Latest news with #federalfunding
News.com.au
15 hours ago
- Politics
- News.com.au
Labor's childcare bill to give children safety standards they ‘deserve', education minister says
Labor is proposing changes to cut federal funding for childcare providers that 'aren't up to scratch' after horrific allegations of sexual abuse at a centre in Melbourne. Earlier this month, Victoria Police revealed Joshua Dale Brown, 26, had been charged with more than 70 offences, including sexual activity in the presence of a child under 16 and possession of child abuse material. He was a worker at Creative Garden Early Learning Centre in Point Cook and had a working with children check. The alleged abuse sparked national outrage, forcing Labor to act on royal commission recommendations made under the former Coalition government. Education Minister Jason Clare said on Wednesday the legislation aimed to bring about the 'standards that parents need and that our children deserve' by giving the Commonwealth powers 'to cut access to the childcare subsidy for centres that aren't up to scratch'. 'I think the whole country has been sickened and shocked by the (allegations) that have come out of Victoria in the last few weeks, and a lot of work is needed to rebuild trust in a system that parents rely upon every single day,' Mr Clare told reporters. 'The biggest weapon that the Commonwealth has to wield here is the funding that we provide that enables childcare centres to operate – it's something like $16bn a year, and that covers about 70 per cent of the cost of running the average childcare centre. 'Childcare centres can't operate without it and I think it's fair.' He went on to say 'most mums and dads will think it's fair that if centres are repeatedly not meeting the sort of standards that we set for them that we should have the power to be able to cut that funding off'. 'This is not about shutting centres down, it's about lifting standards up and giving us the powers to make that happen,' Mr Clare said. Mr Clare will introduce the bill into the House of Represenatives, where Labor commands a massive 94-seat majority. It is also unlikely to meet resistance in the Senate, with Coalition saying it is willing to work with the government on strengthening childcare safety. Speaking to Sky News, Opposition Leader Sussan Ley welcomed the quick action. 'I'm pleased with the government's efforts around childcare, because it's too important to get that wrong,' she said. 'And I have said, we want to be above politics in the interests of parents and families who have just been horrified at these stories.' Last week, Attorney-General Michelle Rowland also vowed action on a national Working With Children check system. This is something we are actively doing now,' she told Sky News on Sunday. 'I've been in direct contact with my counterparts … engaging with them about the need to have reform in this area.' Ms Rowland said many would be 'shocked' to learn this was actually a recommendation coming out of a 2015 series of responses on the Royal Commission into child sexual abuse. 'We're now in 2025. What is important here is that we have action,' Mr Rowland said. 'The federal government has not been idle.' 'We have been undertaking work to ensure that we do have some mechanisms that are in place.' Working With Children checks currently take place at a state and territory level. States and territories do not need to talk to each other about their processes or violations and there is no federal oversight.
