Nonprofits feature fallout for West Virginia agency in funding freeze

Todd Ruger, CQ-Roll Call on Feb 3, 2025

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WASHINGTON — A group of nonprofits that has filed a court challenge to the Donald Trump administration’s freezing of grant funds have filed a declaration in court that tells the story of how it has affected a small center in West Virginia that helps people with disabilities.

The five-employee center for 40 years has helped people with disabilities “to live in their own homes, instead of having to be placed in far more expensive and far more isolating institutional settings,” according to the declaration Sunday from the president of the center’s board filed in the case.

Seventy percent of their funding comes through the Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Community Living, as part of the nationwide network of “Centers for Independent Living,” according to the declaration.

The center, which has its name redacted in the filing, can “draw down” federal funds only to pay immediate bills and they must be spent within three days.

“In essence, we operate on a federally mandated paycheck-to-paycheck budgeting system. When the flow of funds is interrupted, we are quickly in crisis mode,” the board president’s declaration states.

That happened with the freeze, which the National Council of Nonprofits, American Public Health Association, Main Street Alliance and SAGE were in court Monday to try to stop. A judge cited the center’s situation as part of a justification for a ruling she’s expected to make later Monday.

The center had enough money to cover outstanding bills and meet payroll on Friday. But they did not have enough money to cover another two-week pay period at full staffing.

The board voted Friday to lay off three of five employees and drastically reduce services to customers, which presented a dire situation for those who have immediate needs.

The agency cited three examples. The employees take an 86-year-old woman to dialysis treatments every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, her only way to get the life-sustaining treatments.

On Monday the center was scheduled to “job coach” a 19-year-old man with intellectual disabilities who recently aged out of the foster care system, as he starts a new job at Goodwill, the declaration said.

“We will help train him in life skills like budgeting, cleaning his house, and managing employment,” the board president said. “He also relies on us for food pantry support and transportation to his new job.”

The agency is scheduled Tuesday to help a 63-year-old woman with orthopedic, hearing and intellectual disabilities. “She also cares for two adult sons with disabilities. We would help her with budgeting, cleaning, and searching for better housing,” the board president said.

The center listed a range of medical conditions that its customers have, including auto accident survivors, multiple sclerosis, paraplegics, quadriplegics, diabetes, amputations, blindness, hearing loss, seizures, heart disease, learning disability, muscular dystrophy, stroke, spinal cord injury and many more.

“On Friday, the Board recognized that if federal funds do not begin flowing again in the next two to three weeks, we would have no option other than to lay off the remaining two employees and cease all services,” the board president said in the declaration.

The state notified the agency that it will get two allocations of grant funds through state agencies, and it intends to use that money to call back two of the three laid-off employees immediately, the board president said.

That will allow them to operate with a 20% reduction in staff for six to eight weeks, but those state grants cannot be counted on indefinitely, the board president said.

“This has only bought us more time, but if the freeze is not stopped, we will shut down and the people we serve will be helpless,” the board president said.

“They may wind up in much more expensive settings like nursing homes or group homes. They may wind up homeless on the streets. Or worse,” the president said. “I am desperate to bring attention to our situation.”

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Michael Macagnone contributed to this report.