenging times, please consider taking one or more of the following actions. 

• Call your Members of Congress using 5 Calls. (There’s a free app too!) 
• Email your Members of Congress using the tool from Voices for National Service. 
• Join States for Service, ASC’s privately funded policy coalition working to advocate for federal and state policies that improve access to national service and volunteer engagement resources. 
• Donate to ASC’s National AmeriCorps Member Emergency Fund, and share it with your personal and professional networks. 
• Write an op-ed, submit a letter to the editor, or post on social media. ASC’s communications toolkit provides resources for all of these and more. 

 

Contact Us

Have questions or suggestions for the show? Email us at wecare@volpro.net.

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Episode #214 Transcript:Defending National Service & Community Resilience with Kaira Esgate 

Tobi Johnson: Hello friends, welcome to another episode of the Volunteer Nation podcast. I’m your host, Tobi Johnson, and I am going to talk about advocacy today, the lessons learned and the things we need to think about. I think we’ve kind of been, I’m going to put this out there and Kaira may not agree with me, but I feel like we’ve been coasting just a little bit. And you know, this past year we really had to lean in and start really talking about volunteer engagement, national service, the work we do, the value of the work we do, and really step up and educate people. And, you know, people don’t automatically know the power of national service, the power of volunteerism, the power of community engagement. We think because we work in our field, we know what that is, and we assume everybody else does. But when it comes time to funding, when making funding decisions, when it comes time to making policy decisions, we have got to be at the table. In fact, we need to be proactively at the table to let people know what we’re about and the huge ripple effect of all of these folks engaged in helping others.

So today I am so pleased to invite Kaira Esgate here. She’s going to talk about defending national service and community resilience and really talk about sort of the case study that we’ve seen in front of us of what happened with National Service and what happened with AmeriCorps funding over the last year and where we’re at now, the lessons we’ve learned and what we need to take forward as I think a coalition of volunteer involving organizations, particularly in the US, but hey gang, this applies outside the US as well. And so I think we can all learn here. So Kaira, welcome to the pod.

Kaira Esgate: Thank you, Tobi. I’m pleased to be here with you.

Tobi: So let me introduce Kaira for a minute before we get started and digging in. Kaira is the CEO of America’s Service Commissions. ASC, if you don’t know who they are, they are the National Association for the 52 Governor-led State Service Commissions. ASC, or do you go by ASC? Which one? I hear it both ways. ASC. So ASC represents, I always say America’s Service Commissions. For some reason, don’t acronym y’all’s name, but I will here. So ASC represents and promotes as well as builds the capacity of state service commissions around the country.

Prior to her current position, Kaira served as the executive director of Reimagining Service, a national multi-sector coalition dedicated to converting good intentions into greater impact through effective volunteer engagement strategies. With Reimagining Service, Kaira led efforts to bring new data and insights to volunteering and develop the nationally recognized nonprofit service enterprise model. During her tenure with California Volunteers, the State Service Commission in California, Kaira served in a variety of roles, including overseeing the agency’s program development and grant making activities, leading planning efforts with the service and volunteering field, and serving as chief of staff to the nation’s first cabinet level Secretary of Service and Volunteering. So you’ve been with the advocacy game for a while now, Kaira. Is that a correct statement?

Kaira: Absolutely, and I would say since I entered this career space, I mean, it’s 25 plus years ago. I mean, all the various roles that I have held professionally have had an advocacy portion to them. It may not have been the primary part of the position, but certainly has been part of it. And I think that that piece is super important. And Tobi, I really like how you talked about advocacy and making sure, and that’s advocacy within our own organizations. It is, you know, with larger state organizations as well, but then I think also nationally. And I know that we’re going to talk about that today, but I think all of that is really, really important when we think about advocacy. There’s multi levels that we need to be thinking about related to this work, without a doubt.

Tobi: Yeah, absolutely. And today we’re going to focus on national service. So if you’ve ever relied on AmeriCorps members in your organization, you know they aren’t just line items in a federal budget. They tutor students. They expand capacity. They respond to disasters, which we seem to be having more natural disasters than ever. So what happens when federal funding shifts suddenly? And I mean suddenly. What happens when grant agreements are interrupted and service members are sent home? What happens and how did local communities and national service advocates respond when national service was disrupted? This is the conversation we’re going to dive into today. It has lessons, as I said at the beginning, for all of us, about the power of collective action and multi-level, as you said, Kaira, multi-level advocacy work. The lessons are the lessons we must learn in today’s times. I really think this is something that’s non-negotiable anymore in terms of what we do.

But Kaira, before we jump into the story and what’s happened and what we’ve learned, I always like to share people’s birth stories when it comes to volunteerism and service. So share yours. How did you get involved with volunteerism and national service?

Kaira: Yeah, absolutely. And I think it’s, you know, it’s a fun story, right? So, I mean, I definitely was an active volunteer growing up. It was something that was very important to me to give back to my community where I happened to grow up. Volunteer engagement and community engagement was really, really important. So it’s always been around, like something that I have been exposed to for sure.

And then, you know, it’s interesting, my professional origin story is that when I left my university, my game plan was actually to go get my PhD and to teach about civic engagement. Like that’s what I was fascinated by. I just thought that it was very, I was both a political science and history major. I was very interested in civic engagement as a concept. And that’s kind of what I thought I wanted to do. Some things intervened along the way. I had the opportunity to do a graduate fellowship in California where I was actually placed, you mentioned California Volunteers, I was actually placed there for my graduate fellowship year. And I was like, oh, this will be really cool. This is a nice transition into graduate school and the PhD path. And with that, I was able to be exposed to AmeriCorps and volunteer engagement statewide in California in ways that I had never really imagined. I’m not from California originally, so there was a lot to learn about what that looks like, especially in the largest state in the nation.

But I also realized that this work was incredibly compelling to me. And so it was one of those things where there was an opportunity presented to like, do you want to stay beyond your fellowship? I was like, sure, yeah, I’ll try it for another year and kind of continue to learn. And one thing led to another. And like, I’ve never left, right? I didn’t go on to pursue that PhD program. Do I think that’s the right decision? Absolutely. And I think, you know, in retrospect, I’m not sure that being in academia would have been the best thing for me personally, because I’m very implementation oriented and really want to take the theory, I want to understand all of that, but at the same time, I really want to get in there with folks and really figure this kind of stuff out. So again, various roles have happened as a result of that.

