Feds contradict D.C.’s explanation for missing deadline for education aid

Volunteers take a break after painting walls and murals at Coolidge High School in Northwest Washington during the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service organized by City Year in January 2014. The education nonprofit is at risk of losing some of its funding after the District missed a deadline. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)

The federal agency that administers AmeriCorps funding in the District disputed claims that technical problems were behind the city’s failure to meet a crucial deadline to obtain millions in aid for education programs.

The Corporation for National and Community Service said Friday that while it received a report that one of the city’s agencies, Serve D.C., was having trouble accessing online services, those concerns were addressed.

The District government insists, however, that the city missed the deadline because officials ran into technical troubles.

The failure to meet the Jan. 30 deadline means the city lost eligibility for more than $3.5 million in AmeriCorps funding for three education nonprofits: City Year, Reading Partners and the Literacy Lab.

D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), the city’s representative to Congress, and the office of Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) have sought a reprieve, citing the city’s struggles submitting the application.

Samantha Jo Warfield , a spokeswoman for the Corporation for National and Community Service, said the agency provides training and technical assistance.

She said in a statement that her agency’s “records show that Serve D.C. contacted the National Service Hotline for assistance, and that no unresolved issues remained as of January 30, 2019.”

Warfield also pointed out that the federal agency allows local governments to request more time for their applications the day after the deadline. Serve D.C. missed that Jan. 31 deadline, as well, submitting that information on Feb. 1.

The District government declined repeated requests to provide additional details on the technical troubles Serve D.C. encountered in the days leading up to the application deadline.

Aides to the mayor also declined to make Serve D.C. Director Ayris T. Scales available for an interview.

One of Serve D.C.’s primary responsibilities is to secure AmeriCorps funding for service programs and nonprofits. On Thursday, a spokeswoman for the mayor said Serve D.C. employees who were responsible for the missed deadline were terminated.

Asked Friday why employees would have been terminated if the reason for missing the deadline was technical issues, the spokeswoman said the terminations were not actually linked to the lost funding.

The AmeriCorps funding at issue covers 57 reading tutors through Reading Partners and the Literacy Lab, as well as 190 City Year corps members who work in high-need schools as mentors and assistants to teachers.

Officials with the District and the Corporation for National and Community Service say they may be able to find backup funding for the groups to prevent disruptions to programs.

A host of other AmeriCorps-funded programs, including Teach for America and Jumpstart, are not affected because they rely on different grants.

A spokesman for Council member Brandon T. Todd (D-Ward 4), who has oversight over the mayor’s office and Serve D.C. as chairman of the Committee on Government Operations, said he plans to write a letter to Serve D.C. asking officials to “explain how this happened and what steps they are taking to ensure it never happens again.”

In the meantime, Todd wants the federal agency to give the city a break.

“I urge the Corporation for National and Community Service to consider these extenuating circumstances and grant an extension to Serve DC so that District residents in-need can continue to benefit from this federal support,” Todd said in a statement.