The Independent
a day ago
- Politics
- The Independent
In the nation's poorest Congressional district, federal funding cuts create perfect storm
On a sweltering summer day, children leap between rocks along the Bronx River while cyclists pedal on newly paved paths. Kayaks rest on what was once an industrial dumping ground, now transformed into a bustling promenade along the city's only freshwater river. The Bronx River Greenway, a series of stitched-together waterfront parks built atop once largely abandoned and polluted wasteland, is a hard-fought victory for the country's poorest congressional district — one that locals call a 'beacon of environmental justice' built by federal dollars and water-pollution settlements from the borough's wealthier neighbors. Now, like thousands of nonprofits around the country, this organization's future is in jeopardy. The Trump administration's sweeping federal grant cuts have left nonprofits nationwide and the communities they serve in precarious straits. But few places face as stark a reckoning as the Bronx, where federal funding has proved indispensable for revitalizing green spaces, protecting survivors of domestic violence, and preventing youth violence. Over 84% of the 342 nonprofits based in the Bronx rely on federal grants now at risk, according to an analysis by the Urban Institute. It's a significant increase from the 70% of groups vulnerable to government defunding statewide. In all but two of the country's 437 congressional districts, the typical nonprofit could not cover its expenses without government grants. Nonprofits have increasingly served as contractors for government services — like operating homeless shelters — since the 1960s. In the Bronx, if such grants were to disappear entirely, the borough's nonprofits could face a collective deficit of nearly 30% — cuts that have begun to force layoffs and austerity on dozens of groups connecting Bronxites to low-cost health care, food assistance, and preschool slots. 'When America sneezes, the Bronx gets the flu,' said U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres, the Democrat who represents the district. 'I think we in the Bronx feel we have been and will continue to be the hardest hit by the impact of a Trump presidency.' From revival to reversal Nestled in a corner of parkland atop the site of an abandoned amusement park, the headquarters of the Bronx River Alliance is among the borough's greenest buildings, boasting nature classrooms, samples of the river's flora and fauna, and a storage space teeming with kayaks and canoes. In March, the group received formal notice that it would lose $1.5 million in federal grants promised under the Inflation Reduction Act last year for improving water quality and climate-resilience projects. After years of rising momentum, cubicles now sit empty. Leaders held off on hiring in anticipation of cuts, and now they don't know if they'll be able to fill those roles. 'I've met some of the folks who were pulling cars out of the river in the '70s and '80s,' said Daniel Ranells, the group's deputy director of programs. Back then, the area was a 'dumping ground' so inundated with industrial waste, tires, abandoned cars, ovens, and microwaves that 'folks didn't really understand there was a river there.' That has shifted dramatically in recent years thanks in part to decades of federal investment. Just south of its headquarters, the organization restored salt marshes along the riverbanks of a shuttered concrete plant. In 2007, the first beaver appeared on the Bronx River in over 200 years — named 'José the Beaver' in honor of former Congressman José E. Serrano, who helped direct millions in federal funds to groups dedicated to the river's restoration. 'The Bronx River is a shining light of environmental justice,' Ranells said, and millions in federal funding over the years has helped 'make it a destination' after years of neglect. Progress frozen Now staffers at the Bronx River Alliance describe a sense of 'whiplash' in seeing hard-fought funds dry up and grant language scrubbed of any allusions to racial or environmental justice. The Bronx River Alliance has joined other nonprofits in suing the Trump administration to unfreeze funds, but the uncertainty has already disrupted years of planning, a reality that has rippled across the neighborhood, leaving few organizations untouched. Up the street from the Alliance, the office of the Osborne Association, a group that has worked to prevent youth violence for nearly a century, has grown quieter. In April, an email from the Bureau of Justice Assistance stated the remaining $666,000 of a $2 million grant 'no longer effectuates department priorities.' The cut thrust the nonprofit into 'triage mode,' said Osborne president Jonathan Monsalve, who was forced to lay off three staffers and reduce the number of participants in a diversion program offering young adults facing gun charges an alternative to jail time. 'It's a lifeline for young people, and it's no longer there for 25 more of them,' Monsalve said. 