‘We're disaster planning’: Domestic violence nonprofits unsettled by Trump’s funding freeze
In February, the DOJ Office on Violence Against Women took down all open funding opportunities from its website.
TroibNews 
The funding cuts initiated by the Trump administration, targeting "woke" federal programs, have adversely affected organizations that support a particularly vulnerable demographic: victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.
Leaders of nonprofits focused on gender-based violence have expressed concern that the current freeze — now a contentious legal issue — jeopardizes their ability to offer emergency shelter, legal aid, and crisis services to survivors across the nation.
Compounding these worries is the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) removing information about open funding opportunities from its website in February, instructing applicants not to finalize any grant applications.
Advocates are raising alarms that the ongoing uncertainty and impending cuts threaten to destabilize essential services nationwide.
“This is a matter of life for survivors,” Teresa Stafford-Wright, chief executive officer of Ohio’s Hope and Healing Survivor Resource Center, stated. “Oftentimes, when you're talking about leaving these situations, they become even more deadly.”
Stafford-Wright reported that federal grants constitute 75 percent of her organization’s operational budget. Reductions in OVW grant funding could compel her organization to lay off staff, including a court advocate who assists survivors in navigating the legal system, and reduce the number of emergency shelter beds, which are already frequently at capacity.
“If we have any cuts, the way we do the work today will not be the same,” she said.
The OVW allocated over $684 million in grants for the 2024 fiscal year, and organizations speaking to PMG confirmed that previously allocated funds have not been cut due to the halted freeze. Moreover, the office's operations are safeguarded by the statutory provisions of the Violence Against Women Act.
Despite this, the nonprofits relying on OVW funding are increasingly anxious about the future of grant distributions, particularly in light of the Trump administration's broad government-wide cuts.
A spokesperson for the Justice Department declined to comment on this situation, including whether the funding opportunities that were removed would be restored.
An official from the DOJ, who requested anonymity due to their non-public capacity, explained that the removal of funding opportunities from OVW’s site is a temporary measure aimed at revising grant language and preventing risks for grantees concerned about being targets of the Trump administration's efforts to dismantle "diversity, equity, and inclusion" policies.
Regarding Trump's proposed grant freeze, the official indicated that it “wouldn’t just be a barrier” to OVW’s work but would “completely stop it,” given that grant making is the office’s primary function.
The more pressing concern, however, is the impending threat of mass layoffs, as OVW's staff nearly doubled under former President Joe Biden.
Ongoing layoffs have been a trend within federal agencies since Trump returned to office. While recent layoffs have been primarily among probationary employees serving one or two years, a new memo has instructed agencies to prepare for large-scale staff reductions that could affect veteran 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 remarked. However, they emphasized that the optics of dismantling the Violence Against Women Act make such an outcome unlikely.
The 2022 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act introduced several new OVW programs, and the official pointed out that the new staff members are essential for the office’s operations. Fewer staff members could hinder community-based organizations' ability to navigate complex grant processes, potentially triggering audits that might lead to closure, they warned.
Although OVW does not explicitly promote DEI initiatives on its website, several of its programs focus on historically marginalized communities, making the office a potential target for the White House. For example, the office’s Section 904 task force provides support for federal research regarding violence against American Indian and Alaska Native women. OVW also offers assistance to LGBTQ+ individuals through its LGBT Specific Services Program.
Advocates caution that cuts to DOJ grant funding would disproportionately impact marginalized communities, who often face higher risks of domestic and sexual violence.
“Many of our grants have targeted underserved and marginalized populations, including our undocumented survivors and LGBTQ+ plus survivors,” remarked Joanna Otero-Cruz, executive director and president of the Philadelphia-based provider Women Against Abuse.
Laurel Redden, director of communications and policy at the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center in Washington state, noted that the uncertainty comes at a time when gender-based violence nonprofits are already facing drastic cuts to another key DOJ funding source: the Crime Victims Fund, which has declined by about $11 billion since 2017.
Without federal grants, Redden said her organization may have to make difficult decisions, including staff cuts or suspending the payment of rent for their center.
“We're disaster planning,” she noted. “We're looking at everything. Nothing right now is off the table.”
Some organizations are already confronting challenges in accessing awarded funds.
Sandra Jackson, president and chief executive officer of House of Ruth, a nonprofit aiding victims of abuse and homelessness in Washington, D.C., indicated that her organization has encountered additional scrutiny from the DOJ concerning cost reimbursements since the spending freeze was enacted.
“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 stated.
Bi-partisan lawmakers have asserted that support for domestic violence victims should remain a priority, despite efforts to cut federal spending.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a member of the Bipartisan Working Group to End Domestic Violence and the Bipartisan Task Force to End Sexual Violence, condemned the DOJ’s decision to obscure funding opportunities as “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.
