The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
National decisions have direct local consequences. Right now, Donald’s man Elon is continuing to take the chainsaw to the federal government department budgets in what he claims is an effort for government to be more efficient by getting rid of waste and fraud. Great goal – lousy execution and one touching Crested Butte and Gunnison County in myriad ways.
The high-profile impacts of having fewer people help monitor and maintain the recreational Forest Service, BLM and National Park land surrounding our community is widely understood. That action can have long-term ramifications on our economic well-being and as I have argued, on our collective mental health. But there are other, less flashy impacts being stirred up as well.
The latest DOGE blindside came late last Friday when Elon’s chainsaw dug into AmeriCorps. That organization has basically provided a way for young people to get some civic experience while helping fellow citizens – sort of a Peace Corps for America. It provides a way for people to discover how to serve community — not a bad lesson to learn as a young person and one that can provide benefits for decades. AmeriCorps members work for organizations like Mountain Roots and for towns like Crested Butte. To some, it might not seem like much to lose what are essentially young interns in the valley, but those little cuts add up and can leave scars. Elon doesn’t care.
Apparently thinking himself a hero from an Ayn Rand novel, he doesn’t seem to understand a calling higher than making money and dominating others. Last Friday without much warning or rationale, DOGE ordered that $400 million in AmeriCorps grants be terminated, affecting nearly 32,500 volunteers, including grants and people that had found their way to Crested Butte and Gunnison. The message? Despite you answering a call to do something positive and good not just for you but for your broader community, we don’t want your stinkin’ high-minded service.
AmeriCorps is spread throughout the valley. From several local non-profits to local governments, young people are here in an effort to help others. That is a good thing. Volunteering or stepping up for service in exchange for a small living allowance is something that has been a part of American communities since its founding. From early volunteer firefighters and barn raisings to organization like the YMCA and Red Cross, volunteerism has been a backbone of community in this country for centuries and AmeriCorps is part of that evolution.
We have heard that money from the federal budget helping with the Gunnison Valley Mentors program in the local schools has been cut. The program had to cut two full-time positions with plans to phase out two additional staffers this summer. The feeling from inside the district is that the money was well spent and helped even out students that might need some adult contact that translates to a better learning environment for individuals and the classroom. Think middle school boys struggling with issues.
At the county level, federal cuts seem stacked in the department of health and human services. Health and human services. It sure seems logical that that’s a place to really root out waste and fraud instead of focusing on boondoggle military spending for example. Sigh.
Look, some could argue that it is not the role of the federal government to take on such projects. I would argue that it is a proper use of our tax dollars and a long-standing tradition of America to provide opportunity for young people to discover community beyond self. Using our collective money to fund things that benefit the community is not a bad use of tax money. Taxes don’t have to just be for jet fighters, interstate highways or walls along a border. Using tax dollars that benefit us in little ways as well as big can have long-lasting benefits and DOGE is taking the chainsaw to cut out some of those benefits here in our valley. Providing opportunity to teach the next generation that service above self is part of being an American, part of a healthy and happy community, is a money well spent, not waste and fraud.
—Mark Reaman
