30-04-2025
DOGE cuts slash funding from Greensboro organization helping refugees, immigrants
GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — A Greensboro-based organization helping legal refugees obtain US citizenship has been hit by funding cuts at the federal level through the Department of Government Efficiency run by Elon Musk.
The New Arrivals Institute will have to dramatically scale back services after the six-digit cut to a Department of Homeland Security Grant.
The NAI and UNCG were the collaborative partners on a two-year, $300,000 Citizenship and Integration grant. It's one they were awarded three times. One single email ended that funding.
'It was a mass email that didn't even blind copy,' Executive Director of the NAI Leilani Roughton said. 'It was every agency across the country that has this service.'
NAI provides services to refugees and immigrants who legally come to the United States who are vetted by Homeland Security and medically screened.
'People, if they come here, are able to learn English, able to get jobs and really be contributing members of our community in Greensboro,' Roughton said.
They also help with financial literacy, parenting skills, child supervision, food, clothes and shoes.
'In addition to classes, we have case management, health access. We work with the refugee school impact program, getting kids into school,' she said.
Data from last year's NAI annual report shows Greensboro receives people from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria, Sudan and a significant number of Afghans who served with the US military.
'I really enjoyed welcoming them because they supported us, and I feel like we really need to support them in return,' Roughton said.
The loss of $$300,000 in federal grant funding will force NAI to cut back on classes.
'It's got us kind of scrambling a little bit to find other sources of funding and hoping there aren't further cuts coming,' Lead Citizenship Instructor Juliette Biemiller said.
Biemiller says the cuts hurt students the most because they can further delay their goal of citizenship.
'I rarely meet anybody who loves America more than my students who are trying to become American citizens,' Biemiller said.
According to their annual report, NAI receives the bulk of its funding from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services for refugee support services, but the fear is that since that money comes from the Federal Refugee Resettlement Center, there could be more cuts in the future.
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