Justice Department halts funds for programs for victims of hate crimes, child abuse, school violence and more
The department also paused programs aimed at reducing school shootings, efforts to combat domestic terror and an Emmett Till cold case initiative in the Southeast.
At least some of the grants were halted in memos sent Tuesday to nonprofit organizations by the Justice Department. The memos alerted program operators that the projects no longer "effectuate" Justice Department priorities. The cancellation of the federal grants caused disruptions at some nonprofit programs, according to organization leaders who spoke with CBS News.
The head of a nonprofit that helps youth crime victims in Oakland, California, called the funding freeze a "devastating blow."
Nancy Smith told CBS News she made plans to lay off 10 employees from her national "Activating Change" nonprofit, which helps provide sign language interpreters and legal aid to crime victims with disabilities and hearing impairments. Smith said 40% of her budget disappeared overnight.
The list was provided by a federal source with oversight over the agency's funding of federal grant programs.
Programs halted by Justice Department
Obtained by CBS News
The Justice Department told CBS News at least two of the grant funds, however, for the National Center for Victims of Crime in Maryland and The National Network to End Domestic Violence in Washington, D.C., have been restored since last week's memo was sent.
The National Center for Victims of Crime, in Landover, Maryland, warned CBS News on Thursday that it planned to shutter its national crime victims hotline because of the cancellation of its Justice Department grant. The hotline receives approximately 16,000 calls from crime victims every year. But one day after a CBS News report about the prospect that the hotline would be shuttered, the organization's director notified CBS News that the Justice Department restored the grant money.
A Justice Department spokesperson told CBS News the organizations that have lost their grant funding awards will have 30 days to appeal the decision.
"We are confident that these cuts are consistent with the administration's priorities while at the same time protecting services that tangibly impact victims," the spokesperson said.
The list of 365 grant programs notified of grant cancellations includes a broad array of initiatives to help crime victims and prevent violence.
The impacted organizations include a San Francisco-based organization that seeks to reduce hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, a New York organization that works to reduce school shootings, the "Emmett Till cold case investigations and prosecution program" in New Orleans, the "Matthew Shepard and James Byrd hate crimes training and technical assistance" initiative for crime reduction in Florida, a Michigan group that supports re-entry for young offenders and a Virginia group that helps human trafficking and sex victims.
Renee Williams, the executive director of the National Center for Victims of Crime, said she's grateful the Justice Department restored her grant funding, but told CBS News "our partners are still battling." Williams said the organization's crime victim hotline is a critical tool for those who suffer violence. Williams told CBS News, "After calling us, countless victims indicated that they had nowhere else to turn, but found hope, help, and comfort from our services."
Joe Griffin, executive of director of California-based Youth Alive! told CBS News the interruption of his group's federal grant would have a devastating impact on community initiatives.
"To do this ahead of summer, when we know there will likely be an uptick in violence, is really troubling," Griffin said. "We need our government to show up for our young people the way we do—every day, without fail."
Other projects that were notified of terminations of their federal grants include the following:
A Memphis, Tennessee, group that helps provide victims advocacy and support for non-English speaking crime victims
An Atlanta project that supports crime victims under the age of 18
A Bronx, N.Y. initiative to prevent overdoses
A Chicago-based study of elder-abuse victims
A Florida project to help ensure the safety of correctional officers
A Virginia-based project to help human trafficking victims.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
10 minutes ago
- USA Today
Michael Porter Jr. thinks NBA's sports betting culture will get worse
A post shared by Front Office Sports (@frontofficesports) Not many people have seen the impacts of sports betting on professional sports as intimately as Michael Porter Jr., whose brother, Jontay, became the first player banned from the NBA for betting on league games. So, it's not surprising Porter would have a lot to say on the topic. What is surprising is just how in depth he went into ways a player might try to get around the rules, in a recent appearance on One Night with Steiny. "If you could get all your homies rich by telling them, 'Yo, bet $10,000 on my under. This one game I'm gonna act like I got an injury, and I'ma sit out. I'ma come out after three minutes.' And they all get a little bag because you did it one game. That is so not OK, but some people probably think like that." Well, now we know at least one person who