AmeriCorps cuts threaten access to local produce in Wheeling
Grow Ohio Valley’s AmeriCorps program was eliminated. They’re concerned about access to locally grown produce as peak season approaches.
WHEELING, W.Va. – Like communities across the rust belt, Wheeling has had its fair share of economic blows and population losses over several decades. As businesses and families fled the area, once vibrant communities were left abandoned. In a push to clean up blight, Wheeling tore down hundreds of buildings leaving grass lots in their place.
That was until 2014 when a start-up called Grow Ohio Valley set up shop.
Brownfields in the city’s East Wheeling neighborhood and on a hill overlooking its downtown were transformed into fertile, organic farms. With just a few acres, the once-fallow land now offers economic opportunity and hyper-local access to hundreds of pounds of locally grown foods annually, like salad greens, tomatoes, onions, garlic, squash, green beans, potatoes and more.
In 2019, Grow Ohio Valley opened a year-round farmers market, Public Market, in downtown Wheeling–a community that has lacked a grocery store for many years.
The influx of fresh food was a god-send. And the dozens of people employed by the organization and the funding it funneled to other local farmers brought real hope for an economic, and agricultural, revolution sorely needed in town.
That was until the Trump administration and its so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, took power in January and took aim at funding across the federal government.
Funding cuts jeopardize food access…
Earlier this year, the Trump administration cut over $1 billion from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and froze grant disbursements already approved by the agency. Cut programs included the Patrick Leahy Food to Schools program, which Grow Ohio Valley utilized to financially support farmers and market their produce to local school districts.
This week, another DOGE-sponsored cut hit Grow Ohio Valley when their entire AmeriCorps program was eliminated. Combined with earlier grant cuts, the organization is scrambling.
“It’s going to really, really negatively impact production,” Jodi Adams, Executive Director of Grow Ohio Valley said of the cuts. “With all of the funding freezes and everything happening, I think it’s going to be far more difficult for a lot of local farms to keep going and keep their produce coming into the Public Market.”
The organization relies on its AmeriCorps program–with a capacity for 13 members–to maintain their farms year round. Without them, the amount of produce Grow Ohio Valley can plant, maintain, harvest, process and deliver will be dramatically reduced.
“We are trying to figure out if we can somehow, someway, piecemeal something together,” Adams said of this year’s growing season.
Any reduction of fresh food access at Public Market could have serious negative health effects for the community. Roughly half of shoppers receive SNAP benefits, and the organization offers these individuals half price produce as part of their privately-funded “SNAP Stretch” program.
Little to no notice…
Grow Ohio Valley, like other organizations across the nation, had little notice that their programs would be dramatically reduced or entirely eliminated.
“I want to say that this started Friday [April 25]. I was receiving emails from other AmeriCorps programs across the state who received these letters of AmeriCorps grant terminations,” Chloe Lefchak, AmeriCorps Program Manager for Grow Ohio Valley, said.
While most organizations received word of the cuts Monday, Grow Ohio Valley did not.
“We were still holding out hope because we didn’t get the notice,” Lefchak said, but she began to worry when Grow Ohio Valley’s name appeared on a leaked list of program cuts circulated on the social media platform Reddit. “Then I got a call Tuesday morning notifying us that our grant has been terminated and that our AmeriCorps members were to serve through the day Tuesday and not the next day. So it’s effective immediately.”
The swiftness of the cuts left organizations like Grow Ohio Valley without time to prepare for the change in workforce; and, for the workers, no time to find a new job. That’s an issue the organization’s beleaguered executive director said was top of mind.
“The abruptness of this is very difficult, especially for [the AmeriCorps volunteers],” Adams said. “We’re looking at putting some money in combination with other support to keep some of the AmeriCorps on, if even to give them a better runway to restarting something different or finding a job.”
Elected leaders respond…
Grow Ohio Valley has spurred job growth and economic development in an area desperate to redefine itself. Their latest project saw the first steps taken toward the creation of a regional food hub aiming to support local farmers and offer them a space to process, package, label, market and ship their products.
The idea garnered praise, and funding, from the state’s top elected officials.
In 2021, Senator Shelley Moore Capito and then-Senator Joe Manchin secured $620,000 for the food hub. Capito then championed two more grants for Grow Ohio Valley totaling $292,700 and $763,057, respectively.
Now, those funds are in jeopardy due to grant freezes and AmeriCorps eliminations.
This reporter attempted to receive comment from the senator regarding the situation facing Grow Ohio Valley. While her office did not directly respond to our questions, Communications Director Kelley Moore provided a link to a story with Capito speaking with the hosts of MetroNews’ ‘Midday’ radio show.
The senator expressed concerns over the cuts, but fell short of denouncing them.
“There’s no doubt that the core functions that AmeriCorps is performing in a state like ours are pretty critical to fill gaps where we cannot fill them on our own,” Capito told Midday hosts Wednesday. “So, I would say this is new news and we’re going to help them work through this.”
In a request for comment sent to Gov. Patrick Morrisey, who has touted economic development in the state, Deputy Press Secretary Drew Galang said, “West Virginians losing their jobs is never a good thing. We want to do everything in our power to get these folks back to work as soon as possible.”
The offices of Sen. Jim Justice II, former West Virginia governor who also earmarked funds for Grow Ohio Valley, and Rep. Riley Moore did not respond to separate requests for comment.
“Grow Ohio Valley is not going anywhere.”
Defiant, Grow Ohio Valley posted to their Facebook page that they would “continue to make a positive impact in our community for years to come.” And, in a separate post, the organization asked members to donate to a new collaborative effort called “Wheeling ServiceCorps” which is seeking financial support to help restore terminated AmeriCorps members to their positions.
Click here to find more information about the collaborative.
To learn more about Grow Ohio Valley, visit their website at https://www.growov.org/.
NOTE: This reporter served three years as an AmeriCorps volunteer with Grow Ohio Valley.
Our congress folks and governor are worthless. They capitulate to the orange menace instead of doing what is best for the people of this state. If only we had an AG who filed a lawsuit. Maine filed a law suit and the regime just backed down.