Two nonprofits in New Orleans are worried about their futures after the U.S. Department of Justice abruptly canceled a federal grant that would have helped them offer support to survivors of violence.
The two groups, Beyond Harm and Silence is Violence, were set to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars to aid the work they do intervening in domestic and sexual violence situations and connecting survivors of violence with resources to help them heal and rebuild their lives.
But the groups recently learned that the grant, which would be put toward nonprofits combating community violence outside of the criminal justice system, had been terminated last month. The New Orleans organizations were subgrantees of a $2.9 million award given to Equal Justice USA, a national organization that aims to combat community violence outside of the traditional criminal justice system and works with people and organizations that are also doing this work. EJ USA had planned to distribute over half of that grant money — $1.8 million — to five Louisiana-based anti-violence groups, the two in New Orleans and others in Baton Rouge (The BRidge Agency), Shreveport (Moms on a Mission) and Bogalusa (Forever Takes a Village).
Each organization was going to receive $250,000 over the course of three years, which makes up $1.25 million of the $1.8 million earmarked for all five nonprofits. An additional $600,000 was earmarked to cover 1.5 years of each organization’s executive director’s salary. Since December 2024, EJUSA had sent a total of approximately $250,000 to the groups combined, between around $16,000 and $79,000 each.
The revocations that day were part of a sweeping effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to claw back federal funds from social support, public health, educational and special interest organizations across the country. Although the DOJ reversed its decision for some grant programs, organizations across the country expect layoffs. Many of these groups have said that public safety will decrease as a result, as they will now be unable to help some of society’s most vulnerable people, including people who are disabled, struggling with addiction and elders facing abuse.
Both of the New Orleans-based groups are worried about whether they’ll need to lay off employees and cut back on programming and other services for survivors of violence.
“I’m certain not every organization is going to be able to survive such significant cuts in federal funding,” said Jamila Hodge, CEO of EJUSA. “Certainly, programs within many organizations are unlikely to survive.”
After receiving the email, Hodge went to check the online portal that was used to process documents and funding requests related to the grant. She told Verite News that it had been wiped clean, preventing the organization from seeking reimbursement for the nearly $250,000 they already spent.
Hodge said the termination of grant money to the organizations is devastating news. She said it was shocking to hear why the DOJ was terminating the grant: the agency claims the grant no longer aligns with agency priorities.
“They name in the [agency’s] priorities things like combating violence and protecting children,” Hodge said. “These community-based responses do exactly that.”
There is an appeal process that the group will go through to try to get the grant reinstated, but Hodge is doubtful that it will be successful because of the political stances of the Trump administration.
Eva Lessinger, founder and co-director of Beyond Harm, said the funds from the DOJ grant allowed the group to hire someone to expand their trauma counseling services and start a women’s program that would have helped women who have used violence in their relationships, as the only intensive intervention was for men. This person, hired in March, might have to be laid off. The funds would have also helped cover salaries for her and her co-director. If the funds aren’t reinstated, she might have to make tough decisions about the future of her organization.
“The reality is that unless it gets reversed on appeal, then we’ll have to probably lay off one of our staff, and then scramble to keep the rest,” Lessinger said.
She added that Beyond Harm has other expenses from March attached to the grant that may not be reimbursed.
Tamara Jackson, executive director of Silence is Violence, said that the DOJ grant helped subsidize her salary and to hire a staffer to expand services for survivors of violence outside of just Orleans and Jefferson parishes.
She said that her organization now has to modify its budget and reduce the amount of money it can spend on victim assistance and other services. That assistance includes providing temporary housing for people experiencing violence where they live so they can get out of those situations.
“This is going to be a huge hit for us,” Jackson said. She added that it is “daunting” to face down such a large budget shortfall.
Both organizations are still in the process of figuring out how to ensure they can continue the work that they are doing.
Lessinger said the funding cuts will result in people feeling less safe on the streets and in their homes.
“I’d like everybody to kind of speak up on behalf of the organizations impacted, because every community is going to be impacted by this, and I really believe that it will be to the detriment of public safety,” Lessinger said.
Hodge said that EJUSA is exploring different avenues to counteract the funding cut such as filing a lawsuit and reaching out to funders to help fill the gap, though nothing is for certain yet. In the meantime, Beyond Harm and Silence is Violence are trying to figure out how to inform survivors of violence that their services will be drastically reduced — or cut altogether.
“How do we share with families that we can no longer provide the support that they need?” Jackson said.
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