'Without another alternative, it's 25 young people that will see prison or jail time, and that's incredibly frustrating.' Why the Bronx bears the brunt The Department of Justice has canceled over $810 million in similar grants to nonprofits working in violence prevention. The Environmental Protection Agency attempted to cancel $2 billion in grants for environmental justice work. Nonprofit leaders say the cuts hit hardest in the places that can afford them the least. In the Bronx, almost 30 percent of residents live in poverty, the vast majority of whom are Black or Latino, and nearly one in six schoolchildren experience homelessness every year. 'We've had decades of disinvestment in these communities, and we had been starting to see some meaningful investment and community-based solutions that were actually working,' said Monsalve. 'And then all of a sudden that support just gets yanked away.' The federal government, he said, is essentially telling these communities: 'You aren't a priority anymore. You don't fit the plan.' For decades, a million-dollar federal grant allowed the victim-service organization Safe Horizon to operate a program that stationed domestic violence advocates in the borough's criminal court. When the grant came up for renewal this year, it came with new restrictions that CEO Liz Roberts described as 'so extreme, so broad, so radical' that the organization chose to walk away rather than accept conditions which would have prohibited supporting transgender survivors or treating domestic violence as a systemic issue. It was an agonizing decision given the volume of domestic violence in the Bronx, Roberts said. It means that hundreds of survivors 'may not have the opportunity to talk to an advocate about their options, about their rights, or about their safety,' she said. Filling the void Roberts said she's bracing for more cuts — federal funds make up about 24% of the group's budget — that could force the closure of shelters or reductions to a citywide hotline. As nonprofits nationwide grapple with similar losses, Roberts said private philanthropy and local governments will need to 'make some smart and thoughtful and principled decisions about where they can help to fill those gaps.' In places like the Bronx, finding alternative funding is especially challenging. 'The not-for-profit sector is often fragile, and nowhere more so than the Bronx,' Torres said of the district he represents, where organizations tend to be more dependent on government funding than wealthier enclaves. 'Organizations spent hundreds of thousands of dollars simply to apply for a contract and hired staff and made all these plans only to see the written contract disappear,' Torres said. 'It's deeply destabilizing.' _____ Sara Herschander is a senior reporter at the Chronicle of Philanthropy, where you can read the full article. This article was provided to The Associated Press by the Chronicle of Philanthropy as part of a partnership to cover philanthropy and nonprofits supported by the Lilly Endowment. The Chronicle is solely responsible for the content. For all of AP's philanthropy coverage, visit
Washington Post
a day ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
In the Bronx, the nation's poorest Congressional district, federal funding cuts create perfect storm
NEW YORK — On a sweltering summer day, children leap between rocks along the Bronx River while cyclists pedal on newly paved paths. Kayaks rest on what was once an industrial dumping ground, now transformed into a bustling promenade along the city's only freshwater river. The Bronx River Greenway, a series of stitched-together waterfront parks built atop once largely abandoned and polluted wasteland, is a hard-fought victory for the country's poorest congressional district — one that locals call a 'beacon of environmental justice' built by federal dollars and water-pollution settlements from the borough's wealthier neighbors.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
In the Bronx, the nation's poorest Congressional district, federal funding cuts create perfect storm
NEW YORK (AP) — On a sweltering summer day, children leap between rocks along the Bronx River while cyclists pedal on newly paved paths. Kayaks rest on what was once an industrial dumping ground, now transformed into a bustling promenade along the city's only freshwater river. The Bronx River Greenway, a series of stitched-together waterfront parks built atop once largely abandoned and polluted wasteland, is a hard-fought victory for the country's poorest congressional district — one that locals call a 'beacon of environmental justice' built by federal dollars and water-pollution settlements from the borough's wealthier neighbors. Now, like thousands of nonprofits around the country, this organization's future is in jeopardy. The Trump administration's sweeping federal grant cuts have left nonprofits nationwide and the communities they serve in precarious straits. But few places face as stark a reckoning as the Bronx, where federal funding has proved indispensable for revitalizing green spaces, protecting survivors of domestic violence, and preventing youth