Crime victims groups stripped of federal grant awards by Trump administration
CBS News has obtained a copy of a memo sent Tuesday by the DOJ's Office of Justice Programs to some nonprofit organizations. The memo alerts the groups that their federal grant awards are being "terminated" because the funding "no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities."
Among the organizations who have been stripped of their federal funding is a major Maryland criminal victims organization, which provides healing services for major city violent crime victims. The organization requested its name not be revealed by CBS News to avoid retribution.
In an internal memo obtained by CBS News, the organization's leader wrote, "We are not the only organization impacted. Funding cuts and cancellations were also announced to approximately 55 other violence prevention, victim advocacy and substance abuse programs nationwide."
Another impacted organization is the Youth Alive nonprofit in Oakland, California, which has helped young people who have suffered from violent crime. The organization, founded in 1991, touts its work supporting gunshot victims, including at hospital bedsides.
Executive Director Joseph Griffin told CBS News the loss of funding is a "devastating blow."
"We're not just responding to violence — we're stopping it before it starts, supporting survivors in the aftermath, and walking with families through their deepest pain. When someone is shot in Oakland, we show up. Without this support, survivors will be left alone to languish in hospital beds with no roadmap to recovery — just pain, fear, and retaliation," Griffin said.
Former Department of Justice Civil Rights Division official Stacey Young told CBS News, "This administration can't claim to care about things like supporting crime victims, curbing gun violence, and reducing opioid deaths while slashing grants to entities that do the hard work to achieve these goals."
Young is the founder of Justice Connection, an organization of Justice Department alumni who've spoken out against some of the Trump administration's overhaul of the agency.
The National Center for Victims of Crime said the reduction in federal funding is potentially debilitating to its mission.
"We're shocked that an administration that claims to care about protecting victims would leave so many vulnerable Americans without access to an essential lifeline," said Renée Williams, CEO of the National Center for Victims of Crime.
Williams told CBS News the funding reduction could force the shuttering of a crime victims hotline by Friday, April 25. Williams said the hotline had been used 16,000 times by crime survivors last year.
"After calling us, countless victims indicated that they had nowhere else to turn, but found hope, help and comfort from our services," she said. "The termination of this federal grant has had an immediate impact."
Williams added, "The Justice Department also canceled a grant through which the National Center for Victims of Crime is building peer-support group programs for crime victims at 10 sites across the country, as well as a grant through which our team creates educational content for National Crime Victims' Rights Week."
The DOJ did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, a former state attorney general in Florida, touted other grant cuts in a social media post Wednesday evening.
"The Department of Justice has started cutting millions of dollars in wasteful grants," her post said. She listed three examples: $2 million for "national listening sessions of individuals with lived experience," $695,000 for "a parallel convergent mixed-methods case study research design to assess the efficacy of police departments' LGBTQ liaison services" and $250,000 for "working with incarcerated transgender individuals providing gender affirming care to including housing in gender appropriate facilities."
The memo distributed to some victims' organizations specifies that any further expenses will not be reimbursed by the Justice Department and federal agencies after receipt of the memo.
"The use of award funds will not be allowed for obligations incurred, or expenditures made, after receipt of this notice, other than pursuant to closeout responsibilities," the memo said.
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