And I think the interesting thing too about this, and I think I’ve shared this with you previously, is that I applied to the graduate fellowship program. If I didn’t get into it, my backup plan was that I was going to be an AmeriCorps member. So I was going to apply to be an AmeriCorps member. At the time, state service commissions were pretty new; the National Community Service Trust Act hadn’t been around very long. So I didn’t realize that there were things called state service commissions. But then when I heard about that, I was like, well, I’m super interested. And I got into the fellowship program. So I was able to get my placement there. But it’s not something — otherwise I would have been a member and maybe I would have ended up on a similar path, who knows. But, you know, it’s one of those things where one thing has led to another and I couldn’t be more pleased at the opportunities that I’ve had.

Tobi: We follow our passions if we’re in tune. You know, we end up taking different routes than we really thought. It’s the same, you know, I think when I started in nonprofits, I thought I was going to work mostly in nonprofit arts. And after a year or two, I was like, no, no, I got to do direct service. I got to work in social service. Got to work with young people. I really wanted that direct work. And, you know, if we’re really attuned, and I know some folks are listening that are early career, I think it’s just such a great idea to follow your passion and to be self aware enough to know like, look, this isn’t what I should do. I should be doing this other thing that’s more aligned with me.

When you think about volunteerism and civic engagement nowadays, especially now, why do you think it’s important?

Kaira: Yeah, great question, Tobi. I mean, I think certainly that is, as we look at, and part of the reason I will just say that I was interested in civic engagement and thought I wanted to pursue that PhD route is because I’m a believer in democracy, right? I believe that there is, I believe in democracy. I believe in the volunteer spirit that I believe is an essential part of American culture. I’m going to just say, and people are going to be like, oh, my goodness, she’s not serious, right? But like, one of my favorite books is Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville. Like I literally remember reading that book and just being kind of blown away by the whole thing. And that’s where a lot of my interests come, right?

And so I think that in the time and space that we find ourselves in right now, that idea of how are we investing in democracy? How do each of us show up as individual citizens and think about how we can engage in our community? I think it’s more important now than ever. And I believe that volunteerism in particular is a great way to bring people together, whether that be around community impact, whether that be around meeting people from different backgrounds and experiences. But finding that common piece that makes us all part of our community, I think that essential element of this is still there. We just need to continue to cultivate it in ways that are critically important, right?

And so I think that there are few things, and again, I’ve worked in the political space quite a bit over my career. I know many people feel that politics divide and I totally understand that perspective, but I think that volunteerism and community engagement is the way to bring people together and that is more important now than ever in my mind.

Tobi: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think people often set aside where they might be divisive in other contexts. In the context of volunteerism, there’s something about that context that allows people to safely put aside the soapbox that they want to stand on, unless it’s the soapbox for the mission of the kids they’re trying to serve or the community or the neighborhood they want to beautify or the folks they want to help with food insecurity or whatever it is. It tends to be a place that’s a safe space for people even now, which is great. And I agree, we need to cultivate. And I also think that there’s just so many spaces; it’s just hard to find these spaces anymore because people are interacting so much online and we’re really becoming… It’s harder to find that third space where it’s not public, it’s not private, it’s this middle space, right? And I think volunteerism gives people that place to do that.

Let’s jump into this story of national service and the advocacy work that needed to happen. But before we get there, I also want, especially folks that don’t live in the US, but maybe folks that are listening that do, they may not know or understand the landscape of AmeriCorps, National Service, the State Service Commissions. Can you give us kind of a quick overview of what that landscape looks like, how the funding flows, who does what, all that good stuff?

Kaira: Yeah, absolutely. So there is a federal AmeriCorps agency that is responsible for national service programming and also does fund volunteer engagement activities as well. So again, that agency is federally funded and then it actually gives out grants to various organizations that support this type of work.

AmeriCorps is basically what we call national service programming. This is the opportunity for individuals to commit a year of their life to service. Many do that through a full-time service experience. And we also see individuals that are in the Senior Corps programs that are 55 and older, and they are providing services in regards to particular areas that those programs address. And also there are some investments in volunteer engagement to help support volunteer infrastructure, basically making sure that people are able to find opportunities to serve when they want to. So those are kind of some of the basic pieces of that.

Critical to that, the agency’s work is the network of the 52 state and territorial service commissions. They’re really focused on their primary job, which is to focus on AmeriCorps State and National, which is the largest of the various national service programs. So commissions play an important role in providing grants to local organizations that can engage AmeriCorps members at that local level. In addition, commissions, depending on the charge from their political leadership, just kind of historically, do a number of other things as well. So we have a number of commissions, for example, that are part of disaster recovery and response activities within their state. We have a number of commissions that have responsibility for mentoring activities in their state as well. Many commissions are engaged in volunteer engagement more broadly, and that can include governor and first spouse service awards. It can include investing in volunteer centers or HandsOn affiliates locally. So it can kind of look a little bit different depending on the particular commission. But the one thing that all commissions have in common is that they are responsible for AmeriCorps State and National.

And I guess one other thing I should just note too is that although many AmeriCorps members that are serving in the AmeriCorps State and National Program are full-time members, there are also part-time opportunities as well. And often we see those opportunities being filled by college students or others that are looking for a part-time opportunity. So they may be engaged in other activities, they may be engaged in other work, but they also have an opportunity to serve part-time as well. But generally we think about AmeriCorps State and National numbers as full time.

Tobi: That’s interesting. I didn’t know that. Ask the organization that you run, that you’re the CEO of. The role for ASC is what? Share in a nutshell what you all do vis-a-vis the service commission.

Kaira: Absolutely. So I would say that there are three key areas that we focus on. The first one and is our primary work is capacity building and training and technical assistance. So making sure that state service commissions, the commissioners or board members that oversee their work, as well as supporting programs, we really make sure that all of those individuals and organizations have the training, the knowledge, the skillset that they need in order to effectively engage these types of programs or support these types of programs at the local level. So that’s our primary responsibility, that capacity building piece.

Our second area that we focus on is actually around policy and advocacy, as we’re going to be talking about today. So that is both at the federal level but also at the state level. So again, most of this work is funded at the federal level, but there are match requirements at the state level as well. And so really making sure that we’re thinking about both federal and state policy that can advance service and volunteerism.