violence. Over 84% of the 342 nonprofits based in the Bronx rely on federal grants now at risk, according to an analysis by the Urban Institute. It's a significant increase from the 70% of groups vulnerable to government defunding statewide. In all but two of the country's 437 congressional districts, the typical nonprofit could not cover its expenses without government grants. Nonprofits have increasingly served as contractors for government services — like operating homeless shelters — since the 1960s. In the Bronx, if such grants were to disappear entirely, the borough's nonprofits could face a collective deficit of nearly 30% — cuts that have begun to force layoffs and austerity on dozens of groups connecting Bronxites to low-cost health care, food assistance, and preschool slots. 'When America sneezes, the Bronx gets the flu,' said U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres, the Democrat who represents the district. 'I think we in the Bronx feel we have been and will continue to be the hardest hit by the impact of a Trump presidency.' From revival to reversal Nestled in a corner of parkland atop the site of an abandoned amusement park, the headquarters of the Bronx River Alliance is among the borough's greenest buildings, boasting nature classrooms, samples of the river's flora and fauna, and a storage space teeming with kayaks and canoes. In March, the group received formal notice that it would lose $1.5 million in federal grants promised under the Inflation Reduction Act last year for improving water quality and climate-resilience projects. After years of rising momentum, cubicles now sit empty. Leaders held off on hiring in anticipation of cuts, and now they don't know if they'll be able to fill those roles. 'I've met some of the folks who were pulling cars out of the river in the '70s and '80s,' said Daniel Ranells, the group's deputy director of programs. Back then, the area was a 'dumping ground' so inundated with industrial waste, tires, abandoned cars, ovens, and microwaves that 'folks didn't really understand there was a river there.' That has shifted dramatically in recent years thanks in part to decades of federal investment. Just south of its headquarters, the organization restored salt marshes along the riverbanks of a shuttered concrete plant. In 2007, the first beaver appeared on the Bronx River in over 200 years — named 'José the Beaver' in honor of former Congressman José E. Serrano, who helped direct millions in federal funds to groups dedicated to the river's restoration. 'The Bronx River is a shining light of environmental justice,' Ranells said, and millions in federal funding over the years has helped 'make it a destination' after years of neglect. Progress frozen Now staffers at the Bronx River Alliance describe a sense of 'whiplash' in seeing hard-fought funds dry up and grant language scrubbed of any allusions to racial or environmental justice. The Bronx River Alliance has joined other nonprofits in suing the Trump administration to unfreeze funds, but the uncertainty has already disrupted years of planning, a reality that has rippled across the neighborhood, leaving few organizations untouched. Up the street from the Alliance, the office of the Osborne Association, a group that has worked to prevent youth violence for nearly a century, has grown quieter. In April, an email from the Bureau of Justice Assistance stated the remaining $666,000 of a $2 million grant 'no longer effectuates department priorities.' The cut thrust the nonprofit into 'triage mode,' said Osborne president Jonathan Monsalve, who was forced to lay off three staffers and reduce the number of participants in a diversion program offering young adults facing gun charges an alternative to jail time. 'It's a lifeline for young people, and it's no longer there for 25 more of them,' Monsalve said. 'Without another alternative, it's 25 young people that will see prison or jail time, and that's incredibly frustrating.' Why the Bronx bears the brunt The Department of Justice has canceled over $810 million in similar grants to nonprofits working in violence prevention. The Environmental Protection Agency attempted to cancel $2 billion in grants for environmental justice work. Nonprofit leaders say the cuts hit hardest in the places that can afford them the least. In the Bronx, almost 30 percent of residents live in poverty, the vast majority of whom are Black or Latino, and nearly one in six schoolchildren experience homelessness every year. 'We've had decades of disinvestment in these communities, and we had been starting to see some meaningful investment and community-based solutions that were actually working,' said Monsalve. 