Serve Learn Earn coalition asks legislature for $2 million boost as federal grants stall

Serve Learn Earn asked the House Commerce & Economic Development Committee on Feb. 21 to increase state base funding from $500,000 to $2.5 million, saying that paused and uncertain federal grants are jeopardizing staff and new programs.

"Our ask this fiscal year is to increase our $500,000 base budget, funding to $2,500,000," said Kate Blachman, director of Serve Learn Earn, which coordinates cohort-based paid training and service programs across Vermont.

Serve Learn Earn told the committee it serves about 600 Vermonters annually with programming for people ages 14 and up in building trades, conservation, agriculture and education. Blachman said the network’s programs cost roughly $10.5 million a year and that public funding helps the coalition leverage about $8 million in additional resources.

Representatives from partner organizations described local impacts and the effects of federal funding uncertainty. Ronnie Batson, executive director of Vermont Works for Women, said an awarded U.S. Department of Labor grant of roughly $400,000 for women-focused pre-apprenticeship expansion has been paused under an executive order and remains under a temporary restraining order, leaving those funds unavailable for planning and payroll.

"Vermont will not be able to make up the loss of federal funding," Batson told the committee, stressing that staffing and expansion plans rely on those grants.

Kim Guertin of Audubon Vermont said about 25% of Audubon Vermont’s budget is federal money; several grants that had been awarded are currently on hold and AmeriCorps funding remains uncertain, which would reduce the organization’s capacity to host AmeriCorps members and pay seasonal educators. Tom Longstreth, executive director of Resource Nonprofit Community Enterprise, said roughly 20% of his organization’s roughly $10 million annual budget comes from federal grants and that federal funding uncertainty would likely force program scaling back and could reduce stipends currently paid to trainees.

Speakers described program outcomes tied to the state investment: Serve Learn Earn reported 105 WorkReady participants landed jobs in 2024 and the network completed about 180 community projects that year (flood recovery, housing repairs, restoration and education). Partner organizations emphasized that stipends and wages make participation accessible and that reductions would make programs less reachable for low‑income participants.

Several presenters highlighted new or expanded workforce pathways that rely on state and federal support: a timber‑framing pre‑apprenticeship being readied for DOL registration, expanded carpentry crews in state parks, partnerships with University of Vermont and GlobalFoundries for advanced manufacturing pathways, and plans to formalize data-sharing between the Department of Labor and service-to-career programs.

Committee members asked about the immediate impacts of frozen funds; presenters said the most immediate risks are hiring freezes and the potential need to scale back new programming, not using existing state base funding to cover unemployment costs. Blachman and partners asked the committee to include the funding increase in its budget letter to the Appropriations Committee.

The committee did not take a vote on the request during this meeting.