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Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Anti-trans bills and executive orders are reshaping campus life in Arizona
Pride flags wave on the building of a Community Church of Hope on 7th Avenue in Phoenix's Melrose District on March 3, 2025. The Melrose District is a very popular area for members of the LGBTQ+ community, with several businesses and bars that proudly offer a place for community. Photo by Brian Petersheim Jr. | Cronkite News Lawmakers across the country are introducing anti-trans bills at increasing rates, with the number spiking more than 28 times higher, from 30 in 2018 to 859 bills this year. These bills often make accessing health care and, some argue, the right to exist publicly difficult by creating legal red tape, which exacerbates mental and emotional distress. Some members of queer communities report feeling more vulnerable to discrimination in public, at schools, in workplaces and within health care systems. Currently, the Arizona Legislature is considering 11 anti-trans bills, in addition to two that have been vetoed. They would impact education, birth certificates, employment, health care and more. In March, the Arizona Senate passed Senate Bill 1002 in its third reading. It's now also passed through the House. For students under 18, written parental consent would be required for school district employees or independent contractors to call students by names that differ from the ones on their government-issued documents. They are also prohibited from using pronouns that don't match the person's biological sex. At a Senate meeting on Feb. 20, Sen. John Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills), who sponsored SB1002 and other bills like it, defended his vote, saying, 'This bill was very simply about parents' rights to direct the health care of their child.' He cited gender dysphoria treatment as a reason for needing parental consent. 'Some of these children that are transgendered may suffer from a psychological condition called gender dysphoria, which causes depression and, in some students, suicidal thoughts,' Kavanagh said. 'These students may be under treatment for this condition, which their parents arrange, and their health care provider may have said not to entertain the different pronouns. It would be dangerous and bad for your child.' According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA), treatment plans for people with gender dysphoria include judgment-free therapy with supported exploration of the person's experiences and feelings of gender identity and expression. The APA states that attempts to force a transgender person to be cisgender, such as conversion therapy, 'are considered unethical and have been linked to adverse mental health outcomes.' Democratic senators spoke out against SB1002 during the meeting. 'There's no other way to look at this. It was a law that was intended for trans people to be bullied,' Sen. Mitzi Epstein (D-Tempe) said. Epstein reflected on her childhood experience and said she is thankful her parents didn't need to write a note justifying her desire to be called Mitzi instead of her birth name, Denise. 'By the time I was in high school, I think I was old enough to know what name I wanted to be called,' Epstein said. 'So this is a horrible travesty of freedom. I really dislike this bill. It hits me personally, and I vote no.' Along with state and national bills, executive orders from President Donald Trump are affecting queer communities. One of them, titled Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness, was blocked by federal Judge Ana C. Reyes. She called the order 'animus,' meaning intentionally discriminatory against transgender people in the military and having no legal basis. The executive orders also hit DEI, pressuring universities and other academic institutions to change their resources to comply with Trump's Jan. 20 executive order requiring government agencies to terminate all DEI 'actions, initiatives, or programs' or face federal funding cuts. Despite rallying club support and institutional efforts, many in the queer community at colleges and universities say they are scared and need validation that they are allowed to take up space. On March 5, several Arizona State University social media accounts' posts announced the university's systematic removal of LGBTQIA+ mentions from their pages. A search for trans-specific resources on the ASU website redirects to the Student Connection and Community page, with no mention of LGBTQ+ resources or clubs. Access to Displayname Changes and other resources have been consolidated into a drop-down menu on the Rainbow Coalition (RainCo) at the bottom of the page under Campus Resources. At the end of April, five Instagram accounts affiliated with the university reported that ASU's Global Education resource page had removed the T in LGBT. The page has a variety of guiding questions for queer students to consider when studying abroad. The reflection and research questions, along with things to keep in mind, are designed with students' safety and comfort as they travel in mind. The State Press later reported the letters were removed without the university's permission and have been restored throughout the page to include the T in every mention of LGBTQIA. Antonio Duran, the president of the, LGBTQ+ Faculty/Staff Association, acknowledged the negative ramifications of changes due to executive actions. 