“ I was just stunned ”: Trump launches 15 high school students from Fema Youth Preparation Council

“I was just stunned,” said Dolce.

He became active in his hometown, organizing rallies and petitions to raise awareness of extreme heat and ask the Federal Emergency Management Agency to make these conditions eligible for declarations of major disaster.

Just before his last year of high school in 2024, Dolce had the chance to really make his concerns heard: he became one of the 15 students of the United States selected to join the FEMA Youth Prepare the Council, a 13-year program for young people to learn and become ambassadors for preparation for disasters.

“It was this really cool opportunity to get involved with FEMA and have a siege specified at the table where we could develop resources and for young people,” said Dolce.

Then came signs of problems.

On January 16, the young people were informed by e-mail that a summit culminating in the national capital this summer had been canceled. In February, students stopped hearing their advisers. The meetings have stopped. After months of silence, the students received an email on August 1 saying that the program would be dismissed early.

“We take so much time and effort in this space,” he said, “and now it’s completely emptied.”

FEMA has taken steps to make sure it was “meager”

In an email to the students examined by the Associated Press, the agency said that this decision was intended to ensure that FEMA is a lean and deployable disaster force which is ready to support states because they take the lead in preparation and response to disaster. »»

The dissolution of the council, although overshadowed by other cuts, reflects the repercussions of chaotic changes to the agency responsible for managing the federal response to disasters. Since the start of Republican President Donald Trump’s second term, his administration has reduced FEMA staff by the thousands, has delayed crucial emergency training, interrupted certain survivors’ awareness efforts and canceled programs worth billions of dollars.

Dolce said ignorance of students also undermines resilience.

“This area needs young people and we push young people,” he said. “The administration only gives young people the adult on climate change.”

More important federal programs linked to young people and climate are also in disorder.

In April, the administration reduced the funding of Americans, the 30 -year -old federal agency for the volunteer service. Consequently, 2,000 members of the National Civilian Community Corps, who generally help after the loss, left their program early.

FEMA did not answer questions about the reasons why it closed the Youth Council. In an email bulletin last week, the agency said it would not recruit “until further notice”.

The council was created for students from 8th to 11th to 11th year to “bring together young managers who wish to support disaster preparation and make a difference in their communities”, according to the FEMA website.

Disinvestment in the training of young people could undermine efforts to prepare and respond to more frequent and more serious climatic disasters, said Chris Reynolds, retired lieutenant-colonel and emergency preparation liaison agent in the US Air Force.

“This is a missed opportunity for the talent pipeline,” said Reynolds, now vice-president and dean of academic awareness of the American Public System. “I am over 45 as emergency manager in my field. Where does this next executive come from? ”

Some speak of a runoff effect

The administration’s objective of reducing the federal role in the response to disasters and putting more responsibilities on states to manage the response to disasters and the recovery could mean that local communities need more expertise in emergency management.

“You eliminate the participation not only from your next generation of emergency managers, but from your next generation of community leaders, which, I think, is only a terrible error,” said Monica Sanders, professor in the Emergency and Catastrophes Management Program of the University of Georgetown and its Law Center.

Sanders said that young people had as much knowledge to share with FEMA as the agency did with them.

“In many cultures, young people do preparation work, organization of mutual aid, online campaign, reunition and research of people in a way that traditional emergency management is simply not able to do,” she said. “For Fema, losing access to this knowledge base is really unhappy.”

Sughan Sriganeh, a high school student up from Syosset, New York, said that he had joined the Council to continue his work on resilience and climate literacy in schools.

“I thought it was a way of being able to amplify the problems that fascinate me,” he said.

Sriganeh said he had taken a lot from the program while it lasted. He and Dolce were in the same small group working on a community project to disseminate farmers preparation resources. They created a brochure with information on what to do before and after a disaster.

Even after FEMA staff stopped reaching out, Sriganeh and some of his peers continued to meet. They decided to finish the project and seek ways to distribute their brochure themselves.

“This is a testimony to the reason why we were chosen in the first place as members of the preparation of young people,” said Sriganeh. “We were able to adapt and be resilient, no matter what was going on.”