'And then all of a sudden that support just gets yanked away.' The federal government, he said, is essentially telling these communities: 'You aren't a priority anymore. You don't fit the plan.' For decades, a million-dollar federal grant allowed the victim-service organization Safe Horizon to operate a program that stationed domestic violence advocates in the borough's criminal court. When the grant came up for renewal this year, it came with new restrictions that CEO Liz Roberts described as 'so extreme, so broad, so radical' that the organization chose to walk away rather than accept conditions which would have prohibited supporting transgender survivors or treating domestic violence as a systemic issue. It was an agonizing decision given the volume of domestic violence in the Bronx, Roberts said. It means that hundreds of survivors 'may not have the opportunity to talk to an advocate about their options, about their rights, or about their safety,' she said. Filling the void Roberts said she's bracing for more cuts — federal funds make up about 24% of the group's budget — that could force the closure of shelters or reductions to a citywide hotline. As nonprofits nationwide grapple with similar losses, Roberts said private philanthropy and local governments will need to 'make some smart and thoughtful and principled decisions about where they can help to fill those gaps.' In places like the Bronx, finding alternative funding is especially challenging. 'The not-for-profit sector is often fragile, and nowhere more so than the Bronx,' Torres said of the district he represents, where organizations tend to be more dependent on government funding than wealthier enclaves. 'Organizations spent hundreds of thousands of dollars simply to apply for a contract and hired staff and made all these plans only to see the written contract disappear,' Torres said. 'It's deeply destabilizing.' _____ Sara Herschander is a senior reporter at the Chronicle of Philanthropy, where you can read the full article. This article was provided to The Associated Press by the Chronicle of Philanthropy as part of a partnership to cover philanthropy and nonprofits supported by the Lilly Endowment. The Chronicle is solely responsible for the content. For all of AP's philanthropy coverage, visit Sara Herschander Of The Chronicle Of Philanthropy, The Associated Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Associated Press
a day ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
In the Bronx, the nation's poorest Congressional district, federal funding cuts create perfect storm
NEW YORK (AP) — On a sweltering summer day, children leap between rocks along the Bronx River while cyclists pedal on newly paved paths. Kayaks rest on what was once an industrial dumping ground, now transformed into a bustling promenade along the city's only freshwater river. The Bronx River Greenway, a series of stitched-together waterfront parks built atop once largely abandoned and polluted wasteland, is a hard-fought victory for the country's poorest congressional district — one that locals call a 'beacon of environmental justice' built by federal dollars and water-pollution settlements from the borough's wealthier neighbors. Now, like thousands of nonprofits around the country, this organization's future is in jeopardy. The Trump administration's sweeping federal grant cuts have left nonprofits nationwide and the communities they serve in precarious straits. But few places face as stark a reckoning as the Bronx, where federal funding has proved indispensable for revitalizing green spaces, protecting survivors of domestic violence, and preventing youth violence. Over 84% of the 342 nonprofits based in the Bronx rely on federal grants now at risk, according to an analysis by the Urban Institute. It's a significant increase from the 70% of groups vulnerable to government defunding statewide. In all but two of the country's 437 congressional districts, the typical nonprofit could not cover its expenses without government grants. Nonprofits have increasingly served as contractors for government services — like operating homeless shelters — since the 1960s. In the Bronx, if such grants were to disappear entirely, the borough's nonprofits could face a collective deficit of nearly 30% — cuts that have begun to force layoffs and austerity on dozens of groups connecting Bronxites to low-cost health care, food assistance, and preschool slots. 'When America sneezes, the Bronx gets the flu,' said U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres, the Democrat who represents the district. 'I think we in the Bronx feel we have been and will continue to be the hardest hit by the impact of a Trump presidency.' From revival to reversal Nestled in a corner of parkland atop the site of an abandoned amusement park, the headquarters of the Bronx River Alliance is among the borough's greenest buildings, boasting nature classrooms, samples of the river's flora and fauna, and a storage space teeming with kayaks and canoes. In March, the group received formal notice that it would lose $1.5 million in federal grants promised under the Inflation Reduction Act last year for improving water quality and climate-resilience projects. After years of rising momentum, cubicles now sit empty. Leaders held off on hiring in anticipation of cuts, and now they don't know if they'll be able to fill those roles. 