President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Ohio nonprofits and organizations are breathing a sigh of relief – for now – as it seems federal funding will continue flowing to them, despite an executive order freezing trillions in federal funds for grants and loans.
Confusion reigned starting Jan. 20 when President Donald Trump signed executive orders on topics ranging from immigration enforcement and fair housing and civil rights protections for LGBTQ+ people to diversity and inclusions policies and a hiring freeze for federal agencies.
On Jan. 27, the confusion continued with the federal Office of Management and Budget issuing a memo that federal financial assistance and grant spending would be frozen.
“The use of federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve,” the since-rescinded memo stated.
But for those receiving federal grants and loans throughout the country, the memo wasn’t clear on which programs would be impacted, and concern spread when organizations couldn’t access their funding systems the next day, hours before a federal judge temporarily stopped the freeze.
“Many of you did notice that all your funding systems were down,” said Amy Riegel, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio. “That, of course, did create a lot of confusion amongst the nonprofit world.”
For Lisa Mertz, president and CEO of the Cincinnati-based nonprofit Addiction Services Council, when the funding freeze was in place, it was a harrowing day from the very beginning.
“Wednesday felt like a punch in the gut to me when I woke up and realized that 1/3 of my staff and 1/3 of my programs might have to be cut very quickly,” Mertz said.
The federally qualified community health center The HealthCare Connection, which provides health services for low-income, underinsured and uninsured people in Hamilton County, saw the loss of services as a loss of salaries for physicians, and therefore the loss of the ability to care for patients.
According to Dr. Jolene Joseph, CEO of The HealthCare Connection, the loss of the federal grant the facility receives would mean “potentially, within a couple of months, we would be forced to make a decision to possibly close.”
Mertz and Joseph were part of a media call with Ohio Democratic U.S. Rep. Greg Landsman, who said he and others are “treating this as a disaster, either a disaster that’s happening or may happen.”
“The idea of taking trillions and trillions of dollars out of our community … taking away health care, taking away domestic violence support, food assistance, housing support, you name it, it’s not only chaotic and cruel, it could be incredibly dangerous,” Landsman said.
Landsman and fellow Ohio U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur had similar ideas as to why the funding freeze was happening. They don’t think it’s fiscal responsibility, so much as a play to gain $4 trillion back into the government coffers to benefit the richest Americans.
Kaptur called the events surrounding the federal freeze order “the president’s decision to jeopardize lifelines to the American people and impede progress by manufactured, unnecessary chaos, but it’s part of the plan, so get ready.”
“We will fight with every inch of strength that we have against the wealth transfer in this country,” Kaptur said at a news conference at the Glass City Pavilion in Toledo.
Now that a federal judge has paused the order, organizations like COHHIO are getting back to work, but not without wariness when it comes to next steps, including federal agencies reviewing their programs to comply with the executive orders, or the lifting of the legal pause.
“The funding freeze has been lifted, but we do have to caution that this is still an evolving situation, it’s still an evolving action,” Riegel said in a virtual information meeting on Thursday.
The chaos was stressful and upsetting for those who went through it, but they recognized that the efforts in opposition to the order made their mark.
“The members of Congress heard loud and clear that there were problems with that freeze, and that made a huge difference,” said COHHIO’s Gina Wilt.
Lindsay Duvall, senior housing advocacy organizer for the National Low Income Housing Coalition, said the group counted more than 6,000 contacts with congressional offices within the first 24 hours after their call to action against the funding freeze.
As the uncertainty over future moves continues, Wilt advised nonprofit groups and their staff to engage with legislators, even invite them to visit the facilities that benefit from these grants and loans, giving them a chance to change their minds about issues in their districts. Even if a visit isn’t feasible, contact is just as important, according to Wilt.
“We need to call them once, we need to call them twice, we need to call them three times,” she said.
Kaptur said she’s sent a “note” to Trump inviting him to tour Toledo with her.
“I said would he come to Toledo and visit with me, and I’ll show him neighborhoods and places and work that I doubt he’s ever seen in his life,” Kaptur said.
Landsman said he has had discussions with other members of Congress, including the Ohio delegation, on the orders and the funding plans the Trump administration has made known, and he said he’d “gotten good feedback” that there are legislators who don’t support the moves.
“I don’t think that money that is supposed to be coming to Ohio and to our communities, having that money get diverted, is something that folks who serve this state want to see,” Landsman said.
Requests for comment were sent to Ohio’s Reps. Warren Davidson, Dave Joyce, Max Miller, Mike Carey and Joyce Beatty, along with U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno. None of the requests received a response on Thursday. A message on the voicemail at U.S. Sen. Jon Husted’s D.C. office said the mailbox was full.
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