A local initiative aimed at making sure kids consistently attend school will no longer rely on a federal workforce program targeted by the Trump administration for elimination. 

United Way of Benton & Franklin Counties announced plans to hire six people to serve as mentors in its Attendance Matters program for the 2025-26 school year. The nonprofit previously had members of AmeriCorps serving as mentors in the program. A federal judge has blocked the White House’s effort to shut down the program but AmeriCorps’ future remains in doubt. 

“With the uncertainty of the future of the AmeriCorps program, we, United Way of Benton & Franklin Counties, wanted to make sure that we were still able to fulfill our mission of enhancing student success through our Attendance Matters program and wanted to make sure that we could offer consistency to the students we served,” said Jade Elliott, events and communications manager, in an email to the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business. 

Attendance Matters served 700 middle school students per year throughout the region with one-on-one mentors and group support to reduce chronic absenteeism.  

United Way says those hired for the new positions could be assigned to a middle or elementary school for up to 20 hours per week.  

Pay starts at $16.75 per hour and the organization is particularly encouraging bilingual candidates, college students pursuing careers in education or social services and retirees to apply. 

“Mentors become trusted adults in the lives of students who may need just a little extra encouragement to succeed,” said Asta Bonheyo, United Way’s community impact director, in a statement. “This is about real relationships and showing up – literally and figuratively – for our youth.” 

The Trump administration’s decision to strip $400 million in funding for AmeriCorps in mid-May threw a number of social services efforts, many focused on serving children, into doubt. 

In the Tri-Cities, four AmeriCorps-funded agencies essentially stopped operations as a result of suddenly losing their funds.  

• Serve Tri-Cities, which provided math tutoring in Pasco schools.  

• Teach for America, which sends new teachers to underserved schools.  

• Washington Service Corps’ IT Service Corps through WorkSource Columbia Basin.  

• Washington Association of Child Advocate Programs, which supports the volunteer guardian ad litem program of Benton County. 

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown joined a lawsuit filed by two dozen other attorneys general to reinstate the funding. A judge in early June found that Congress had to be provided advance notice of plans to end the program, as well as an opportunity to comment on an any major changes to AmeriCorps services.  

However, those running the programs said that even if the money was restored, the disruption created by the effort to disband AmeriCorps could shut it down regardless. 

“We are getting new information almost daily. What I do know is the longer it takes, the harder it will be to bring all the members back,” Jessica Sagdal, program director for Serve Tri-Cities, told the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business in May.  

Serve Tri-Cities appears to have since ceased operations.