Updated: April 14, 2025, at 1:10 p.m.
A tutoring service for D.C. preschoolers staffed by GW student volunteers will shut down at the end of the semester after its national program decided to end its partnerships with universities, program leaders announced late last month.
The Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service houses Jumpstart, which sends GW student volunteers to 16 preschools in the District to help prepare preschoolers for kindergarten and build literacy skills as part of the national program’s partnership with universities and organizations in 13 states and D.C. On March 31, Jumpstart site managers and Nashman Executive Director Amy Cohen told student volunteers via email that Jumpstart decided to end the program’s collegiate partnerships based on its goal to “re-envision and reorganize how they provide programming to pre-K children and families.”
“We know that you have a deep connection to Jumpstart – its mission and focus – with many of you serving for multiple years,” reads the email, which was obtained by The Hatchet. “It is challenging to transition from our beloved partners and from one strategy to another and, at the same time, we encourage those of you not yet graduating to reflect on how you might now most effectively and joyfully support D.C. children and families.”
AmeriCorps is considering slashing its workforce by “up to 50 percent or more” as part of President Donald Trump administration’s effort to reduce the size of the federal government, according to an internal memo obtained by the Washington Post.
Jumpstart has partnered with GW since 1995 and supports federal work-study jobs, with about 70 students currently participating in the program both in FWS and non-FWS positions. Jumpstart partners with student tutors from 71 universities nationwide, including four in the D.C. area — GW, Georgetown and Howard universities and the Catholic University of America.
Jumpstart program leaders plan to work with the Nashman Center and community partners to continue serving the schools formerly staffed by Jumpstart volunteers, according to the email. Current Jumpstart volunteers can continue logging federal work-study hours under Jumpstart until the end of the semester, the email states.
Jumpstart’s national office did not return a request for comment. AmeriCorps did not immediately return a request for comment.
Cohen said the Nashman Center has reached out to the preschools and childcare centers where Jumpstart participants volunteer and has informed them of the program’s cancellation.
“We are reaching out across the city to consult with our partners at other colleges and in preschools and child care centers to see how we might work together to support preschool children and families,” Cohen said in an email.
Cohen said Jumpstart volunteers will be able to apply for other Nashman programs to tutor D.C. students, like Math Matters or SMARTDC.
Students can also apply to be leaders for Welcome Day of Service and other Nashman events, apply for funding through GWupstart or take a community-engaged scholarship course, she said.
Jumpstart participants can get paid through FWS or the Education Award — an award of more than $1,500 offered to students who volunteered for 300 hours with Jumpstart, according to the Nashman Center. Former Jumpstart participants will be able to apply to FWS positions within Nashman for next year, according to the March 31 email.
Jumpstart involuntarily removed student volunteers from the program last year if they had exceeded 300 work hours and ran out FWS funds last year.
Sabrina Samaniego, a first-year who began working with Jumpstart at Takoma Elementary School this semester, said she and fellow participants were “devastated” when she received the email informing her of the program’s cancellation. The site managers were “surprised” by the cancellation when she talked with them after the email, she said.
“It was very devastating and shocking,” Samaniego said. “It was a complete surprise, not just for me but for even for our site managers.”
Samaniego said she and other Jumpstart participants are considering moving over to other Nashman volunteer programs, like EngageDC. Jumpstart’s site managers said all materials that Jumpstart participants used — like children’s books and arts and crafts supplies — will be donated to the schools that Jumpstart volunteers served in, Samaniego said.
She also said some schools have “expressed interest” in staying connected with the Nashman Center and student volunteers, including Thomson Elementary in Downtown D.C. near Franklin Park. The school is also considering hiring former Jumpstart participants to work at after-school programs but nothing has been finalized, Samaniego said.
“Some schools do want to maybe hire us to be a part of their after-school programs,” Samaniego said. “Like Thomson, we were told yesterday that they’re interested in having some of us work for them.”
First-year Lucy Lott, who began working with Jumpstart at Thomson Elementary this semester, said she primarily helped preschoolers learn vocabulary and how to read. She said the cancellation means participants will no longer be able to volunteer with schools that already don’t “have a lot,” like funding and adequate help in the classroom.
D.C. Public Schools are facing a difficult budget year with projected revenue dropping as a result of federal layoffs. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser plans to increase funding to D.C. public schools in fiscal year 2026.
“It’s sad because we were actually making an impact on these kids’ lives, especially in underserved communities,” Lott said. “Some of the schools I’ve been at, they just really aren’t in the best condition. They don’t have the best management going on, and they try to host events, and they never go through.”
Lott said Thomson teachers that she worked with were sad to hear they would not be receiving assistance from students next year.
“It really sucks because even when I’m not in session, you can just go to the school, be in the classroom and help,” Lott said.
Lott said the Nashman Center hasn’t communicated any further with Jumpstart volunteers about AmeriCorps’ decision to cancel the program or future alternative opportunities for current participants since the March 31 email. She said she doesn’t know if Jumpstart volunteers will want to join the other Nashman volunteer programs, many of which were near capacity this year.
Lott said it will be difficult to replace Jumpstart through other Nashman Center programs because it is the only service that specifically serves preschool-aged students.
“I feel like filling Jumpstart’s void is really, really difficult, and I don’t think you can do that with the other programs there are,” Lott said. “Jumpstart was its own program for a reason, so it just can’t be replaced by having more people.”
This article was updated to correct the following:
A previous version of this article stated that AmeriCorps, the federal agency that runs Jumpstart, decided to cancel the collegiate partnership program. The decision to cease Jumpstart’s operations at colleges nationwide was made by Jumpstart’s national nonprofit, not AmeriCorps. We regret this error.
