‘Difficult decision': USAID funding freeze leads to half of Boston health firm staff to be laid off
In what the company is describing as a 'difficult decision', John Snow Inc. (JSI), a Boston public health firm has announced that they will be laying off nearly half of their staff.
This comes weeks after President Trump signed an executive order, freezing U.S. foreign aid. According to President Trump, 'foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values' and 'serve to destabilize world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries.'
Boston 25 reached out to the company. JSI, which is a nonprofit health firm, aims to address global health issues, by '[Providing] a broad range of services to the public and private health sectors to enable people to live to their full health potential.'
JSI relies on the USAID's foreign assistance, accounting for 63% of its annual funding.
In a statement by JSI, they announced that they've 'made the difficult decision to lay off nearly 50% (approximately 1100) of our dedicated and talented staff members across our U.S. and international programs.'
'At the same time, we remain resolute in our commitment to our partnerships and programs to improve lives through better health and education outcomes,' The company wrote on its website. 'JSI's programs will continue to be fully resourced with our robust technical expertise, leveraging our resilient community relationships and JSI's decades of global respect.
According to the Boston Globe, other New England-based companies are also facing issues from the funding freeze.
'A Vermont consulting firm let go 76 employees last week, with more than $3 million in unpaid invoices for expenses accrued under federal contracts. And a Providence, R.I. company has reported canceled orders for its products, and medical supplies for women and newborns.'
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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