And then our third piece that I think is important as well is I kind of think about as our thought leadership goal. And that’s really about trying to elevate this work. This is about what are the new models that are out there? How do we help more people understand the impact of national service and volunteerism? What does that look like? What are some of those things that could really address emerging issues that are happening throughout the country? How can we attach a service and or volunteerism strategy to that? And so that’s really part of our thought leadership work. So again, those three areas: capacity building, public policy, and then the thought leadership role.

Tobi: Awesome. So you were at the center of this when the you-know-what hit the fan last year. So let’s start with what happened last year. How was last year, I guess it was FY25, how was it different than previous funding periods? Give us a brief overview for those who may not have heard or may have just kind of heard in the background, and there’s probably people listening who were impacted directly and they’re like, yeah, I know what happened. Okay, listen through this story, y’all, if you already know what happened, because we’re gonna talk about lessons learned. So stick with us, okay? So Kaira, tell us about what happened when the you-know-what hit the fan.

Kaira: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. So with the federal fiscal year, so FY25 funding as Tobi just mentioned, that funded the 25-26 program year, the program year that we’re in right now. We’ve also got FY24, which funded the 24-25 program year. So we are in April of 2025. ASC, my organization, we literally have over a thousand people gathered together in Atlanta for a training event. And we find out that the Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, has arrived literally like, I was there.

Tobi: It was their training, and I remember like the buzz was around, you know?

Kaira: And so at that point in time, it was unclear what DOGE would be focused on, because again, they went around to each agency and made their determinations on how they wanted to proceed with that work. I will say that earlier in the year, there were a number of executive orders that national service programs across the country did need to comply with, and those were related to diversity, equity, and inclusion and kind of some other related issues. So there was already kind of some buildup to that before we hit last April. But really when DOGE arrived, it was unclear what was gonna happen.

And so a number of things happened in April of 2025 that were really impactful to the field. The first of all was related to the AmeriCorps agency itself and a significant reduction in staff. So when we entered April of 2025, the estimates were that the agency had around 700 plus people working there. By the end of the month, there were just over 100 people. So there were significant personnel actions that happened. And again, we can go into more detail about that, but basically there was just a significant reduction in force, which is not surprising considering how DOGE approached their work in other agencies. So that was one thing.

Another significant thing that happened that was really impactful on the field is that the National Civilian Community Corps, or NCCC, that some of you may be familiar with — this is a residential based program designed for 18 to 24 year olds. They are out in the field in teams working on various projects. They often work on projects for a few weeks at a time and then they move on to another project. All the NCCC members were pulled from their positions overnight and basically told, we’re sending you back to your place of residence. So if you’re from New York City and you were serving in North Carolina, all of a sudden you’re getting sent back home to New York City. And so it was something that was very sudden. And I think in particular, North Carolina comes to mind for me because they literally had NCCC members that were serving that were working on recovery work related to Hurricane Helene, and they were pulled off their service sites overnight. So we had that.

And then the part — and all these things were incredibly impactful to ASC and the work of state service commissions — but then kind of the final piece that was significant was that the last Friday in April of last year, about 6 p.m. Eastern, a series of messages rolled out that basically said, you have many grants that are being terminated immediately. And that was across the country. That was nearly $400 million that was terminated in that moment. 30,000 members serving across the country were told that they would no longer have the opportunity to serve. So literally all of these things happened in a matter of weeks. And obviously, the ecosystem is like, what’s going on here?

I think that’s what’s interesting about the grant terminations as well. There’s lots of interesting things and things to learn from. But we had some state service commissions that lost their entire portfolio. We had some commissions that lost a portion, but a significant portion of their portfolio. And in reality, there was not necessarily any clear political reasons for this. So this impacted red states and blue states. It was just a way that the agency had to make some decisions. They made those decisions. But incredibly impactful when all of a sudden you have 30,000 individuals that are serving on a Friday and then they’re being told that they shouldn’t be reporting for service on Monday kind of thing. And this is something that has never happened in the national service field before. So there were so many things that were dizzying as part of that, but just trying to figure like, what does this mean? Are we really terminating these grant positions or these AmeriCorps member positions right now? How do you communicate with a member that has dedicated time to their community that, guess what, you don’t get to do that anymore?

And I think it was impactful across all the different issue areas, but I just also think about all the education programs where literally we have AmeriCorps members serving as tutors or mentors, support coaches, whatever it might be. And if you think about April and where you are in the school year, whether you go into May or June, and all of a sudden a student has established a relationship with an individual over the course of the school year, and all of a sudden that tutor can’t show up anymore to help that student; like that has other impacts, not only on the member, but also on the beneficiaries of the service as well. And so I think that was just an incredibly challenging piece for everyone because you want to get kids through the school year. You want to make sure that those environmental projects that you’re working on or that you’re planning to launch are ready to go. And that opportunity was not there. Right.

Tobi: What about hurricane and tornado season coming up in the springtime? You know, when you think about it, anybody who’s worked in a nonprofit for any period of time knows your grant cycle, the amount of planning and resource that goes into grants. And then you’re like midway through a grant cycle, you’ve been drawing down money off your grant. You’ve got people hired. You’ve got projects in place. You’ve got partnerships in place. And all of a sudden everything comes to a halt and you don’t really know what you’re supposed to be doing. And then you’re madly scrambling for the people you care about that are on your team out in the field doing their thing.

And by the way, just to clarify for folks if they don’t know, AmeriCorps members and civilian conservation corps members get a stipend and it’s a very small one. It’s not like they’re making money. It’s not like a full-time job. They get a small stipend and they get very creative about where they live and their living situation. And to have that kind of cut out — I’m not trying to be dramatic, but imagine that you’re a 21 year old. All of a sudden you don’t have housing or you don’t have money for your next month’s rent, and you’re like, here’s your plane ticket, go back home. You’re going to go home to where? I left my place early. If I wasn’t living with my family, I left, but I have no place now. So I think it was pretty traumatic.

Did you see any other kind of ripple effects across? I know myself as a contractor who’s worked with organizations that have AmeriCorps money doing capacity building. We had a capacity building contract and we were training people across a state around volunteer management and effective volunteer management. And that contract was like, nope, we’re done. Like we’re not going to renew, we can’t do it. And so it had ripple effects even in some of the folks that are providing services to capacity building services to organizations. But what other things in the community, what other ripple effects did you see happening? Because this is huge — you’re watching Jurassic Park and the giant dinosaur foot comes down and there’s just a reverberation throughout the sector.

