DOGE cuts threaten Sacramento student mentorship program
When Brian Mason first joined Improve Your Tomorrow in 2016, the Natomas High School sophomore was struggling academically. The program matched him with a mentor who helped him improve his grades by almost two GPA points and a path to attend college.
“I currently have a 3.75 GPA which I never knew that I could have, because I was just like a regular kid, but Improve Your Tomorrow, they helped me get my grades up and see that I have a future for myself,” said Mason, now a student at American River College, in an interview with The Sacramento Bee. “And that’s ultimately what made me come back, because if I can have that same impact on these kids, who knows what they can do?”
In 2021, he wanted to repay the favor and become a mentor to another young man of color. For the past four years, he’s juggled college and other jobs with a caseload of about 25 students whom he meets with weekly and biweekly to discuss their grades and mental and physical health. As a mentor to his “brother” mentees, he also helps host study halls and college tours, and communicates with parents about their kids’ academic lives.
Now, President Donald Trump and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency threaten all of that. Last week, DOGE head and billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk canceled almost $400 million in grants, or 40%, of its funding, and effectively shuttered AmeriCorps, the federal volunteering agency that provides funding to community service programs like Improve Your Tomorrow. The Sacramento-headquartered nonprofit lost about $10 million, according to chief executive Michael Lynch.
Some 184 mentors at 86 schools across the country lost their AmeriCorps-provided salaries, health insurance and education awards, according to Lynch. For others, that also includes their housing stipends. Overall, about 770 Sacramento-based AmeriCorps volunteers have lost their jobs, according to data provided by the Governor’s Office of California Volunteers.
Improve Your Tomorrow is now crowdfunding for community donations via an emergency fund. Mason, 23, kept his job but watched others lose theirs, which in turn jeopardized their ability to pay rent and “keep a roof over” their heads.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has made the cuts the focus of his increasingly combative rhetoric against the White House as Musk and Trump have made dubious claims about shutting down agencies to save money and protect against fraud. Musk has claimed to have saved billions of dollars by cutting federal contracts, though previous reporting has debunked many of his claims.
Earlier this week, the governor sued to stop the agency’s shutdown, which he called a “middle finger to volunteers.” The same day, he took shots at Musk, of whom he was a onetime admirer, at a press conference where he told reporters that California had pioneered the efficiency model that Musk and DOGE are claiming.
Improve Your Tomorrow mentors are still “trying their best to operate as if things are normal,” Mason said, and continue to support their students as best they can. So far, students haven’t appeared to notice anything is amiss.
“We don’t show it, like we have to be strong for these kids, because sometimes these kids don’t have a foundation at home,” he said, “so we have to be that foundation for them.”