'We are seeing that an increasing amount of institutions are pulling their services specifically for trans and queer communities,' Duran said. 'Whether that's the closing of centers or the shutting down of staff positions that are specifically tasked with serving trans and queer communities.' Cronkite News reached out to LGBTQIA+ students on campus and got no response. Duran said this is because students are feeling unsafe and vulnerable. Duran said resources and facilities are still available to queer students and staff are doing their best. However, he said student organizations are better equipped to support one another as institutions comply with federal and state laws. 'Because many of the people who are in the staff positions are at-will employees, and they don't have a strong sense of job security,' Duran said. 'If they are told not to put on a specific event and they try to move forward with that, they do have the potential of losing their jobs. Student groups are frequently allowed a little bit more freedom in being able to put on events, and we're seeing this at ASU, where I think students are starting to step up and try to mobilize.' Alyssa-Leigh Alcantara, an ASU student and Planned Parenthood Generation Action officer, echoed the sentiment: 'We've lost the school's support, but we're gaining more support from clubs. … People are fighting back way harder, but you can just tell it has a really sad undertone.' Alcantara said the student queer community has worked overtime to support one another by hosting club meetings and private events to share information and resources safely. ASU students participate in about 65 LGBTQ+ affiliated clubs, covering a wide range of interests and experiences, from Greek life and performance groups to lawyers and drag communities. Qmunity, an ASU LGBTQ+ social club, hosts regular events that include movie and game nights, dances, professional workshops and drag shows. An ASU student who attended the Astral Allure: Qmunity Drag Dinner on April 9 and whose identity Cronkite News agreed to withhold to protect their association within queer clubs said, 'It's a space for queer people to just exist and be queer and not have to feel queer about it to finally be normal and queer at the same time. There are so many other spaces for all different types of people.' 'Right now, I know a lot of queer students on campus are feeling really, really disenfranchised and really not taken care of,' said another queer ASU student. Cronkite News agreed to withhold the student's identity. Alcantara noted that the increase in hostility has exacerbated anxieties and made the campus feel less safe. 'It's microaggressions. They are really small things, where on their own it doesn't feel like that big of a deal, but in the grand scheme of it, it does feel like a big deal,' Alcantara said. 'I go out with my queer friends, and I get text later, like, 'Hey, do you think what we did at XYZ location was OK?' And I was like, we sat down and did nothing. We are fine.' Topics like sharing locations, setting aside funding and packing a go-bag are commonly discussed in the queer community. While being prepared is important, Alcantara acknowledged that many, particularly trans and non-binary individuals, feel worn down by the bombardment of coverage, from social media to family and club facilitators. 'A lot of the conversation is like, 'Hey, I saw this. I don't really want to talk. I don't know what to do. I'm going to go shut off for a little bit,'' Alcantara said. Despite the fear, frustration and anxiety, she stresses the importance of learning from the past and being inspired by the resilience of queer movements. 'I feel like with everything that's been happening, it's easy to forget how much queer people have persevered,' Alcantara said. 'Learn your history, attend a few events, and watch a video on Marsha P. Johnson.' The Trevor Project's LGBTQIA+ Youth Specialized Services branch of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline faces uncertainty after a leaked Trump administration budget draft proposed cutting all funding for the hotline, as the Washington Post first reported. The Trevor Project, the leading queer suicide prevention organization, estimates that more than 1.8 million LGBTQ youths ages13-24 seriously consider suicide each year in the United States. On April 22, more than 400 officials from educational institutions signed a letter to the Trump administration denouncing 'unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education.' ASU did not sign the letter, nor did any of Arizona's other public universities. If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available 24/7. Call or text 988. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Axon wins legislative battle to scrap Scottsdale vote on controversial headquarter project