Kaira: Yeah, no, I mean, there were a number of layers there, Tobi. So, first of all, so many, or most, I should probably say, of the federal contracts that the AmeriCorps agency had for various services to help support the work, those were immediately canceled as well. So it wasn’t just the grant programs, it was also contracts that were happening at the national level. To your point, there were a number of contracts that then got canceled at the state and local level as a result of this as well. And I think that people — and I don’t fault them for this — but I don’t think they fully understand how much AmeriCorps also is helping to build nonprofit capacity. And so all of a sudden you have these organizations that are trying to provide direct service in the local community and all of a sudden they don’t have the AmeriCorps members in order to do that, right? So that impacts their capacity to serve their community members, which also has other ripple effects as well.

And then again, I always go back to the members. Like they’re the ones that are doing the service. That is what all of this work is in service to. And so for all of them all of a sudden — to your earlier point — they don’t have a living allowance anymore. All of a sudden they need to, and one of the things that we did from an ASC perspective is that we did open up a national member emergency assistance fund, where basically they could apply for up to 500 just to help them out so they could figure out what was next. And I mean, I was very appreciative for the larger field and that we were able to raise over 100,000 for that purpose. Our demand on funds was $4 million. Like we basically were a drop in the bucket, right? Like that is how impactful this was.

And so I think that’s important. And then the other thing too that you think about with this is that the springtime is traditionally when we see recruitment at its highest levels. And so you also have a situation where, all right, well, we hope that there’ll be a 25-26 program year, but we’re gonna try to recruit. But yeah, you might have heard that basically all the existing members are no longer able to serve. So yes, of course you wanna take a chance and think about trying to serve. Like that’s also a significant thing.

And the last thing I will just add is that, and I’m not surprised by this, and I honor the decisions that they made, but there are a number of longstanding programs — because grant making decisions about whether you’re gonna be funded for the next program year happened in this general timeframe in the springtime — and there were a number of organizations that said, you know what, I’ve been doing AmeriCorps, we’ve been doing AmeriCorps, we believe in it for 30 plus years. This is too disruptive. We can’t do this anymore. So we had a number of programs across the country that said, you know what, we’re gonna sit this out at least for one year, maybe permanently.

But I also think that that has implications about opportunities to serve, capacity of nonprofit organizations. Again, going back to the education examples, tutors in schools, all of those things have long term implications for local communities because those programs — and again, I totally understand it. They’re just like, we can’t, this is just too disruptive to our operations right now and we can’t move forward with this.

Tobi: Yeah. So let’s go on to phase two. The T-Rex puts his foot down in the middle of the sector and boom, reverberates this huge impact being felt at every level and every corner. It was a huge impact. How did you all respond? What was the response? And how did you get — because there’s some good news here, y’all. We’re talking the bad news, but there’s good news as well. So how did y’all respond? How did you mobilize? What happened after that?

Kaira: Yeah, yeah, so important question for sure. I mean, so one thing I will say is even though it didn’t feel like this in the moment, there are some silver linings here, right? So I think one is that there was more awareness of AmeriCorps. I mean, lots of media stories about the impact of AmeriCorps. What is AmeriCorps? What does this look like locally, nationally, et cetera. So I think that the awareness piece was incredibly helpful for the future moving forward. I will say that that was a silver lining, although it felt like a lot in the moment.

As part of that awareness piece too, we had more than 20 attorneys general from across the country that banded together and actually sued the agency — did other things as well — in order to get those funds restored, which I know we’ll talk about as part of the story. But again, that is not something that we’ve ever seen before, that kind of level of political engagement at that level, which is really, really important. And I think that’s an important part of the advocacy story here, is that role that they played as well.

And then with the larger field, we just mobilized as well about really talking to members of Congress about why this work is important, the impact it’s having in communities, what is being lost as a result of those AmeriCorps members not being able to serve. And so I think that, again, that was an opportunity to raise awareness. We have a lot of strong supporters in Congress, but there’s opportunity for more. And I think that some folks that were like, yeah, no, of course I support AmeriCorps, but don’t really know anything about it — last spring was the opportunity to kind of really talk about that with them and for them to kind of better understand that and for them to become powerful advocates as well. So it’s one of those things.

And I mean, I think finally, too, is just that the field brought it. Like they totally brought it in regards to like we need to be talking to Congress. We need to be talking to OMB. We need to express our concern elsewhere as well. And I should say OMB — Office of Management and Budget, which makes a lot of the financial decisions. And so that was important as well, I think again, to kind of get to the other side of the story when in the moment, especially in the month of May, it felt very overwhelming and wasn’t sure how it was all going to resolve itself.

Tobi: Yeah, and an important point to make, I think, is that AmeriCorps supporters in Congress are elected and are bipartisan. I mean, this is not a partisan deal. All kinds of folks know — depending on, it doesn’t really matter which party they belong to. There’s lots of bipartisan support. So this was never a partisan issue. It’s not about that. It’s about communities and helping communities, and everybody can see where their communities need support. So I think that’s really important to call out.

Because a lot of times nonprofits think they can’t advocate, that advocacy isn’t legal. And I’m like, well, yes, it is. You can educate and advocate. There are rules about spending money and lobbying for a specific, changing a specific law. But there is plenty you can do as an advocate as a nonprofit organization. I know I did; I should link to these. I don’t know if I have them, but I do. I have some links I’ll put in the show notes around advocacy. If you’re wondering, well, what level of advocacy could we really do? We’re a nonprofit, et cetera. There’s a lot of myths around this. You can advocate and you should be educating at the very least, consistently. And we’ll talk about lessons learned.

But before we go, before we talk about what happened because of all this mobilization, I’m gonna pause for a quick break and we’ll be right back with our chat with Kaira Esgate about last year’s challenges with national service funding and how to advocate and how that advocacy may have reinstated funding for communities. Well, there you go, I spilled it. I spilled the beans. So don’t go anywhere, we’re gonna talk about how it happened.

Tobi: Okay, we’re back in our discussion with Kaira Esgate about recent developments in national service funding and how level funding was reinstated through the hard work of advocates. I know I spilled the beans already. Sorry. Spoiler alert. But Kaira, what happened? Everybody got mobilized. We were talking to our elected folks. You were attempting to the best of your ability to support these service members. I’m sure it was very heartbreaking for some of the local nonprofits and the service beneficiaries that were actually working with AmeriCorps members, not to mention like leaving a project mid — if you’re a NCCC member and you’ve got to leave a project in a distressed area, just drop your toolkit and you got to leave. Just really heart wrenching for people who really care about community.

