a day ago
In Mississippi, one of the neediest states, Trump's federal funding cuts hit with extra heft
Then, in
March, EPA
terminated the grant
'on the grounds that the award no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities.'
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Holes puncture the stained glass windows of the chapel on Voice of Calvary Ministries' campus in Jackson, Miss. in July. A $20 million EPA grant was supposed to help renovate the century-old former school building before it was canceled by the Trump administration this spring.
Julian Sorapuru/Globe Staff
Mississippi, a stronghold of President Trump's political power that he won by more than 20 percentage points in 2024, is also one of the nation's
Dominika Parry, founder of the environmental justice nonprofit
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Parry is working without pay as a result of the cut and, months later, she remained baffled by it.
'How is this project wasteful in any way?' she asked.
2C Mississippi is
with more than 20 other nonprofits and municipalities that also lost grants.
Grant cancellations like the resilience hub have become common in Mississippi and across America since the Trump administration empowered the Department of Government Efficiency, under the early leadership of Elon Musk, to implement sweeping spending cuts and funding freezes that have touched almost every federal agency.
In a statement to The Boston Globe, a senior White House official said, 'The Trump administration is committed to ending the Green New Scam and restoring American energy dominance. We will no longer fund 'environmental justice' projects in any state.'
Debris from two powerful tornadoes in March was still visible in Walthall County, Miss., in July. FEMA aid to the area was slowed by President Trump's reticence to declare a national emergency.
Julian Sorapuru/Globe Staff
Mississippi receives
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves recently signed a law that would gradually
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But the potential of declining state revenue coupled with the loss of federal funds has Representative Bennie Thompson — the sole Democrat in Mississippi's congressional delegation — worried.
'One of the neediest states will become even needier,' he predicted. 'There's no cavalry to come to help after the federal government.'
So far, Republican state officials have largely supported Trump's policies, including the cuts. Mississippi's attorney general, like
her
counterparts in other GOP-controlled states, has
US Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, a Republican, is anticipating continued support for GOP spending cuts
among constituents in his deep red state.
'I really think the majority of citizens in Mississippi are satisfied that we've made judicious savings,' he told the Globe, promising federal dollars would still flow into the state via infrastructure funds and military manufacturing contracts.
It's Wicker's smiling face that graces a photo hanging on a wall at Community Students Learning Center in Lexington, a small town separated from Jackson by 63 miles of verdant farmland.
One of the senator's hands rests on the shoulder of Beulah Greer, executive director of the center. Wicker signed the photo years ago and inscribed
it with a message: 'To my friend Beulah Greer with best wishes.'
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Now, Greer is anxious about the future of her nonprofit, which for over two decades
has filled community needs big and small, doing
everything from helping residents pay expensive utility bills to offering mental health crisis training to local law enforcement
.
About 85 percent of her organization's budget currently comes from a Department of Justice program
None of their grants have yet been cut, but Greer said they were unable to re-apply for next year's funding cycle since DOJ paused solicitation for the grant for months starting in late January following Trump's inauguration.
The disappearance of Community Students Learning Center would have ripple effects in the 1,400-person
town where
Greer and her husband, Lester, are well known as problem solvers.
The organization has completed many successful projects backed by federal grants from agencies ranging from the Department of Education to the Department of Agriculture.
The Greers' nonprofit also built five homes in Lexington for purchase at a reduced price as part of a 2010 Department of Housing and Urban Development program for rural areas.
'I had been trying to find a house when somebody told me, 'Go see Beulah and Lester,'' said Lillie Williams, a Lexington resident. That was more than 10 years ago. These days, Williams sits out on her front porch with her nine dogs and enjoys the peaceful woods surrounding her home.
Lillie Williams sat on the front porch of her Lexington, Miss., home with two of her nine dogs in July. Williams bought the home over a decade ago from Community Students Learning Center as part of a HUD program selling single family homes in rural areas at a reduced cost.
Julian Sorapuru/Globe Staff
'The Bible says to whom much is given, much is required. And I believe what we do is what people ask us to do,' Greer said.
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It's a spirit Greer thinks is currently lacking in her leaders, including Wicker.
'He's working in the political forum, not on what's humanly right,' she
said. 'This is hurting his constituents. I feel like he needs to speak up about what's right in his heart.'
Greer hopes the Trump administration reconsiders its funding priorities.
'The resources are really squashing the people at the bottom, it's like you're getting mashed,' Greer said. A Trump administration official, she said, should 'come here and look how we're trying to survive, and then you might have a little more compassion.'
DOJ did not respond to a request for comment.
Mississippi state agencies have also felt the financial effects of federal pullback. The US Department of
'The COVID-19 pandemic is over and the American people have moved on,' the senior White House official told the Globe. 'It's time for the government to move on as well and stop wasting billions in taxpayer dollars.'
When the nonprofit lost federal funding through the Mississippi State Department of Health this spring, it was forced to shut down its clinic-on-wheels program that provided sexual health services to medically underserved communities across the state.
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The nonprofit also had to furlough or fire half its staff, according to chief executive June Gipson, due to uncertainty around various other federal grants, such as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funds that arrived late. They also had a 10-year, $12 million National Institutes of Health grant aimed at
Gipson said it was the first time she's had to reduce the organization's workforce since she started leading it more than a decade ago. Even though some of the nonprofit's federal funding remains untouched, Gipson is wary of what's to come. The Mississippi State Department of Health's budget is 66 percent federally funded.
'How do you move forward and trust the federal government at this point?' she asked.
Deja Abdul-Haqq, a program director at the nonprofit, who was furloughed until recently, believes 'the entire United States is going to turn into one big Mississippi, riddled with infectious and chronic disease' as a result of the federal government's shifting health funding priorities.
The My Brother's Keeper cuts hit close to home for DR, a Jackson resident who has lived with HIV for years and requested anonymity for fear of antigay stigma.
He learned he had contracted HIV when he got tested at a state-sponsored STI clinic, known as
which is operated by My Brother's Keeper.
It was there he met his doctor, Laura Beauchamps.
'She says, 'You now have AIDS.' And Lord knows that's the last thing I wanted to hear,' DR said, his eyes becoming misty. 'She was like, 'It's not the end. We're gonna get you on the medication that you need.''
In the end, DR said, Beauchamps 'was more positive than the virus' and helped save his life physically and emotionally. Today, DR's viral load is so low that it's undetectable and untransmittable.
The empathetic, compassionate care DR received at Open Arms is something he hopes other people with HIV get to experience in Mississippi, a state with
'Had it not been for Open Arms, Dr. Beauchamps, and all the other providers, who knows if we would be having this conversation," DR said. 'Or, if I were here, what would my quality of life be like? So, the cuts do not sit right with me.
'The safety net is gone,' he continued. 'If you jump off this ledge thinking that the bungee cord is gonna snap you back up, there is no cord.'
Julian E.J. Sorapuru can be reached at