Photo by Bayne Froney | Cronkite News With a single signature, Gov. Katie Hobbs could give law enforcement technology company Axon a carve-out in state law that would let it avoid voter review of its planned massive headquarters and housing project in north Scottsdale. Axon came to the Capitol aiming to bar voters in every city and town in Arizona from being able to challenge zoning and development decisions, but settled instead for merely stripping away the right of Scottsdale voters to challenge the police weapons manufacturer's HQ project near Hayden Road and the Loop 101. With Axon pledging to leave the state if the election was allowed to stand — Scottsdale voters are notoriously anti-development — their bill earned support from a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers who feared the firm would depart. The Scottsdale City Council and every legislator from the city vociferously opposed the bill, and there are concerns the measure is unconstitutional, but the state Senate gave final approval to Senate Bill 1543 on April 15, and it now awaits a decision from Hobbs. The Arizona Constitution gives residents the right to refer matters to the ballot. Local activists, backed by a signature-gathering effort linked to a California labor union, gathered more than 25,000 signatures to send the rezoning decision made by a lame-duck city council — the votes for the project came from councilors who had been voted out of office — to the ballot in a voter referendum, which must happen by November 2026. The measure that lawmakers advanced to Gov. Katie Hobbs' desk would cancel that election. It says that any municipality with between 200,000 and 500,000 residents — Scottsdale had 241,000 residents in the 2020 census — must 'allow hotel use and multifamily residential housing' for land zoned like the Axon parcel 'without requiring any type of application that will require a public hearing' if certain criteria is met. Hobbs seems likely to sign the bill. 'Governor Hobbs is committed to keeping and bringing in businesses that create jobs and boost our economy,' Hobbs spokesman Christian Slater said in a statement to the Arizona Mirror. 'We are closely watching SB 1543 and are actively working with stakeholders and legislators to ensure the best outcomes for all Arizonans.' Slater did not respond to questions about whether the governor believes legislation benefiting Axon outweighs the constitutional rights of Scottsdale voters. A representative for Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said they had 'no comment' on the legislation, and responded to follow-up questions by 'pointing out' recent awards the office had won for election administration. Scottsdale City Councilman Barry Graham said that he and other city councilors have requested meetings with Hobbs and have sent her a 'veto request letter' signed by the full city council. 'All options are on the table to protect Scottsdale residents from dangerous legislation that threatens their constitutional rights and freedom to locally zone and plan their community,' Graham said in an email to the Arizona Mirror. 'This legislation is not just about one city. It is about preserving the rights of all Arizona communities to govern themselves in ways that reflect their unique identities and aspirations,' the letter sent to Hobbs and shared with the Mirror said. 'Scottsdale's residents deserve to have a meaningful voice in shaping the future of their city — not to have that voice silenced by sweeping state legislation.' The city in a press release Wednesday is also urging Scottsdale residents to contact the Governor's Office about the legislation, calling it a 'serious threat to local democracy.' 'It could be and very likely is a violation of what is called the 'special law provision' of the Arizona Constitution,' constitutional law attorney Paul Eckstein told the Mirror. The special law provision of the Arizona constitution prohibits laws from being enacted that impact certain things including 'granting to any corporation, association, or individual, any special or exclusive privileges, immunities, or franchises.' However, Eckstein said that the bill could be 'elastic' enough that it may not be in violation. Ultimately, he said, it will take a legal challenge to determine whether the legislation is constitutional. 'It is a shame, I would say, that we would sell our souls and make a Faustian bargain with a company at the expense of probably the premiere provision in the Arizona Constitution. We wouldn't have a constitution, we wouldn't be a state, if the right to referendum hadn't been included as a broad right in our state,' Eckstein said. In 1910, Arizona voters ratified what would become the state's constitution, including in it the right to referendum. In 1912, the year Arizona became a state, voters used that right to approve the first ballot initiative, which gave women the right to vote. Senators opposing SB1543 brought up similar concerns when voting on the legislation. 'This is voter suppression on steroids,' Sen. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said. 