So this huge advocacy effort happened. What happened with the lawsuits? There were a banded group of folks, states attorney general, that said, you know what, wait a minute, this funding was already allocated to us and we actually have a right to it. Right. So what happened next?

Kaira: Yeah, it’s a really interesting series of events, Tobi, I will say. Terminations happen at the end of April, lawsuits are filed in May, and certainly the attorneys general lawsuit was the most public, but there were also lawsuits that were happening from the federal agency’s employee union. There were just a number of things that were happening out there, right? And part of that — the employee union piece is about reinstatement of employee positions at the agency. And so there has been definitely movement on that as well.

But I think specifically around the program pieces, there was success in getting some stays related to some of the activity. So for those states that were involved in the lawsuits, they were able to actually get their programs reinstated in early June, which sounds great, except that it had been six plus weeks at that point in time. So I’m an AmeriCorps member. You basically told me I am not able to serve anymore. Am I still even available six weeks later, even if I wanted to return to my term of service? Is my service site actually been doing anything that is relevant at this point in time? So again, thinking about the timing of schools — I don’t mean this to all be about the education programming, but that’s where the majority of AmeriCorps programming is focused. So I think that’s an important part of the story.

But again, that reinstatement of programming was only for the states that were involved in the lawsuit. So we had a portion of our commissions and their programs that were still in a termination state. So we had then started to see this kind of imbalance. And even if you’re a state that was part of the lawsuit, are you in a position to reinstate programs? Do the programs even want to start again? Are there members available to start? Like, so there was a lot — again, good news and yet complicated news is how I would describe it.

In July, the agency actually reinstated all grants. But again, the typical AmeriCorps program year runs August 1st through July 31st in most cases. So getting reinstated in mid July, not super helpful in most cases.

Tobi: Yeah. What are you going to do? Things don’t happen by magic and they don’t happen immediately.

Kaira: So we’ve got that going on. So yes, in some respects, some good things there with those reinstatements and the ability to potentially provide some past living allowances to members to kind of help them with that, get their education awards maximized as much as possible.

The other thing that happens during this time of year is grant making decisions, as I kind of mentioned earlier, for the next program year. So at that point in time last spring, we’re talking about the 25-26 program year, which we’re currently in. And those decisions were delayed. And so that was impactful in that a lot of programs that are operating this year started a lot later than they normally would because of the delay in the decisions and the grant awards.

In addition to that, state service commissions receive administrative money from the federal AmeriCorps agency. Those funds, part of them were released on time, part of them were not, which also caused disruption with state service commissions and how they were going to move forward with staffing and supporting programs as well. So that was disruptive.

So I think the biggest thing that coming into August that we were focused on from an advocacy perspective is that the agency at the direction of OMB, who I mentioned before, they were holding a large sum of money, over $100 million, in programming funds that would support the 25-26 program year. In addition to that, they were holding some of the administrative funds for commissions as well. And so the big push was, those funds need to be released, both because we want to make sure that those programs are funded, but also commissions need those administrative dollars as well to operate. So a lot of focus in July and August about getting those funds released.

Good news: right before Labor Day holiday, guess what? Those program funds and the commission administrative funds are being released, which was significant, I will just say. Like that was a significant day.

Tobi: How many weeks late were they in general?

Kaira: Yeah, so I mean, most grant awards for AmeriCorps programs, again, are going to have like that August 1 start date. So we’re at the end of August and you’re just being notified as a program that you in theory are going to be funded. So there’s that.

Tobi: And then when did OMB release the funds? That was end of September.

Kaira: So basically, the announcement was made that they’re going to release them end of August. And they actually released them in early September because the other key part here is that the federal fiscal year runs October 1st through September 30th. So if we didn’t get those funds released and they could be awarded by September 30th, then the funds are gone. And so that’s why there was such a sense of urgency.

Tobi: Yeah, they were working right down to the line. So it was as a result of, I think, the electeds probably learned more about AmeriCorps and the impact on the community and the whole process than they ever knew before. I mean, that’s also a silver lining. Like, hey, you know what? There’s a lot of people that rely on this funding.

And the people that ultimately suffer, I think this is also really important to point out, are the people who are intended to benefit, which is the community — people in the community, people who are getting services. Even if it’s not the AmeriCorps member providing the direct service, they may be doing capacity building, they may be doing something that’s developing the strength of the nonprofit. It might be program development, it might be outreach, it might be partnership development, whatever it is, that nonprofit is becoming stronger to be a better safety net overall.

Because you know what, in the US, the safety net is the nonprofit sector for many people, for many things. Yes, we have programs that are safety net programs, but the majority of services for people in need come from the sector itself. And so when you’re cutting that funding off, you’re cutting off that direct support to those folks. So I think that’s really important for people to understand. This is a multi-level impact. Folks who were advocating for this were happy and were doing a little dance that our work actually matters. The advocacy really matters.

What else happened as a result? Is there anything else to the story before we move on to key learnings?

Kaira: I mean, I think the other thing I will just say, so those funds for the 25-26 program year get released, those additional administrative funds for commissions get released, really great news. Those get awarded before the end of the federal fiscal year. I think the other thing though, and this is one of the kind of longer impacts of all of this, is that typically the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for AmeriCorps State and National, which again is the largest of the AmeriCorps agency programs, typically that gets released in August. Everything else is going on in August, right? And that NOFO is for the 26-27 program year. Typically the NOFO gets released in August. Applications are due in January. The NOFO did not get released until January of 2026.

And so the impact of that is going to be that — so again, the agency right now is reviewing applications. They were due March 31st, fine, two months behind schedule, assuming that they can kind of keep up their timeline that they are proposing for how they’re going to move forward. So that also has lasting impacts on when programs are gonna be able to start more likely than not for the 26-27 program year. And again, the timing of program starts I think is an important thing for us all to understand.

Again, talking about education programs, if you are typical with an August 1 start, that’s because you wanna get your members into orientation and make sure that they have some basic training before they start engaging with students who often are starting school in August, right? Last year, we had situations where tutors were coming in like September, October, after the students had already been in school six weeks. So also think about the disruption that happens in a school when that kind of situation happens. It’s like, oh yeah, we’ve already started school, but all of a sudden now we have these tutors showing up. So I mean, that’s just, I think one of the more kind of obvious pieces, but again, there’s disruption there, right?

