Federal budget cuts, funding freezes threaten area agencies

Spending cuts originating in Washington, D.C., are having an impact on Springfield-based agencies.

Late last month, the National CASA/GAL Association for Children announced the termination of federal grants previously awarded by the U.S. Department of Justice. Some of these grants fund CASA of Southwest Missouri, which according to its leadership now faces a direct loss of $95,000 annually.

The DOJ gave organizations 30 days to appeal, said Executive Director Laura Farmer, and local CASA organizations are attempting to drum up support from community members to lobby federal lawmakers to reverse the decision which would impact just over 7% of its $1.3 million annual budget.

CASAs, or court-appointed special advocates, are trained volunteers who advocate for children in foster care. In Greene, Christian and Taney counties – the region served by CASA of Southwest Missouri – 1,200 children are in foster care, with about half living in Greene County. The organization serves some 500 foster children with its volunteer advocates, according to Farmer.

Farmer said nationally, the DOJ is not only cutting funding for CASA agencies, but 365 other victim-serving organizations across the country.

“There are significant cuts to victims of child abuse and neglect, sexual assault victims – the list goes on,” she said.

The cuts are to 365 grants from the Office of Justice Programs, the DOJ’s largest grant-making arm, according to Reuter’s reporting. The National CASA/GAL Association quoted the DOJ notices of the funding cuts; they say the grants are being terminated because they “no longer effectuate the program goals or agency priorities” which include protecting the country’s children.

Farmer said there is a funding gap that must be filled in the event that the appeal to the DOJ is not approved. However, funds are already being rerouted to meet current DOJ priorities, according to Maureen Henneberg, deputy assistant attorney general for the Office of Justice Programs.

Farmer is doing her best to raise funds to avoid a pause in her organization’s services.

“We’re asking the community to come alongside us with donations so we don’t have to decrease any advocacy services we provide to children in foster care,” she said.

Farmer said CASA of Southwest Missouri diversifies its revenue streams, and government funding accounts for 20% of its current budget.

According to Farmer, the $95,000 in grant funding that has now been cut was already awarded through four grants and the funds have been allocated.

“We were actively spending the money – actively incurring expenses related to the grant’s tasks and goals,” she said.

Farmer said she believes local donors will step forward.

“We live in a generous community that I believe cares about children in foster care,” she said. “Our community will step up to ensure that we don’t have to decrease services to our local children.”

The funds are put to good use, according to Farmer. In Missouri, approximately 16% of children reenter the foster system if they are not served by a dedicated advocate. By comparison, fewer than 1% of children with CASA advocates reenter the system. Foster care costs the state $25,000 per year, per child, on average, according to Missouri Department of Social Services data.

Asked if he has experienced federal funding cuts at Harmony House, which provides shelter and advocacy to survivors of domestic violence, Executive Director Jared Alexander said not yet.

“We haven’t been directly impacted with any of the grant sources that we currently receive, but we’re definitely keeping an eye on it,” he said.

Several federal programs and agencies that Harmony House interacts with have been threatened with cuts, Alexander said, citing the DOJ’s Office on Violence Against Women, the Crime Victims Fund, the Victims of Crime Act.

“As soon as those are impacted, that’s when it starts to hit our budget,” he said.

Alexander said there aren’t any notices of available funding at the moment – all federal grants have been paused, including ones Harmony House had intended to apply for.

“That puts a pause in our planning, too,” he said.

Alexander said his agency has a three-year, half-million-dollar grant through the Office on Violence Against Women, and it’s an important part of his agency’s $4 million annual budget.

“If that were to be paused or terminated, that’s a staff position,” he said. “It’s direct support for housing victims as they’re leaving the shelter and out in communities looking for a fresh start with housing support.”

He noted federal grant programs make up 13% of Harmony House’s budget. In 2024, the agency served 3,400 people through its 24/7 hotline.

Alexander said he is tracking developments in Washington.

“I’m very nervously watching the news,” he said. “The way things have been going, we could very easily be the next in line here for some impacts. We’re trying to prepare the best we can internally for whatever those scenarios could look like.”

At the Child Advocacy Center, where 1,657 children received services related to child abuse in 2024, Executive Director Katiina Dull is also watching the news, noting some of the grants that support her agency run through the DOJ.

“I’m somewhat concerned that we will see cuts in the not-too-distant future,” she said.

She noted her annual budget is roughly $3 million, with about 40% coming from grants that include federal funding. She said six or seven different grants have the potential to be cut because of the federal dollars that are woven into them.

“What’s concerning is that the grants we do have include multiyear contracts,” she said. “We go into those with the expectation that funding will be there for the length of the contract. Some of the cuts are happening on existing grants, before the contract expires.”

Dull said it’s alarming to hear about cuts to other programs that provide families with stability and help them through crises.

