214. Defending National Service & Community Resilience with Kaira Esgate

Advocacy for volunteerism can't wait until a crisis hits. Sometimes the crisis arrives without warning, and the relationships you've built with policymakers determine whether your program survives.

In this episode, host Tobi Johnson welcomes Kaira Esgate, CEO of America's Service Commissions, to discuss sudden funding cuts that threatened AmeriCorps. Kaira shares how grant terminations and staff reductions halted community projects and upended service members' lives. She also highlights the successful bipartisan advocacy—lawsuits and congressional support—that ultimately restored funding.

If your organization depends on public funding or grants, this episode is a powerful reminder: proactive advocacy and long‑term relationships with elected officials are essential to protecting the programs that hold our communities together.

Community Resilience – Episode Highlights 

• [00:00] Introduction to Advocacy in Volunteerism
• [05:19] Kaira Esgate's Journey in National Service
• [12:50] Understanding AmeriCorps and National Service Landscape
• [18:05] The Crisis: Funding Cuts and Their Impact
• [31:24] Mobilization and Advocacy Response
• [47:43] Ongoing Advocacy and Political Landscape
• [51:37] Lessons Learned from Advocacy Efforts
• [01:01:00] Future of National Service and Community Impact

Helpful Links 

• Volunteer Strategy Scorecard™ 
• Volunteer Management Progress Report 
• Volunteer Nation Episode #148 - Nonprofit Advocacy 101 – Yes You Can! 
• Volunteer Nation Episode #149 - Nonprofit Advocacy Strategies – A Checklist 
• Volunteer Nation Episode #150 – Launch a Community-based Advocacy Program in Six Steps
• America’s Service Commissions
• Find Kaira on LinkedIn

If you are looking to show your support for AmeriCorps during these challenging times, please consider taking one or more of the following actions. 

• Call your Members of Congress using 5 Calls. (There's a free app too!) 
• Email your Members of Congress using the tool from Voices for National Service. 
• Join States for Service, ASC’s privately funded policy coalition working to advocate for federal and state policies that improve access to national service and volunteer engagement resources. 
• Donate to ASC’s National AmeriCorps Member Emergency Fund.
• Write an op-ed, submit a letter to the editor, or post on social media. ASC’s communications toolkit provides resources for all of these and more. 

Thanks for listening to this episode of the Volunteer Nation podcast. If you enjoyed it, please be sure to subscribe, rate, and review so we can reach more people like you who want to improve the impact of their good cause.

For more tips and notes from the show, check us out at TobiJohnson.com. For any comments or questions, email us at [email protected].