The agency is working hard, I will give them credit, and trying to get the grant timelines aligned again, but we’re still gonna have this impact because of some of these rolling decisions that were made about when things were going to be released that are going to impact how programs are operating for at least another 12 to 18 months. And again, who knows what will happen this summer with the normal cycle and everything. So again, there are these rolling effects, even if we’re able to get things released, which we have been successful with — the advocacy has been working, which I’m again really thankful for everyone who has been engaged in that work. But again, there are these rolling impacts and it will probably take us a while to catch up to that. And so that impacts local communities as well.

Tobi: Yeah, so bottom line, the fight’s still being fought. Yeah, absolutely. And the president’s proposal in his budget was to eliminate AmeriCorps altogether. And my understanding is not everybody’s gone back to work. It’s a reduction in force still, isn’t it? There’s not 900 people working in AmeriCorps.

Kaira: Right, so two things on that. So yes, the President’s FY27; that would start on October 1st of 2026. The FY27 President’s Budget Request came out last Friday. So again, this is very recent stuff. As expected, it called for the closure of the AmeriCorps agency. I will just say to folks that that has been the case with each president’s budget request that President Trump has put out. It has called for the closure of the agency. The agency continues to exist because of Congress. But again, we weren’t; I mean, that’s what we were expecting. If there had been something different than that, I would have been shocked. I really would have been shocked given my tenure in this space. So there’s that. We will continue — that’s why advocacy with Congress is going to continue to be super, super important.

I think the other piece here is that we just need to recognize that this is an ongoing battle and that it’s not going to be something that’s remedied right away, right? And so, you talked about the budget and just how do we support this work moving forward? It’s gonna be really, really important that people continue to be engaged because otherwise these things — we have Congress, we have congressional support, but we have to stay engaged in order to make sure that that continues moving forward.

Tobi: Yeah, well, congresspeople are elected. So they switch out. In the Senate, yes, people in the Senate are around for a long time sometimes. But in the House, those folks are rotating through and then people are retiring and there’s a lot of shift going on and expected to go on in the next midterms. So there’s gonna be a whole new group of freshmen congresspeople who need education. So the work never stops.

I think that’s one lesson. And again, in both national service and volunteerism, because there are Volunteer Generation Grants that go out via the AmeriCorps funding stream that go out to organizations to help build their capacity to involve the community more, which also impacts volunteers as well as the number of people who can be served by nonprofits. There’s a lot going on here.

But let’s talk about lessons learned. When you think about the top takeaways, obviously one is, go team, right? People were advocating like a boss, making it happen. But what other lessons do you learn and do you take going forward?

Kaira: Yeah, so there’s several things that come to mind. So to your point, the fact that people actually did that work and it was heard — I think again, that’s something that from our position at ASC, we always tell commissions, we tell programs, we tell alums, your voice does matter in all of this, even though sometimes they’re like, I don’t really know if that breaks through. It does break through. And it’s super important.

I think so. One piece with that is just encouraging folks to think about long-term relationships as well. This is somebody that was in the field when I first started. I remember saying, you want to make sure that your members of Congress know who you are before there’s a crisis. And so it’s that ongoing relationship. So developing and maintaining that ongoing relationship. To your earlier point about education, education is always appropriate. And actually really frankly, I think as recipients of federal funds, it’s our duty to be educating members of Congress about what they’re investing in, without a doubt.

So I think that education piece is really, really important. I think that another lesson learned related to this is just on playing the right cards at the right time, which of course is always kind of a guess and a strategy kind of thing. But, you know, there was a lot of focus on Republican outreach because we knew that OMB, they were going to shift their decisions, that it was going to need to be Republicans that were weighing in with them and not just necessarily any member of Congress, even though all members of Congress needed to understand what was happening there. I think that that’s really important as well.

I think, again, another piece — and we’ve known this, but I think that this really is underlined as part of this experience — is really being able to highlight the impact of these funds, these programs, et cetera. Like those pieces are really, really important. And I think one of the things that — I mean, I think it’s both the impact and the ability to get to OMB. The AmeriCorps budget is a tiny, tiny, tiny part of the overall federal budget. We’re talking about an agency that’s at $1.3 billion in the larger federal budget. So tiny.

Tobi: It sounds like a lot to people who are listening and they’re like, wait, that sounds like a lot. I wouldn’t mind having that kind of money. But in the trillions of dollar budget, it’s puny. It’s teeny tiny. And it makes a big impact. I think it’s a good return on investment, honestly.

Kaira: Absolutely agree. Absolutely. But I think that the thing was too is that we made a lot of noise. We made a lot of noise in the right places. And so if you think about some of the other federal agencies and departments that did not fare so well last year, we tried to take cues from what we were seeing from them and where they were having some steps that were kind of unfortunately backfiring for some of them.

I think that the field as a whole, we banded together and we really were very thoughtful about where we applied our pressure. But when that pressure was applied, it definitely made a difference. And they’re like, who are these people? Like, they’re so noisy. They’re so small. Like, fine, nevermind, let’s just do it kind of thing, right? But I think that that’s an important lesson learned about how to apply your power, how to apply your coalition in ways that are critically important.

I think so, I do hope that coming out of this experience, although I know how painful it was for all of us that were engaged in it, I do hope that those in the field feel like the work — even though it was significant — that they actually saw, okay, yeah, wow. I engaged in that outreach. I did that education. I really encouraged my member of Congress to weigh in and support all of those things. It made a difference, and it’s going to be something that we need to continue to see. The fight is not over. This is going to continue. And so I hope people see the impact and feel the influence that they were able to assert as part of this.

And that’s really what all of this advocacy in this public policy space is about, is really making sure that people understand priorities and what matters to communities. And I know that’s something I’m really proud of for the national service field because I feel like we did that. We’ve done that, but we really, really did that last year. And that’s something that I hope people stay engaged in because again, the fight’s not over and it’s really, really important that we continue to be present and to talk about this work. And down the road, I think that that leads to future investment that is larger than it is now, right? That’s not something that maybe is in the cards right now, but with people understanding that impact, I think that can lead to greater investment in the future as well.

Tobi: Absolutely, and your point about investment; no matter what, no matter whether your organization has an AmeriCorps member or not or is a beneficiary of Volunteer Generation Grant funding or whatever, having worked myself in federal agencies as a contractor and knowing the wonderful… you know, we can’t really blame this on federal employees. I’ve worked with federal employees; they care about the programs they’re working in. And it was catastrophic for a lot of federal employees to all of a sudden lose their jobs as well in an agency that they loved.