“When we hear about potential cuts to Head Start and Medicaid, we start to have to prepare for an increase in abused children,” she said.

Other funding threats
CASA isn’t the only organization threatened by federal funding cuts. President Donald Trump’s proposed budget eliminates funding for Head Start, which provides free early childhood education for low-income families.

The Trump administration has already made deep cuts to Head Start staff and has paused some of its funding, according to reporting from EdWeek, which notes some programs have been forced to cease operation.

Lindsey Dumas-Bell, resource development manager with Ozarks Area Community Action Corp., which serves 10 counties including Greene, said OACAC Head Start has not had to shut down any of its 21 centers.

Parents or guardians with children in Head Start are encouraged either to work or attend educational programs. If the program were to be shut down, the effect would be felt by families and employers alike, according to Dumas-Bell.

“A shutdown would greatly impact the ability for Head Start families to work, pursue education and access the important resources Head Start provides,” she said.

Over 700 families are served by OACAC Head Start, and in many rural areas, closure would mean children would have no access to quality early childhood education, she said. Head Start also offers health screenings, nutrition and family support services.

“All of those things would go by the wayside,” she said. “Cuts to Head Start would also have effects on schools, health care systems and local employers that rely on us to support those working families.”

The program has a staff of about 350, she said, making it a significant local employer, too. For every dollar invested in Head Start, the local economy saves up to $9 in spending on special education, public assistance, incarceration and more, according to figures from the National Head Start Association.

“The premise of Head Start is that every child, regardless of circumstances at birth, has the ability to reach their full potential,” Dumas-Bell said. “It’s not only child care – it’s really child development, and a program for the whole family.”

She added that OACAC officials remain hopeful for a positive outcome.

Head Start is not the only OACAC program facing a possible loss of funding. The Trump administration has also frozen most funding for Title X, a program that has had a 50-plus-year run of providing contraception, screenings and pregnancy counseling and that supports the OACAC Family Planning program.

OACAC scheduled a program for May 1 called “Mayday: A Community Conversation About the Title X Funding Freeze and What It Means for OACAC Family Planning.”

“Millions of dollars earmarked for essential health care services are now inaccessible, placing thousands at risk of losing access to vital care,” OACAC’s press release for the Mayday program states.

In the last fiscal year, ending March 31, OACAC Family Planning served 1,857 patients through 3,128 visits, including 534 Pap tests – 89 of which showed abnormal results and required follow-up care – plus 621 clinical breast exams and 4,929 tests for sexually transmitted infections, including chlamydia, gonorrhea, HIV and syphilis.

Dumas-Bell said 48% of the budget for OACAC Family Planning comes from Title X.

“For a large percentage of our clients, we are their only health care provider,” she said. “People rely on those services.”

Dumas-Bell said the pace of changes has been difficult to process.

“It’s hard to keep up with everything,” she said. “Everything is urgent – and it’s hard to operate in an urgent state all the time.”

Philanthropic pressure
Cuts in federal funding increase pressure for local giving, according to Winter Kinne, president and CEO of Community Foundation of the Ozarks Inc.

Some feel that donors should step up and handle the areas where federal gaps are happening, she said.

“It would require more than a 240% increase in philanthropic dollars nationwide to fill some of the federal funding gaps,” she said. “That’s a big number.”

Kinne said a lot of local agencies are stepping up their fundraising in the face of possible cuts, even as they try to figure out where holes in their budgets might appear or what services may have to be cut.

“We have no idea what tomorrow might hold or how long this might go on,” she said. “Will donor fatigue kick in? That all very much depends.”

Local people have a heart for helping, she said, noting the Springfield area is among the most generous in the state in per-capita giving. Previous Springfield Business Journal reporting showed Greene County contributions as a percentage of income came to 1.8%, with the percentage of returns itemizing charitable contributions at 4.2%.

Kinne said the CFO serves a 63-county area, and they’re all connected: What happens in rural communities around Springfield affects the Queen City, and vice versa – and funding freezes and planned cuts pose special risk to places with limited options.

She said some nonprofits have already spent money while expecting reimbursement through a grant, and that reimbursement is not going to be provided.

“The uncertainty of it is the hardest part,” she said. “It’s really hard to plan.”

On the philanthropic side, Kinne said this is budget season, and donors are looking at Plan A, Plan B and Plan C.

“We have several contingency plans in our back pocket so we can move quickly if it happens,” she said. “That’s something we’re thinking about here.”

Ultimately, donors will have to make choices about where to give, and nonprofits will have to make choices about where donated dollars can do the most good. What’s more, if the economy were to bottom out, not only will demand be heightened, but donors will have less ability to give.

“Those are hard decisions,” she said. “With ever-changing information, we’re back to the lack of a plan and the lack of stability.”