thought it through. Maybe keep that to yourself if you're the brother of a guy facing prison time for that exact thing? On a more serious note, Porter isn't completely wrong. The scenario he laid out is likely a proposition (no pun intended) that's been already been brought to a few athletes by friends and associates. But even as the tracking technology used by integrity firms to catch bad actors continues to prove effective, Porter thinks the culture of sports betting is only going to get worse. "The whole sports gambling entity? Bro, it's bad and it's only going to get worse," Porter said. "We really do get death threats. The crazy part is you can't win anymore. If I do too good, I'm messing up the people that bet on the under. And if they bet on my over... you're messing up some people's money." That's the unfortunate part of it all. While the monitoring should be a big enough deterrent to prevent larger scandals in the future, that doesn't prevent bettors from harassing athletes and keeping them hyper-aware of everything that's at stake. Even if it's not their own money. Are the Trail Blazers staying in Portland? With the Portland Trail Blazers' sale to Tom Dundon, fans are wondering whether the team will end up as the next to abandon the Pacific Northwest. The reasons why are easy to understand, as Bryan Kalbrosky laid out here: "The news, which was originally reported by Sportico, led many folks to wonder the same question: Will the Trail Blazers remain in Portland considering that the Dallas-based Dundon is not otherwise affiliated with the Pacific Northwest. His other major sports asset, the Canes, is based in North Carolina." Thankfully, there appears to be good news on that front. Shootaround This was Layup Lines, For the Win's basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Bloomberg
11 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Fight Over Musk's Role in Shuttering USAID Is Kept Alive by Judge
A lawsuit accusing billionaire Elon Musk of unlawfully directing the closing of the US Agency for International Development can move ahead over the Trump administration's objections, a Maryland federal judge ruled. US District Judge Theodore Chuang on Wednesday rejected the Justice Department's request to toss out a lawsuit that alleges Musk exercised power within the US government that's reserved for Senate-confirmed officials. The judge also left intact a claim that the Department of Government Efficiency project spearheaded by Musk unlawfully took steps to dissolve an agency created by Congress.
New York Times
11 minutes ago
- New York Times
The Democrats Are in Danger. So Are the Republicans.
'Twenty years from now, will we be a country of Democrats and Republicans taking turns on who's in power?' Pete Buttigieg asked recently. 'I'm not so sure.' Speaking to Mosheh Oinounou, a podcaster and former CBS News producer, the conspicuous institutionalist casually blasted the country's institutions and proposed that, amid the wreckage, America's political future was not at all intuitive. 'We're past the point of just believing that there's some pendulum that comes back and forth,' Buttigieg went on. 'I think that both parties should examine the chances of their survival.' Americans love to decry the country's limited political menu, and talking up third-party challenges to the two-party system has been a cottage industry at least since Ross Perot. In a time of anti-establishment feeling, there's additional incentive to hype a crackup, even though structural forces make that chatter look perennially foolish. And I'm not predicting that America's two major parties are going to actually split up anytime soon. But peek across the Atlantic at the changing shape of our close-cousin democracy in Britain, and the possibilities seem, as Buttigieg suggests, open. It was just last summer that Keir Starmer and Labour won a smashing victory over Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives, bringing a striking end to more than a decade of Tory austerity rule and securing the second-largest parliamentary majority since World War II. But just over a year later, Starmer's net approval rating has fallen from plus 10 to minus 40. Labour as a whole has lost more support in its first 10 months in office than any other governing party in 40 years. Labour's Rachel Reeves, the chancellor of the Exchequer, broke into tears last month in Parliament, in a richly symbolic event for the British political media. Since resuming power, her party has struggled to deliver meaningful new policy or escape the widespread impression of nervous, triangulating centrism. To trust the polls, the strongest challenger is now not the Conservative Party, as tradition would suggest, but Reform — Nigel Farage's rebrand of the upstart Brexit party, a populist-nihilist meme factory very much in the MAGA mold. Reform won only five seats in Parliament last summer, but it has maintained a steady polling lead over Labour since April — and an even larger lead over the Tory coalition from which it mostly sprang. Through the summer, polls have suggested that in the event of a sudden election, Reform would win, indeed quite spectacularly: Estimates suggest a huge 200-seat margin, for a party that did not even exist at the time of the Brexit vote. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