But I think any organization that either has federal funding now or is hoping to get it at some point, and I’ve worked for a lot of organizations also that in programs that were funded federally, at least in part, that going back to your member of Congress and saying, hey, we got this grant this year, and we just want to share with you the impact of the grant, what happened, we want to show you that we’re good stewards of federal funding. After all, we’re all taxpayers; it’s our money anyway. We all pooled our money as a society, as a citizenry, to make things happen for our communities. And this is the way it’s happening in our community with the money that the folks who voted for you have paid in their taxes. Sometimes a little civics lesson reminding yourself how this all works; that this isn’t an entitlement to have these types of funds in our communities. It’s not an entitlement at all. It’s part of our right as citizens who are paying taxes.

So important to think about what funding have we gotten? How can we talk about the impact that that funding has had and what are the current gaps still in the community and what do we see for the future? And becoming almost that ally, almost like a little policy aide on the side, so whenever that member of Congress — and I say visit them in their home office. I mean, not everybody can spend money to fly to DC and do days on the hill, but your members of Congress are in their home offices at certain times of the year. Go and sit down. You may not sit down with them; you may sit down with their aides. Sometimes it’s just how it goes. But if you can become sort of a regular visitor, it’s harder to say no to people that you see face to face and that you know, and that you know are doing good work with the money they’re being given.

I also think that when we talk about ROI, thinking about when we’re engaging volunteers and national service members who are often doing volunteer development, that we are also creating an exponential impact with that initial investment. And I like the idea — Kaira, you’re using the terminology investment, investment, investment. It’s almost better to say investment than grant. And to use terms like return on investment and to use terms like community impact and to say, with this small investment, we were able to amplify it with this many people from the community and with this type of work. And by the way, we’re also, how many people have I had on this podcast who I asked about their origin story and they tell me they were almost an AmeriCorps? I have talked to so many people who were AmeriCorps who say, well, I started out as an AmeriCorps. And many of the folks working in the sector, that was their first touch with nonprofit work and they just caught the bug and couldn’t work anywhere else. So we’re also growing a workforce here that is helping our economy. So there’s so many ways to take this, and I’m so glad that we are where we are and I’m so grateful for all the work that ASC has done and the service commissions and everybody who stepped up to really defend our national service and defend volunteerism.

Kaira, one last question I want to ask you about. The theme of this episode really was defending national service. What can everyday citizens, nonprofit leaders, and service alumni do to move forward to help prevent future crises like this? And as you said, maybe even expand at some point the type of funding, because again, this is a part of our national safety net.

Kaira: Yeah, I appreciate that question, Tobi. And I mean, I think we all need to acknowledge and recognize that we are dealing with a federal political system, right? So some of these things, it may not be any critique of the work, although there certainly have been critiques over the years, right? But what has happened in the past year is part of a larger political process and not necessarily anything around the AmeriCorps agency itself. So I do wanna remind folks of that, right? That’s the reality that we are working in.

That being said, and I think really the theme of this episode too, right? Is continuing to engage with members of Congress about the impact that this work has, both to local communities, but I also think too something that you brought up that I think is really critically important is also to the impact that it has on the members who serve, right? Like these are going to be the next generation of nonprofit leaders. These are individuals that are making really important impacts in their communities. This is the next generation of elected leaders in many respects, right? That we do know that there are many folks that are seeking elected office right now or are in elected office that are AmeriCorps alums as well, and that number is going to continue to grow.

So I think continuing to communicate that impact both at the community level as well as the impact it had on individuals; I think that’s incredibly important. And then I think the other thing to highlight here too, and we haven’t necessarily had a chance to talk about this much today, but is also that career pipeline piece. So again, this is the next generation of nonprofit leaders. But how are we thinking about how a service experience exposes you to potential career paths that you may or may not want to pursue, right? You may decide that after tutoring for a year in a school, there’s no way I want to be a teacher. And I think that’s a really great investment in yourself and that year for you — good to know, right? Good to know.

I think this whole service to workforce piece I think is incredibly important to be thinking about. How can we be positioning national service in that way? And then I think the other thing, and I will admit that I have not totally wrapped my mind around this, but as we think about the disruption that’s going to be happening related to artificial intelligence, and especially for young people and what that means for them on their initial career path, how can service be a way to help them pipeline into something that maybe would have been a starting job, but maybe that starting job no longer exists because of AI? So I think helping people think about how service can help navigate some of these larger societal issues that we are going to grapple with over the next several years. I think really being able to articulate that to folks is gonna be really, really important, again, to maintain that investment, but also to, in my vision, expand that investment as well.

Tobi: Yeah, I mean, I think also reconnecting that the digital divide — the quote unquote digital divide — I see as the digital divide human to human. Becoming more and more isolated and the impacts that social media, for example, have had on kids. And how could some of the projects that AmeriCorps members work on bring people together IRL, in real life? So that’s another way to defray the harm of technology. That’s a really interesting avenue of exploration as well. So I love that.

I also think, when we think about voting as voters in the country, if we really believe at our core that national service is essential to our country’s safety net, then it’s something we should be asking during debates, during sit downs, during town halls, during the election process; like, well, what’s your take on AmeriCorps? And I can guarantee you some people are going to be like, my take on what? Or just asking people to state their platform prior to being elected, whether they get elected or not, and it may help you make your decision better. Well, no, you don’t have a good enough answer for me there.

So I think in the midterm elections, it’s a great time to start bringing it up. So people have, wow, I didn’t even think this was an issue for the community. I thought pocketbook issues were all that was there. Well, this is a pocketbook issue for many people. I just think right now there’s a really interesting way to infuse it into the voting process. Not that you get a lot of Q&A with electeds; that doesn’t usually happen. Usually it’s a press thing. But you can make it an issue for conversation. You can, as an organization or as a coalition of organizations, have a bigger voice when voting’s happening.

Kaira: Yeah, no, and Tobi I would say I couldn’t agree more. So I think two things that you just spoke about that I definitely think are part of the future here. So one is this whole idea of bringing people together, right? So service is a way to bring people together across divides, with different backgrounds, et cetera. And I do think that’s important. I do think that a growing number of elected officials do care about that. So I think that’s something that we shouldn’t forget about on that front.