'This bill also appears to be special legislation, which violates the Arizona Constitution.' Kavanagh, whose district includes much of Scottsdale, also criticized the declaration in the bill that catering to Axon is a matter of 'statewide concern.' 'Could anyone explain to me why a bill that only affects four cities is a matter of statewide concern? Is there something special I don't see?' Kavanah said while explaining his no vote. For supporters of the bill, keeping Axon in Arizona was more important than disenfranchising voters in Scottsdale. 'At the end of the day, we have a homegrown business that was established here, that became worldwide, and we have other states that are looking to take them,' said Sen. David Gowan, R-Sierra Vista, who sponsored the earlier failed Axon legislation. Some Democratic members said their support came down to 'affordable housing' — Axon says it will build 1,900 apartments, with one-third of them reserved for company employees and law enforcement — and pushing back against 'NIMBY' culture in Scottsdale. But that rationale fell short for Sen. Lauren Kuby, D-Tempe, who urged her colleagues that the 'affordable housing' was not enough to disenfranchise voters. 'Lets make no mistake about this: This is special interest legislation that undermines the will of the voters,' Kuby said. 'It's not about apartments, it is not about how we grow our cities, it is about the will of the voters and how we can take away the express will of the voters.' Axon celebrated the passage of the legislation, and in a press release thanked the bill's supporters and the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the state's largest business advocacy group and a major contributor to political campaigns across the political spectrum. 'It helps ensure that Arizona remains competitive for valuable economic development opportunities,' Axon's statement read. 'And this legislation brings real solutions to the state's housing supply crisis, creating more places to live in the Valley at a time when affordability and availability are out of reach for too many Arizonans.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Science and health program for Native American youth to shut down in Northern Arizona
Cheyla Daverman Cronkite News PHOENIX – Lab coats hung on hooks and cabinets gave way to tall ceilings above typical blacktopped science tables. The windows framed Flagstaff's canopy of trees and mountains in the distance. The room was cluttered with expensive scientific equipment, pipettes and an abundance of gloves. Instead of food, the freezer contained cell cultures and isolated DNA samples. It smelled clean and had everything needed for a fully functional lab. Amber Kelly, a lab student worker at Northern Arizona University who is Navajo, was born in Tuba City and raised in Flagstaff. She's always been interested in science but many careers in STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and Medicine) require lab or research experience, so when she saw a flier offering a paid internship through the Cultural and Academic Research Experience (CARE) at Northern Arizona University, she jumped at the chance to get involved. 'I think it's mainly cancer that made me push to public health because most people don't even know that Native Americans are more prone to cancerous diseases,' Kelly said. Kelly studied the health impacts and the legacy of contamination from more than 500 abandoned uranium mines on the Navajo Nation. 'There's a particular hotspot, like 40 minutes away from Flagstaff, in the small town called Cameron,' Kelly said. She has family living near Cameron, one of the places with higher health risks due to radiation exposure and contaminated water, dirt and livestock. Although CARE worked mainly with Indigenous students hoping to increase the number of Native Americans in STEMM, the program welcomed everyone. After President Donald Trump issued several executive orders banning diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), CARE has scaled back significantly and is in danger of shutting down. Trump's directives, calling DEI programs 'illegal' and 'immoral,' were hitting the Indigenous health communities hard. 'At least initially, they laid off 800 Indian Health Service employees (nationally), impacting all across the country,' said Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes during the Rural Health Forum held in Phoenix on Feb. 18. The National Council of Urban Indian Health issued a press release deeming 'federal layoffs targeting essential tribal programs … catastrophic for Indian Country.' 'DEI requires context,' said Tempe Chief Diversity Officer Velicia McMillan Humes. 'You have to understand that this is addressing a greater, longer, pervasive issue.' Diversity training began with affirmative action after President John F. Kennedy signed an executive order in 1961 that required federal contractors to create equal employment for all. 'You have to learn how to create strategies to engage individuals who don't feel safe or comfortable or don't feel like they'll be heard,' Humes said. 