Atlanta’s homelessness non-profits face ‘daunting’ future after funding pause
Atlanta’s homelessness non-profits face ‘daunting’ future after funding pause
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Local advocates dismayed after Trump orders pause on all federal grants while evaluating if programs meet new ideals. Jimiyu Evans woke up at 5am, on three hours sleep, full of dread, to see if he could still get into his federal funding account from the department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
No dice. His account was down “for maintenance” according to the website. Evans started calling around to other leaders of state agencies and local non-profits working on homelessness, mental health, substance abuse treatment and disability services, and the story was the same, he said.
The federal government was closed for business. Soon enough, his agency might be as well. “Any expenses for the month of December, I will not be able to reimburse ourselves for,” said Evans, CEO of Project Community Connections Inc, a longstanding federally-funded Atlanta non-profit that serves people coming out of homelessness. His organization has a couple of months in reserves that create a solvency risk if spent down. “I’ve got $180,000 in reimbursements for the first 15 days of this month. At this point, I’ve got to address staff now about, you know, what’s the plan.”.
On Monday night, the White House instructed agencies to pause all federal grants while evaluating whether the programs met the ideological standards of the administration “including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal”, according to a memo issued by the Office of Management and Budget.
