A federal ruling restoring AmeriCorps grant funding in states that sued over the Trump administration's dismantling of the program may help keep important legal assistance available in McLean County.
Illinois JusticeCorps is funded in part with federal grant money from AmeriCorps — at least until April, when the Trump administration announced cuts and placed AmeriCorps staff members on leave. Illinois and two dozen other states sued the Trump administration to stop it and, last week, won a preliminary injunction. The court ordered the administration to restore all programs that had been terminated in those states by reinstating and returning to service the AmeriCorps members who served them, while the lawsuit continues, according to Illinois Attorney Kwame Raoul.
Unlike in criminal proceedings, the right to an attorney is not guaranteed in civil cases, such as divorce and family cases. Private attorneys can be expensive. That's where Illinois JusticeCorps comes in, helping self-represented litigants understand legal processes and what forms to fill out.
Trump's cuts temporarily disrupted that legal assistance at the McLean County Law and Justice Center in Bloomington, where JusticeCorps operated one of its locations from the law library. JusticeCorps fellows and other helpers were allowed to continue their work following the cuts because of bridge funding from Illinois-based sources for a 90-day period that ends Aug. 15. That funding comes from the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Access to Justice, the Illinois Bar Association and the Chicago Bar Association.
“Because of the bridge funding, we have had workers back in for the past 21 days,” said Will Scanlon, trial court administrator for the 11th Judicial Circuit, which includes McLean County. “But what was unclear to us is whether there was going to be any funding beginning Aug. 15 through the remainder of the next 12 months.”
Now, JusticeCorps has a pending application with AmeriCorps to approve grant funding for the next fiscal year.
“Usually it is about this time of year that we find out if our grant is approved,” said Jenna Kearns, program director of Illinois JusticeCorps. Kearns is also a Bloomington City Council member.
Kearns hopes the federal ruling opens a pathway for AmeriCorps staff who remain to start processing the JusticeCorps application, but there is much uncertainty surrounding when approval might come. With the ruling applying to all states that joined the lawsuit, there are applications from over 20 states for AmeriCorps staff to process. The Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Access to Justice would resume matching AmeriCorps funding if it were to be approved. The commission will solidify its budget Tuesday, which Kearns said could include funding for JusticeCorps programming whether or not the AmeriCorps grant is approved.
“We're all still kind of waiting for everyone to kind of finalize their intentions,” said Kearns.
Return to work
Another variable for Illinois JusticeCorps to navigate is reinstatement of former workers.
“Because of the grant cancellation and AmeriCorps rules, we had to exit and basically terminate all of our members from their positions. And so there isn't a baked-in mechanism to reinstate members,” said Kearns.
Kearns said the Serve Illinois Commission is coming up with a process for reinstating workers who want to return. The governor-appointed board oversees program administration and training for the AmeriCorps program. Kearns said workers who return may see increased hours to make up for lost opportunities to work over the past few months. Many in the program are people working during a gap year before law school.
Backup plans
Plans are also being made at a local level to supplement the program if needed.
“We believe that there are going to be gaps in service between Aug. 15 and Jan. 1 if full funding isn't restored,” said Scanlon. “So we're making plans to transfer staff to address those shortfalls and then try to work up a permanent solution.”
Scanlon added the federal court order allows for individual grants to be terminated if terms of the grants are violated, another reason for a need to plan for a scenario with the grant and without it.
“Who is making that determination of whether they're in violation is unknown to us. It's obviously someone in the federal government,” said Scanlon.