'But the first thing we need to do is recognize that we have played a role in that inequity.' The Civil Rights Act of 1964 created the base for much of today's nondiscriminatory legislation. It made all discrimination on the grounds of race, color or national origin illegal for any program that received federal funding. 'I feel like that term is being criminalized because DEIA (diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility) really includes everyone,' said Dr. Naomi Lee, who is Seneca, and spearheads CARE as the program director. 'For my program, while we had a majority of Native students, it wasn't strictly Native. You know, we had all racial and ethnic backgrounds and needs.' In the summer of 2024, 61 percent of the students identified as American Indian or Alaska Native, and 57 percent identified as first-generation college students. CARE also provided a virtual option for out-of-state students. After successful completion, seniors are admitted into the Honors College at NAU with fees waived. According to the program's proposal, CARE received nearly 70 applications last year, accepting approximately 30 percent. CARE spent around $400,000 annually on training, housing, student stipends, staff and supplies for roughly two dozen in-person students. The funding also covered trips to a national conference for eight students annually to present research they completed over the summer. In 2022, Kelly went to her first conference. 'I was feeling so much anxiety. I was so scared because it was my first time presenting in front of judges and new people,' Kelly said. That year, Kelly won an honorable mention and a computer as a prize for her presentation at the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) fall conference. The program wove students' professional identities with their cultural heritage. Tribal elders visited to share stories and traditions. Instructors encouraged them to speak their languages, wear traditional clothing and connect personally. CARE also highlighted Indigenous practices and voices through a book club. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), which funds almost all medical research in the country, provided roughly one-fifth of CARE's funding. Lee was looking to renew the two-year contract with NIH, but on Jan. 22 she received an email from the Contracts Management Branch of NIH stating, 'All DEIA-focused contract actions are to be terminated effective immediately.' 'The current contract had about $25,000 left on it, and then we were supposed to get another $125,000 in May,' Lee said. 'So it's about $150,000 that was terminated from this executive order.' This funding loss immediately barred at least 20 students from entering the program. The NIH spent more than $35 billion in the fiscal year 2023 on almost 50,000 grants nationally, supporting medical schools and research institutions. Of this funding, approximately $26 billion went to cover direct costs for research, such as program staff salaries, travel expenses, materials and consultants. In early February, the NIH announced a significant reduction of overhead costs to a maximum of 15 percent, which funds things like facilities and equipment. A total of 113 students have gone through CARE since its founding in 2019. The 2025 program planned to accept 30 in-person and 20 online students and hoped to expand the latter to 25. COVID-19 created a need for a virtual program and cost an additional $100,000. 'Right now we only have sustainable funding for in-person,' said Dr. Joslynn Lee, CARE co-director who is Navajo, Laguna and Acoma Pueblo. 'All of our online and non-summer activities have been canceled at this time.' Kelly completed her third year in the program in 2024. She is pursuing a public health degree with a minor in applied Indigenous studies at NAU. Kelly keeps her hair long, hanging past her lower back. Her ribbon skirt, a rainbow of bright florals, was tied at her waist with a sash belt. Her moccasins and traditional jewelry adorned her. She was ready to attend her final CARE celebration. 'My parents always taught me that you should never cut your hair because it is cutting off your wisdom,' said Kelly. Her wisdom was on display at the end of the program celebration where instructors, mentors, students and their extended families gathered for the occasion. 'One student has 10 people coming,' Joslynn Lee said. 'We had kids there and elderly folks came. (Parents) were so thankful that their kids had an opportunity like this. It was just exciting to see them say that. We want them to know that they matter.' It was crowded and loud and looked like a science fair, with students standing in front of their posters waiting to present their final research from the summer. 'It's heartbreaking honestly, knowing that future people that I've told to sign up for CARE, or the people that already are looking forward to it, won't have it anymore,' Kelly said. Naomi Lee said she is looking into alternative financing sources, even if that means serving fewer students, 'which is sad, but at least we're still doing something. If our other non-federal funding agencies don't allow us to change our plans, we have to cancel the program.'
