The US Department of Justice has abruptly halted funding for hundreds of grant programs assisting victims of hate crimes, child abuse, school violence, and human trafficking, CBS News reported on Sunday.
According to the report, CBS News obtained a list of 365 programs affected by the cuts this week, including initiatives combating domestic terrorism, reducing school shootings, and investigating civil rights cold cases under the Emmett Till Cold Case Program in the Southeast.
Internal memos sent last week informed nonprofits that their projects no longer "effectuate" Justice Department priorities.
The impact has been immediate and severe for many organizations, according to the media outlet.
In Oakland, California, Nancy Smith, head of the nonprofit Activating Change, said 40% of her group's budget vanished overnight.
"It's a devastating blow," Smith told CBS News, adding that she is already preparing to lay off 10 employees from the organization that provides legal aid and sign language services to disabled crime victims.
Renee Williams, executive director of the National Center for Victims of Crime in Landover, Maryland, has warned of a potential shutdown of its national victims' hotline, which handles approximately 16,000 calls each year, should the Justice Department rescind their grant.
However, the following day, the nonprofit director informed CBS News that the Justice Department had reinstated the organization's funding.
"Our partners are still battling," she was quoted by the broadcaster as saying. "After calling us, countless victims indicated that they had nowhere else to turn but found hope, help, and comfort from our services."
Other programs left scrambling include efforts to support hate crime victims in San Francisco's Asian Americans' and Pacific Islanders' community, prevent youth violence in New York, support reentry for young offenders in Michigan, and assist human trafficking victims in Virginia.
Joe Griffin, executive director of Youth Alive! in California, voiced deep concern about the timing.
"To do this ahead of summer, when we know there will likely be an uptick in violence, is really troubling," Griffin told the media outlet. "We need our government to show up for our young people the way we do—every day, without fail."
A Justice Department spokesperson told CBS News that affected organizations have 30 days to appeal the decision.
"We are confident that these cuts are consistent with the administration's priorities while at the same time protecting services that tangibly impact victims," the spokesman said.
While some grants — including those supporting the National Center for Victims of Crime and the National Network to End Domestic Violence — have been reinstated, the majority of programs across cities such as Memphis, Atlanta, the Bronx, Chicago, and Miami remain in limbo.
