The Trump administration’s funding cuts aimed at “woke” federal programs have now ensnared some organizations working with a particularly vulnerable group: victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.
Leaders of gender-based violence nonprofits said that the freeze — which is the subject of a pitched legal battle — has sparked concern about how long they can continue to provide emergency shelter, legal and crisis services to abuse victims around the country.
Adding to fears: the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women wiped information about open funding opportunities from its website in February, directing applicants to not finalize any grant applications.
Advocates warn that the prolonged uncertainty and potential cuts could destabilize lifesaving services across the country.
“This is a matter of life for survivors,” Teresa Stafford-Wright, chief executive officer of Ohio’s Hope and Healing Survivor Resource Center, said. “Oftentimes, when you’re talking about leaving these situations, they become even more deadly.”
Stafford-Wright said federal grants make up 75 percent of her organization’s operating budget. Cuts to OVW grant funding could force the organization to lay off staff members, including a court advocate who helps survivors navigate the legal system, and scale back on emergency shelter beds, despite already regularly being at capacity.
“If we have any cuts, the way we do the work today will not be the same,” she said.
OVW allocated over $684 million in grants for the 2024 fiscal year, and no group that spoke to POLITICO said that previously allocated funds have been shut off due to the since-paused freeze. The programs are theoretically protected into the future, too; the office operates under statutory provisions of the Violence Against Women Act.
But the nonprofits that rely on the office remain rattled about the future of grant making — particularly as President Donald Trump’s administration has sought to institute sweeping cuts across the government.
A spokesperson for the Justice Department declined to comment for this story, including on whether the removed funding opportunities will be reinstated.
A DOJ official familiar with the office’s work, who was granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly, clarified that the removal of funding opportunities from OVW’s website is a temporary measure to revise grant language and prevent risks to grantees who fear being targeted by the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle “diversity, equity and inclusion” policies.
As for Trump’s attempted grant freeze, the official said it “wouldn’t just be a barrier” to the office’s work, but “would completely stop it,” considering OVW’s primary function is grant making.
But the official said the more imminent concern is the possibility of mass layoffs, as OVW’s staff almost doubled under former President Joe Biden.
Federal agencies have been hit with ongoing layoffs since Trump returned to office. While up until now layoffs have mainly impacted probationary employees working for one or two years, a recent memo directed agencies to prepare for large-scale staff reductions, which could result in the loss of more experienced federal employees.
“That’s not to say that something could happen and that Congress may choose not to act, kind of similarly to the way that USAID has been dismantled,” the official said. “But I do think that that’s more unlikely, particularly given the optics of dismantling the Violence Against Women Act.”
The 2022 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act included the creation of a number of new OVW programs, and the official said the office’s new staff members have become crucial to its work. Less staff members increase the risk for community-based organizations to struggle to navigate complex grant processes, potentially triggering audits that could force them to close, the official added.
Though OVW doesn’t explicitly promote DEI initiatives on its website, some of its programs focus on historically marginalized communities — making it a possible target for the White House. The office’s Section 904 task force, for example, provides assistance to a federal research program that examines violence against American Indian and Alaska Native women. OVW also supports LGBTQ+ individuals through its LGBT Specific Services Program.
Advocates warn that cuts to DOJ grant money would disproportionately harm marginalized communities, which they say are also often at higher risk of domestic and sexual violence.
“Many of our grants have targeted underserved and marginalized populations, including our undocumented survivors and LGBTQ+ plus survivors,” said Joanna Otero-Cruz, executive director and president of the Philadelphia-based provider Women Against Abuse.
Laurel Redden, director of communications and policy at King County Sexual Assault Resource Center, a nonprofit based in Washington state, said the uncertainty comes as gender-based violence nonprofits grapple with steep cuts to another critical DOJ funding source: the Crime Victims Fund. The resource, funded by fines and settlements associated with federal criminal prosecutions, has dwindled by about $11 billion since 2017.
Without federal grants, Redden said her organization will be forced to make tough calls, including cutting staff or not paying their center’s rent.
“We’re disaster planning,” she said. “We’re looking at everything. Nothing right now is off the table.”
Some organizations say they are already dealing with obstacles to access awarded funds.
Sandra Jackson, president and chief executive officer of House of Ruth, a nonprofit that serves victims of abuse and homelessness in Washington, D.C., said her organization has received additional questioning from the DOJ about cost reimbursements since Trump ordered the spending freeze to ensure funds are being properly spent.
“There may have been one or two levels of approval, but now we’re finding out there are three or four levels of approval,” Jackson said.
Republican and Democratic lawmakers said that aid for domestic violence victims should remain intact, despite efforts to reduce federal spending.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), a member of the Bipartisan Working Group to End Domestic Violence and Bipartisan Task Force to End Sexual Violence caucuses, called the DOJ’s hiding of funding opportunities “repulsive and disturbing.”
“It’s again, an unconstitutional, reckless, dangerous funding freeze, but not surprising coming from a president who has credibly been accused of committing multiple sexual assaults himself,” she said.
And Rep. Young Kim (R-Calif.), who co-chairs the House’s Bipartisan Working Group to End Domestic Violence caucus, backed domestic violence nonprofits while emphasizing the need for fiscal responsibility.
