Kalispell-based nonprofit sees federal funds pulled, then restored

Yahoo

14-05-2025

May 13—Cassidy Kipp opened an email on March 6 to find out that federal dollars meant to help pay for renovating the Community Action Partnership of Northwest Montana's headquarters had abruptly been pulled.
The nonprofit, of which Kipp is the director of project development, connects individuals across Northwest Montana with community programs like heating and rental assistance. It was using the money on its new location at 1820 U.S. 93 S. in Kalispell, which also houses a recently launched subsidized child care program.
The email, which had come from an intermediary responsible for dolling out the dollars, said that "without warning and without consultation, all of the grants were pulled nationally." The money had been rescinded the week prior, according to the message.
Kipp immediately halted work on the new facility.
The Community Action Partnership relocated at the end of 2024 to a new building along U.S. 93. The organization was in the middle of pre-development planning to spruce up the new place when the funds were pulled.
"We had an engineer working, we had landscape architects going in," she said.
"Thankfully, we hadn't accrued a ton of expenses in that window of time, but we had to just terminate all efforts and pivot," she added.
The two grants funding the project came from the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 4 competitive grant program, which is intended to help nonprofits carry out community development activities. Each grant amounted to between $40,000 and $60,000, according to Kipp.
"We love those grants because they are capacity building grants," meaning they are meant to support the nonprofit's mission to provide services, Kipp said.
But more than a month later, Kipp arrived in her office on April 29 to find another email: The grants had been reinstated.
An official from the federal housing department told the Inter Lake that the grant program was halted for being out of compliance with President Donald Trump's spate of executive orders.
Kipp said that the specific order the program was in violation of was "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing," which Trump signed on Jan. 20.
The federal agency told the Inter Lake that organizations could appeal the Section 4 grant revocations on a case-by-case basis.
A national organization, Rural — Local Initiatives Support Corporation, which was responsible for distributing the grant funds, successfully appealed the cancellation, according to a post on the organization's website.
"For over 30 years, [the Rural-Local Initiatives Support Corporation] has been a trusted steward of the Section 4 program—helping nonprofits grow, stabilize, and deepen their impact," read the post.
Kipp said she is always looking for ways to make operations more efficient, but that the federal dollars funding building revitalization is not an example of wasteful spending or contributing to a woke agenda.
"All we were trying to do with this particular programming is align with what the city requirements are for our campus space and to make sure that we are being a good neighbor," Kipp said.
"We're talking about [eliminating] bunch grasses in the front yard, not about some woke agenda," she added.
THE LEARNING Tree Preschool is a new low-income child care facility that can host up to 24 kids and holds story times, group music and cooperative games. Stockman Bank helped build a playground on the property, which also houses the Community Action Partnership's headquarters, said Kipp.
The need for low-priced child care was identified in the nonprofit's annual community needs assessment.
"It's a barrier that pops up time and time again, where people are constantly having to have that juggle of covering child care expenses and getting work," Kipp said.
The Kalispell location is also home to a paid HVAC apprenticeship program. Participants conduct energy audits at homes and retrofit energy saving techniques like replacing windows, furnaces or woods stoves.
"We're training young people to get out in the field," Kipp said.
ALTHOUGH THE grants were restored, business is not as usual. Kipp said she remains on edge and will continue to be nimble with funding by finding ways to diversify revenue.
"I think that everybody anticipates that there are still more cuts to come," she said.
The nonprofit owns six different low-income apartment complexes, comprising of 152 units, most of which are dedicated toward seniors or individuals with a disabling condition, according to Kipp.
Heating assistance remains the most used program, according to the nonprofit's end-of-year statistics.
"What we found is that increasingly we are having more folks who are homeowners seeking help to alleviate things like heating burdens," she said.
Reporter Jack Underhill may be reached at 758-4407 and [e-mail].