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Change Labs offers Navajo entrepreneurs tools for business success
Anna Ehrick Cronkite News What started in 2013 as a once-a-year event to help Native American small business owners has grown into a launchpad for Navajo entrepreneurs. Based in Tuba City, the nonprofit Change Labs offers a modern workspace, classes in business strategies, coaching and financing for Native entrepreneurs with a business idea. The program allows them to set up and grow their companies and in turn help their communities. Heather Fleming, co-founder and executive director of Change Labs, had a 20-year career as a product design consultant in Silicon Valley. She eventually started her own business in San Francisco, where she worked in the international development community with social entrepreneurs, mostly in East Africa and India. Through a mutual friend she met Jessica Stago, who at the time was trying to develop an incubator for Navajo businesses. The women, both Diné, conceived of Change Labs as an event for Native entrepreneurs. 'Our first event was in Shiprock in 2013 at the Diné College Library. We didn't really expect anybody to come, but we had sold out our tiny little auditorium that holds about 80 people,' Fleming said. 'It was good for us to see there were enough people interested in building a business community and saw the potential role entrepreneurs play in our own Native economies.' For five years, Fleming and Stago hosted events like the first one in Shiprock, before realizing that their target market needed more help than once a year. 'There is a need for a presence in our communities 365 days out of the year where people can access these conversations, resources, knowledge and tools,' Fleming said. When it came to developing brick-and-mortar infrastructure for Change Labs, Fleming and her colleagues decided to settle in Tuba City, the most populous community on the Navajo Nation. Although the plan took two years longer than they anticipated due to factors like cost increases during COVID-19, the organization has settled into a 1,400-square-foot work and event hub. The Tuba City 'E-ship' offers work space where business owners can connect to Wi-Fi, use resources like a color printer, Cricut machine and other tools to develop a marketing plan. Entrepreneurs also can book coaching appointments with the Change Lab team. So far, 69 owners have graduated from its business incubator and 961 entrepreneurs have visited the E-ship hub. Nearly 300 people attended coaching sessions and 470 participated in workshops in 2024. Change Lab has funded 76 businesses and offered $441,444 in business loans. Today, Native entrepreneurs like Daniel Tullie and Vanessa Tullie say they are grateful to have completed the business incubator program at Change Labs. Each of the siblings own their own business. Daniel Tullie owns Jinjeeh Coffee and said he fell in love with coffee more than 10 years ago when he worked at Cartel Roasting in Phoenix. Since then, he's started his own coffee business, running coffee pop-ups exclusively on the reservation. His relationship with Change Labs started when he worked as a designer for the organization, but he didn't get involved as a business owner until later, when one of the coaches from Change Labs, Tim Deel, approached him at a flea market in Tuba City. 'The way I got involved with Change Labs was being a designer and not really keeping up with what they did,' he said. 'Now, getting involved as a business owner, it's really cool to see two different sides of the way they run things.' As a client of Change Labs, he joined the Kinship Lending Program which focuses on building good financial foundations. With the help of the program, he was able to buy an espresso machine, roaster and other equipment for his business. As a graduate, Tullie credits Change Labs for giving him the tools to build a business plan now and into the future. 'You get what you put into the program,' he said. 'You can just go through the motions of being a participant, but the only way you are going to succeed is if you really put the time into doing what they ask you to.' Vanessa Tullie, owner of Ahehee' Shidine'e Homecare, also attributes much of her success to Change Labs. Owning and operating a home care business for the past six years without a college degree, she recognized there were business steps she was not aware of and was uncertain how to expand her company. 'I never had this guidance before. It was really great to have access to folks that specialize in these fields and professionals that know and have worked with other businesses and entrepreneurs,' she said. It helped that the services were free. 'That's what I appreciated the most. All the funders that help with programs like Change Labs, I'm very grateful for them,' she said. After working with the nonprofit, her company has won the Phoenix Indian Center's Business of the Year for the American Indian Excellence in Leadership Award in 2024. Change Labs receives funding from a variety of places, including Wells Fargo Bank's Invest Native Initiative, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, Native Voices Rising and the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco.
