Six months after the Justice Department cancelled more than $800 million in federal grants, many community safety organizations remain in crisis. The cuts targeted programs across the country — school violence prevention, training for rural police, support for domestic violence victims and hate crime prevention — and hit hundreds of groups, most of them nonprofits.
Attorney General Pam Bondi described the terminations as eliminating “wasteful grants,” singling out programs serving transgender and LGBTQ communities. NPR spoke with 10 affected organizations; a few reported reinstated funding, but most have laid off staff, tapped reserve funds, or reduced services.
“These cuts are significant and unprecedented,” says Amy Solomon, a senior fellow at the Council on Criminal Justice and a former head of the DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs, which oversaw the grants. Solomon notes that grant awards shape organizations’ budgets and hiring, and cancelling funds mid-cycle breaks that commitment.
At Washington Technology High School in St. Paul, Minn., Principal Elias Oguz said the abrupt loss of a “Stop The Violence” grant forced him to scramble to keep a restorative practices coordinator on staff. The role, filled by Robyn Strowder, helped resolve student conflicts and build school community. Oguz redirected $50,000 from school supplies and other local sources to preserve the position temporarily, but future funding remains uncertain.
Other groups faced deeper impacts. Strength In Peers, a Virginia nonprofit serving people with substance use and mental health challenges, laid off two employees after one of its federal grants was terminated. The group spent roughly $90,000 from the grant and is still waiting to be reimbursed for more than half of that amount. Many organizations report similar unpaid expenses and say their appeals to the DOJ have gone unanswered. Several organizations have filed lawsuits alleging the cancellations were unlawful and seeking reimbursement.
The Justice Department told NPR that the ongoing government shutdown is slowing its ability to process appeals and reimbursements, though the grant cancellations occurred months before the shutdown began.
Solomon and others warned that the pattern of cutting mostly nonprofit grants reflects a broader shift in how the administration views public safety. “The old school thinking is that it’s only police that can keep communities safe,” Solomon said. Community-based groups often work alongside law enforcement to prevent violence and support vulnerable residents; cutting those programs can weaken local safety networks.
DOJ communications to Congress emphasized that the cancellations mainly affected nonprofits and not states or local jurisdictions directly. Critics argue that rationale overlooks the vital role nonprofits play in community prevention and intervention efforts.
Organizations such as the Teen and Police Service Academy in Houston and the community violence intervention group Roca described severe staffing reductions. Everette Penn, co-founder of the mentoring program, said federal funding has long filled gaps the private sector won’t, and losing it forces difficult cuts. Roca’s executive vice president Dwight Robson said DOJ told the group its work “no longer effectuates” administration priorities, despite overlap between Roca’s focus on violent crime reduction and the department’s stated goals. Roca eliminated roughly 50 positions and is pursuing alternative funding, but Robson expressed concern that other funders may not sustain support long-term.
Across the affected organizations, leaders say the cancellations have created lingering uncertainty: current grants could be terminated at any time, appeals and reimbursements are stalled, and essential services for children, victims, and communities are at risk. Many groups are scrambling to find new funding and to reassure staff and participants, while awaiting a response from the department or the outcomes of legal challenges.