But the other piece, and specifically around elections, even though we’ve talked about most of this work being funded by the federal government, there is state and local investment as well. And coming up in November of 2026, there is a large number of governors that are either up for reelection or being termed out. I, again, my bent is obviously states, right? So I understand that. But again, this idea being that there’s a huge opportunity to talk to gubernatorial candidates about this work and how they think about it and how they might use the governor’s office if they are elected to really advance some of this work on multiple fronts.

And so I do think that there is a significant opportunity both with the midterm elections to think about what the impacts of this look like in Congress, but I also think too that there’s a really important role that the states can play in this. And with this large number of governors that are gonna be, like I said, up for reelection or being termed out, so there’ll be a new governor, it is absolutely imperative that we make sure that we’re talking to them about their vision for service and volunteerism and how they want to make that part of their policy agenda when they take office, without a doubt.

Tobi: Yeah, absolutely. And people may not realize, the service commission work and the service commissioners that are appointed are often appointed by the governor and housed in the governor’s office. So these are programs that are working side by side with the governor’s office. And sometimes I don’t think they realize that yet. Like that’s gonna be part of their job. So it’s a great point that it’s not only federal, it’s also on the state level. So we need to get involved and start asking our locals.

Kaira, this has been a fantastic conversation. We’re like way over the hour already. We’re just going on because I wanted to share this story because I wanted to give us hope on the power of advocacy when people work in coalition. And whether it’s working in coalition in your local town, in your state, nationally, globally, we can come together and make things happen when things are happening to us. But we can also be proactive in educating and advocating. Not that we could prevent these things — we didn’t have the power to prevent these things from happening this past year. I don’t believe any amount of proactive advocacy would have stopped these things. But now the lesson’s been learned and now we can see our power, and I think we can start doing things more proactively. And you know who knows, next time around get a bigger grant, bigger amount of grant appropriation. Let’s hear it for that, right? Because we know again, this is an essential part of our safety net.

So Kaira, before we go, I like to ask this last question of our guests, and that is just what are you looking forward to in the year ahead? It could be personal, could be professional, could be whatever. Tell me what you’re looking forward to.

Kaira: Yeah, that’s a really great question, Tobi. So I mean, I just really am looking forward to us hopefully being in a bit more stable of an environment, right? So we are focused on the everyday work and not dealing with all these other pieces. But, you know, I continue to believe in the power and impact of AmeriCorps members serving in their communities, of volunteers being engaged in their communities. And I hope that we can continue to build back the infrastructure in order to support this work and expand it moving forward. I think that’s critically important.

As I shared earlier, we do know that there are some AmeriCorps programs that walked away. And again, I understand that consideration, but what I hope is that we can learn from the past year, that we can bring folks back into the movement, and that we can then continue to demonstrate the impact of all of this. And I think that’s just really, really important because our communities deserve that.

But I also too, if we’ve also been talking about investment, if we want to increase investment, and I believe wholeheartedly that we need to, we need to be able to lift up and show what happens when individual community members are committed to the community and want to see change in the community. And I believe that we provide opportunities through this field in order for people to do that. And so I really want to continue to encourage that type of activity, that growth, so that impact,  especially just since we know that communities are struggling right now, I do believe that service and volunteerism can’t ease everything, but it can make a significant dent in the challenges that our communities and individuals face, without a doubt.

Tobi: Yeah, absolutely. So Kaira, how can people learn more about your work and get in touch? We’ll of course include links in the show notes, but what’s the best next step for folks if they want to learn more?

Kaira: Yeah, appreciate that. So I really want to encourage folks that if you are interested in being engaged in the advocacy work or just learning about it or really just kind of tracking what’s going on, even if you don’t feel like you’re quite ready to take that step into advocacy yourself, I really want to encourage you to join ASC’s States for Service Coalition. So we do have a group of about 400 individuals that are part of our coalition, and we provide timely updates on public policy pieces, primarily at the federal level, but also sometimes at the state level as well. And it’s an opportunity for you to learn more about the process: when is the time to go do something and what is that something that you need to be doing kind of thing, and also to provide you with training as well.

And so our States for Service coalition does meet monthly. If you’re not able to join those calls monthly, those are recorded. You’ll have access to those recordings and the materials from each of those calls. And it’s just a really great way to kind of put your foot in the door, especially if this is something that you’re not familiar with but you’re intrigued by. So if you go to our website, statecommissions.org, there is a section on there about the States for Service Coalition. And you can certainly consider joining. We have individual memberships, we have memberships for alumni, we have memberships for programs as well. So it’s something that again, it’s a great way for you to plug into an advocacy network and learn the ropes, learn what the timing is, all of those different pieces, and stay up to date on everything. So really encourage folks that if this has been intriguing to you and you want to engage, that’s a great way for you to take a next step, without a doubt.

Tobi: Absolutely. The great thing is you don’t have to be a policy wonk, right? You’ll get alerts and know. That’s what’s so great about having a network and having an organization to really spearhead things because not everybody’s an advocacy wonk and not everybody can follow everything that’s going on. But if you have a trusted organization you’re partnering with that’s alerting you and giving you calls to action when the right time comes, you can do that.

The last thing I would also say — one thing we didn’t touch on really that I think is also important; maybe you don’t want to march on Washington or whatever, maybe you’re not even ready to meet with your elected yet. The other thing you can always do is just share the good news. Just share the good news and make sure that people know that federal dollars are flowing into your nonprofit and they are resulting in these kinds of fabulous results, and to share those in your newsletter, on your website, on social media. And so keeping the drumbeat alive of not only asking for money, but showing what you’re doing with the money you’re given is another very powerful way to advocate. People don’t consider that advocacy in a lot of ways, but it is. It’s a kind of public relations, if you will. I would just add that to the mix. We didn’t really talk about it, but I just want to. Storytelling is powerful, y’all. Especially individual lives changed. Very powerful.

Kaira, this has been so much fun. Just absolutely excited to finally get together. It took us a while, but we did it. And I really want to appreciate you for coming on and all the work you’ve done and the coalition and your team. And everybody out there who’s been impacted by this and really has been rolling with the punches and keeping going because we believe in the people that we’re trying to help — I just want to thank everybody for that.

And thank you as listeners for listening to the Volunteer Nation podcast. I hope you’ll join us next week. I hope you share this episode with a friend who needs a little inspiration, because this is inspiration. This is action and inspiration. And I hope you’ll give us a rating and review and help us reach more people and join us next week. Same time, same place on the Volunteer Nation. Thanks everybody.