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Rainbow Labs says it’s lost its AmeriCorps grant, which amounts to more than 10 percent of its funding.
This April, the nonprofit Rainbow Labs in Los Angeles received an email saying the group’s AmeriCorps grant had been rescinded. Rainbow Labs Executive Director Jacob Toups says the email noted that “agency priorities changed and our grant and work no longer aligned with their priorities.”
The organization connects LGBTQ+ youth in the L.A. area with LGBTQ+ mentors so that these youth can draw inspiration and support from queer adults and their lived experiences.
Rainbow Labs’ grant was part of $400 million in AmeriCorps funding terminated that day by the Trump administration. AmeriCorps is a federal agency supporting national service and volunteerism. The three-year grant was supposed to run through 2026.
“We utilized the grant to hire staff to support the outreach, training, and engagement of our LGBTQ+ volunteers and mentors,” Toups says. “The grant fits into our mission as we leverage volunteers as mentors across all of our programs. Our mentors provide ongoing support and connection to all our LGBTQ+ youth across our programs.”
The grant didn’t just back one specific program but helped across the suite of programs Rainbow Labs offers to connect youth with mentors.
“This puts additional stress on our existing staff,” Toups says. Without the grant, the organization can’t build capacity for more outreach or volunteer support. “It also means we may not have the opportunity to expand programming to new schools or youth sites.”
Now it has to find $165,000 to backfill what the grant provided. That’s 13 percent of Rainbow Labs’ budget, Toups says.
It’s Rainbow Labs’ dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion that led the government to end the grant, he says. In February, AmeriCorps asked grantees to “comply” with Trump’s executive orders. Rainbow Labs didn’t. He suspects this factored into the grant’s termination.
For now, Rainbow Labs is shifting its staff’s responsibilities. It’s also fundraising and speaking out in support of AmeriCorps.
“We want to be part of the solution and let our representatives know how important this federal agency is to the nonprofit sector in Los Angeles and our LGBTQ+ community,” Toups says.
Rainbow Labs joined in a lawsuit against the Trump administration’s attack on AmeriCorps grants. There’s hope that the court could side with the collective of nonprofits making the challenge, which would reinstate the $400 million.
Toups says coming forward is also about sparking courage in the LGBTQ+ community.
“We are one of the many resources to the LGBTQ+ community, and we need to be loud now, not later,” he says. “We need to leverage Pride Month to remember our history — we are united in ensuring our community has the resources to thrive.”
To do that, Toups says LGBTQ+ people and allies need to speak up, volunteer in communities, run for elective office, and stay in contact with representatives in Congress.
“Our LGBTQ+ youth are looking to us, and we need to rise to the occasion.”
This article is part of The Advocate's July/Aug 2025 issue, which hits newsstands July 1. Support queer media and subscribe — or download the issue now through Apple News, Zinio, Nook, or PressReader.