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Arizona's public health feels the weight of federal orders
Protesters gather at the Arizona Capitol on March 4, 2025, in opposition of recent executive orders targeted at the LGBTQ+ community, among other actions related to immigration and U.S. involvement in the Ukraine War. Photo by Brian Petersheim Jr. | Cronkite News In Arizona – home to roughly 34,000 federal employees – President Donald Trump's orders can impact a massive workforce of health care professionals and the individuals who rely on their services. Health care in the United States is a market commodity rather than the right of citizenship, available to those willing to pay. This model leaves others only with the basic package, historically creating worse health outcomes for people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, immigrants, people of lower socioeconomic status and those living in rural communities. Public health depends on government regulation and support. It is about improving the quality of life of the population as a whole, focusing on minimizing gaps in health outcomes. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX On his first day in office, Trump signed orders terminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs across the federal government. A wave of other directives followed, freezing funds for medical research and eliminating gender-affirming hormonal therapy, vaccine requirements and jobs in the public health sector. The new anti-DEI directives prohibit specific words – such as socioeconomic, ethnicity, systemic, women, trauma, Black, Hispanic and disability – in grant applications for federal money. According to Rachel Gur-Arie, an assistant professor at Arizona State University's Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation, the directive slowed the application process and research. 'I might have to change the title of my proposal. I might have to change how I frame the whole proposal,' Gur-Arie said. 'It's like not being able to call a pineapple a pineapple. You call it a fruit that's yellow with a thorny top.' The linguistic censorship will take researchers away from community engagement, Gur-Arie added, 'because researchers are going to have to constantly make sure they're translating the needs of the community into a language that is acceptable under this new kind of paradigm.' Spokespeople from the Arizona Department of Health Services and the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS), the state's Medicaid program, declined to comment on the actions targeting DEI. 'If you stand your ground around the federal government right now, I'd say watch your back,' said James G. Hodge, a professor at ASU's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, while addressing the Rural Health Forum in Phoenix last month. Trump dedicated his first weeks in office to funding freezes, firings and buyouts. None of these directives offers a roadmap for the process or elaborates on when it might end. 'It's very difficult to understand the impact of an order that is so non-specific and so broad that it encompasses virtually every federal grant that has ever been issued,' said Zaida Dedolph Piecoro, health policy advisor at Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs' office, during the forum. While some sectors, such as the military and immigration enforcement, appear to be exempt from workforce reductions, public health workers are facing firings that lack precision. In one case, employees managing the country's bird flu response were fired, then reinstated shortly after. 'The answer right now is that we really need to wait for the courts to sort through some things … because there's just so much uncertainty,' Dedolph Piecoro said. Some organizations that work with underserved communities and rely on multiple funding sources encourage everyone to prepare for the worst. 'We've been here before,' said Shomari Jackson, director of systems change at the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) in Phoenix. Jackson works with underserved communities in the north Valley ranging from those with disabilities to older adults. 'The pendulum always swings in favor and then swings away. It seems like it's swinging a lot faster and harder this time, but the YWCA's mission doesn't change.' The state's political leaders responded in mixed ways. Democratic lawmakers are pushing back against the cuts, raising concerns about their long-term impact on public services. Attorney General Kris Mayes is a part of a multistate coalition that has filed a second motion against the Trump administration over its federal funding freeze. Despite multiple court orders, hundreds of millions of dollars in grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) remain blocked. 'The Trump administration is blatantly ignoring court orders and continuing to withhold critical FEMA funds that states rely on,' Mayes said in a press release. 'This is illegal, dangerous, and puts lives at risk.' Many Republicans support the reductions, and Arizona's GOP members in Congress favor the changes. Trump proposed tax cuts and signed an order to 'reduce the scope of the federal bureaucracy,' which included requiring the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to terminate the Health Equity Advisory Committee. 'We have over 2 million Arizonans who are on AHCCCS,' said Beth Kohler, the CEO of the Arizona Association of Health Plans, in an interview to The Arizona Republic's political podcast The Gaggle. 'It's a $22 billion program.' Arizona, a Medicaid expansion state, could lose significant funding due to federal budget reductions. 'We heard that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services plan to cut the navigator budget from $98 million to $10 million,' said Daniel Derksen, director for the Arizona Center for Rural Health, during the forum. 