CBS News | Crime victims groups stripped of federal grant awards by Trump administration
A number of nonprofit safety and victims organizations tell CBS News they are being stripped of federal grant funding by the Department of Justice. One of the organizations, the National Center for Victims of Crime, said it will have to shutter its hotline service for crime victims as early as Friday due to the funding reduction.
CBS News has obtained a copy of a memo sent Tuesday by the DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs to some nonprofit organizations. The memo alerts the groups that their federal grant awards are being “terminated” because the funding “no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities.”
Among the organizations who have been stripped of their federal funding is a major Maryland criminal victims organization, which provides healing services for major city violent crime victims. The organization requested its name not be revealed by CBS News to avoid retribution.
In an internal memo obtained by CBS News, the organization’s leader wrote, “We are not the only organization impacted. Funding cuts and cancellations were also announced to approximately 55 other violence prevention, victim advocacy and substance abuse programs nationwide.”
Another impacted organization is the Youth Alive nonprofit in Oakland, California, which has helped young people who have suffered from violent crime. The organization, founded in 1991, touts its work supporting gunshot victims, including at hospital bedsides.
Executive Director Joseph Griffin told CBS News the loss of funding is a “devastating blow.”
“We’re not just responding to violence — we’re stopping it before it starts, supporting survivors in the aftermath, and walking with families through their deepest pain. When someone is shot in Oakland, we show up. Without this support, survivors will be left alone to languish in hospital beds with no roadmap to recovery — just pain, fear, and retaliation,” Griffin said.