'I've met some of the folks who were pulling cars out of the river in the '70s and '80s,' said Daniel Ranells, the group's deputy director of programs. Back then, the area was a 'dumping ground' so inundated with industrial waste, tires, abandoned cars, ovens, and microwaves that 'folks didn't really understand there was a river there.' That has shifted dramatically in recent years thanks in part to decades of federal investment. Just south of its headquarters, the organization restored salt marshes along the riverbanks of a shuttered concrete plant. In 2007, the first beaver appeared on the Bronx River in over 200 years — named 'José the Beaver' in honor of former Congressman José E. Serrano, who helped direct millions in federal funds to groups dedicated to the river's restoration. 'The Bronx River is a shining light of environmental justice,' Ranells said, and millions in federal funding over the years has helped 'make it a destination' after years of neglect. Progress frozen Now staffers at the Bronx River Alliance describe a sense of 'whiplash' in seeing hard-fought funds dry up and grant language scrubbed of any allusions to racial or environmental justice. The Bronx River Alliance has joined other nonprofits in suing the Trump administration to unfreeze funds, but the uncertainty has already disrupted years of planning, a reality that has rippled across the neighborhood, leaving few organizations untouched. Up the street from the Alliance, the office of the Osborne Association, a group that has worked to prevent youth violence for nearly a century, has grown quieter. In April, an email from the Bureau of Justice Assistance stated the remaining $666,000 of a $2 million grant 'no longer effectuates department priorities.' The cut thrust the nonprofit into 'triage mode,' said Osborne president Jonathan Monsalve, who was forced to lay off three staffers and reduce the number of participants in a diversion program offering young adults facing gun charges an alternative to jail time. 'It's a lifeline for young people, and it's no longer there for 25 more of them,' Monsalve said. 'Without another alternative, it's 25 young people that will see prison or jail time, and that's incredibly frustrating.' Why the Bronx bears the brunt The Department of Justice has canceled over $810 million in similar grants to nonprofits working in violence prevention. The Environmental Protection Agency attempted to cancel $2 billion in grants for environmental justice work. Nonprofit leaders say the cuts hit hardest in the places that can afford them the least. In the Bronx, almost 30 percent of residents live in poverty, the vast majority of whom are Black or Latino, and nearly one in six schoolchildren experience homelessness every year. 'We've had decades of disinvestment in these communities, and we had been starting to see some meaningful investment and community-based solutions that were actually working,' said Monsalve. 'And then all of a sudden that support just gets yanked away.' The federal government, he said, is essentially telling these communities: 'You aren't a priority anymore. You don't fit the plan.' For decades, a million-dollar federal grant allowed the victim-service organization Safe Horizon to operate a program that stationed domestic violence advocates in the borough's criminal court. When the grant came up for renewal this year, it came with new restrictions that CEO Liz Roberts described as 'so extreme, so broad, so radical' that the organization chose to walk away rather than accept conditions which would have prohibited supporting transgender survivors or treating domestic violence as a systemic issue. It was an agonizing decision given the volume of domestic violence in the Bronx, Roberts said. It means that hundreds of survivors 'may not have the opportunity to talk to an advocate about their options, about their rights, or about their safety,' she said. Filling the void Roberts said she's bracing for more cuts — federal funds make up about 24% of the group's budget — that could force the closure of shelters or reductions to a citywide hotline. As nonprofits nationwide grapple with similar losses, Roberts said private philanthropy and local governments will need to 'make some smart and thoughtful and principled decisions about where they can help to fill those gaps.' In places like the Bronx, finding alternative funding is especially challenging. 'The not-for-profit sector is often fragile, and nowhere more so than the Bronx,' Torres said of the district he represents, where organizations tend to be more dependent on government funding than wealthier enclaves. 'Organizations spent hundreds of thousands of dollars simply to apply for a contract and hired staff and made all these plans only to see the written contract disappear,' Torres said. 'It's deeply destabilizing.' _____ Sara Herschander is a senior reporter at the Chronicle of Philanthropy, where you can read the full article. This article was provided to The Associated Press by the Chronicle of Philanthropy as part of a partnership to cover philanthropy and nonprofits supported by the Lilly Endowment. The Chronicle is solely responsible for the content. For all of AP's philanthropy coverage, visit