'That means that there'll be fewer people available to help people with eligibility and enrollment, both for Medicaid but alsoand other marketplace plans.' Derksen said he is very anxious about the Affordable Care Act expiring in December and the talks of the potential cuts to the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP), a formula that decides how much the federal government reimburses each state for Medicaid expenditures relative to the average per capita income. By law, FMAP cannot go below 50% and is almost 65% in Arizona. 'The state cannot absorb any federal cost shifts for Medicaid. It is extremely difficult in the state of Arizona to increase revenue,' Dedolph Piecoro said. 'I believe now it takes a 60% threshold at the ballot to do anything that will increase revenue or, you know, act of God, I'm not sure.' According to Dedolph Piecoro, it would be 'virtually impossible' to backfill the federal funding portion of Medicaid. According to Derksen, '500,000 Arizonans (could lose) their Medicaid coverage if those proposed cuts go through. Between the Affordable Care Act cuts and the Medicaid cuts, we can double the number of uninsured, which I estimate right now at 750,000. … To me as a family physician, (it) is unconscionably high.' On Feb. 10, Arizona families who rely on gender-affirming care received an email from the largest provider of gender-supporting services in the state, Phoenix Children's Hospital, announcing it is 'indefinitely pausing gender-affirming medical care, specifically puberty-blocking and gender-affirming hormonal therapy.' The decision to halt the services was a direct response to the Jan. 28 directive titled 'Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation.' The executive order prohibits gender-affirming care for people under the age of 19, yet according to Tami Staas, a mother of a transgender son and the executive director of the Arizona Trans Youth and Parent Organization (AZTYPO), adults are affected as well. 'I heard from a family of ours that their 20-year-old child, who was a patient at the Phoenix Children's Hospital, was told at their last appointment they have to be stepped off their hormones,' Staas said. 'What we're seeing is preemptive compliance without an executive order at this point.' Cronkite News spoke to a representative at Phoenix Children's but could not independently confirm whether the hospital served and subsequently stopped serving adults as well. 'Phoenix Children's is bound by all federal laws and regulations for the provision of care to its patients. For this reason, Phoenix Children's is indefinitely pausing hormone therapy services within the Gender Clinic to ensure we are in full compliance with the recent executive order,' the hospital said in a statement sent to Cronkite News. Staas, whose organization provides families of transgender children and youths up to 24 years old with peer support and helps parents cover costs for things such as name changes, saw the immediate effect of this decision. 'They were terrified for their kids,' Staas said. 'I talked to one family. Their child was on blockers and they had an appointment that week. Their appointment was canceled and they didn't know what they were going to do.' Puberty blockers do not cause permanent changes. Stopping treatment allows the body to resume puberty based on the gender assigned at birth and can result in breast development or facial hair growth that can exacerbate dysphoria, according to Staas: 'They would become extremely suicidal and the fear of losing your child, that's what they're dealing with.' One San Tan Valley mother, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation, remembers her 18-year-old transgender daughter was 'thriving' just months ago. The daughter, who started counseling at a young age and eventually started hormonal therapy at the age of 16, had found a good balance of estrogen and progesterone supplements for her. 'She looks amazing, she's thriving. She feels like herself now,' the mother said, referring to her daughter before the order. 'Her mental health is definitely stabilized. She's had three years now of no self-harming, no suicidal attempts, no suicidal thoughts and stuff … and then this blow … I'm scared, she feels targeted. She's terrified.' The family is considering moving back to California or leaving the country: 'I have no problem taking her wherever it'll be safe.' Prisma Community Care in downtown Phoenix announced Feb. 14 that it stopped providing gender-affirming hormone therapy to anyone under the age of 19. But it lifted its suspension only two days later. Staas said she already saw families establishing care elsewhere: 'People looking to international care. Not only Mexico but Europe and other places. We have families who've established care with LA Children's, and what LA Children's does is they require a visit once a year in person, and then they'll do once a month telemed.' However, California hospitals are also caught in a legal tug-of-war, discontinuing and restarting targeted services as Trump pushes new rules on hospitals while courts continue to block them. Children's Hospital Los Angeles, which initially paused hormone therapy services, lifted the restrictions after a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump's order on Feb. 13. The administration's attempts to ban gender-affirming care are not the only ones affecting the health of young Arizonans. Schools and universities requiring COVID-19 vaccines for in-person attendance can lose federal money under a Feb. 15 order mandating institutions develop a plan to end restrictions. 'Schools aren't really requiring that right now, but if you attempt it on COVID-19 vaccines, the executive order says, 'oh, well, we'll start stripping all of your Department of Education funds quickly,' Hodge, the law professor, said. Hodge urged health professionals not to hide under a rock for the next four years but to look for other ways to meet health care goals. 'Get innovative, figure out how to accomplish public health objectives without necessarily running up against an administration,' he said. 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