AmeriCorps tutors in Sacramento were abruptly told not to report to work after a reported federal cut to national service funding, leaving college students without pay and a $4,000 scholarship, program staff and a state official said.

The loss follows an action described in the report as a decision by the "Department of Government Efficiency" to end the national service and paid volunteer program that reportedly provides $62,000,000 in funding to California. "I'm at home already stressing enough with college," an AmeriCorps member said. "It's more just the frustration setting in of, like, if how are we supposed to contribute for our community now if we have no method to actually pay for what we do?"

Why this matters: The tutors work with low-income middle school students through Breakthrough Sacramento. Program leaders and tutors said the sudden pause threatens both classroom support for students finishing the school year and college plans for tutors who relied on program pay and a $4,000 scholarship to help become first-generation college graduates.

Josh Friday, who leads the Governor's Office of Service and Community Engagement, said California is among about two dozen states suing the federal government to stop what he described as the dismantling of AmeriCorps. "We're gonna fight back, and we're gonna have the backs of our service members," Friday said.

Program staff described the immediate effects on students and tutors. A tutor who is also a former Breakthrough student said losing the position "felt like I was just throwing them off a cliff and just letting them fend for themselves." The report identified two tutors by first names, Jasmine and Zander, saying they returned to the program as tutors both to give back and to help pay for college; the transcript says they will lose their salaries and a $4,000 scholarship as a result of the funding cut.

The report said more than a thousand AmeriCorps programs in California are on the chopping block. It did not specify which federal office made the decision beyond the phrasing "Department of Government Efficiency," nor did it provide a legal citation for the funding change.

The state lawsuit and the immediate funding decision are separate actions: the lawsuit is an action by the state to block the funding change, and the funding change is the reported administrative action that prompted program disruptions. The transcript did not include a timetable for when pay would resume, whether scholarships would be preserved, or the precise list of programs affected.

In Sacramento, Michelle Bandur, KCRA 3 News, reported the segment.