Rep. Young Kim, co-chair of the House’s Bipartisan Working Group to End Domestic Violence, expressed her support for domestic violence nonprofits while emphasizing the importance of fiscal responsibility.
“Reining in federal spending is a good thing, but we cannot pull the rug out from under organizations relying on this funding to support domestic violence victims,” Kim said.
Sanya Singh for TROIB News
Leaders of nonprofits focused on gender-based violence have expressed concern that the current freeze — now a contentious legal issue — jeopardizes their ability to offer emergency shelter, legal aid, and crisis services to survivors across the nation.
Compounding these worries is the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) removing information about open funding opportunities from its website in February, instructing applicants not to finalize any grant applications.
Advocates are raising alarms that the ongoing uncertainty and impending cuts threaten to destabilize essential services nationwide.
“This is a matter of life for survivors,” Teresa Stafford-Wright, chief executive officer of Ohio’s Hope and Healing Survivor Resource Center, stated. “Oftentimes, when you're talking about leaving these situations, they become even more deadly.”
Stafford-Wright reported that federal grants constitute 75 percent of her organization’s operational budget. Reductions in OVW grant funding could compel her organization to lay off staff, including a court advocate who assists survivors in navigating the legal system, and reduce the number of emergency shelter beds, which are already frequently at capacity.
“If we have any cuts, the way we do the work today will not be the same,” she said.
The OVW allocated over $684 million in grants for the 2024 fiscal year, and organizations speaking to PMG confirmed that previously allocated funds have not been cut due to the halted freeze. Moreover, the office's operations are safeguarded by the statutory provisions of the Violence Against Women Act.
Despite this, the nonprofits relying on OVW funding are increasingly anxious about the future of grant distributions, particularly in light of the Trump administration's broad government-wide cuts.
A spokesperson for the Justice Department declined to comment on this situation, including whether the funding opportunities that were removed would be restored.
An official from the DOJ, who requested anonymity due to their non-public capacity, explained that the removal of funding opportunities from OVW’s site is a temporary measure aimed at revising grant language and preventing risks for grantees concerned about being targets of the Trump administration's efforts to dismantle "diversity, equity, and inclusion" policies.
Regarding Trump's proposed grant freeze, the official indicated that it “wouldn’t just be a barrier” to OVW’s work but would “completely stop it,” given that grant making is the office’s primary function.
The more pressing concern, however, is the impending threat of mass layoffs, as OVW's staff nearly doubled under former President Joe Biden.
Ongoing layoffs have been a trend within federal agencies since Trump returned to office. While recent layoffs have been primarily among probationary employees serving one or two years, a new memo has instructed agencies to prepare for large-scale staff reductions that could affect veteran 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 remarked. However, they emphasized that the optics of dismantling the Violence Against Women Act make such an outcome unlikely.
The 2022 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act introduced several new OVW programs, and the official pointed out that the new staff members are essential for the office’s operations. Fewer staff members could hinder community-based organizations' ability to navigate complex grant processes, potentially triggering audits that might lead to closure, they warned.
Although OVW does not explicitly promote DEI initiatives on its website, several of its programs focus on historically marginalized communities, making the office a potential target for the White House. For example, the office’s Section 904 task force provides support for federal research regarding violence against American Indian and Alaska Native women. OVW also offers assistance to LGBTQ+ individuals through its LGBT Specific Services Program.
Advocates caution that cuts to DOJ grant funding would disproportionately impact marginalized communities, who often face higher risks of domestic and sexual violence.
“Many of our grants have targeted underserved and marginalized populations, including our undocumented survivors and LGBTQ+ plus survivors,” remarked Joanna Otero-Cruz, executive director and president of the Philadelphia-based provider Women Against Abuse.
Laurel Redden, director of communications and policy at the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center in Washington state, noted that the uncertainty comes at a time when gender-based violence nonprofits are already facing drastic cuts to another key DOJ funding source: the Crime Victims Fund, which has declined by about $11 billion since 2017.
Without federal grants, Redden said her organization may have to make difficult decisions, including staff cuts or suspending the payment of rent for their center.
“We're disaster planning,” she noted. “We're looking at everything. Nothing right now is off the table.”
Some organizations are already confronting challenges in accessing awarded funds.
Sandra Jackson, president and chief executive officer of House of Ruth, a nonprofit aiding victims of abuse and homelessness in Washington, D.C., indicated that her organization has encountered additional scrutiny from the DOJ concerning cost reimbursements since the spending freeze was enacted.
“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 stated.
Bi-partisan lawmakers have asserted that support for domestic violence victims should remain a priority, despite efforts to cut federal spending.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a member of the Bipartisan Working Group to End Domestic Violence and the Bipartisan Task Force to End Sexual Violence, condemned the DOJ’s decision to obscure funding opportunities as “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.
Rep. Young Kim, co-chair of the House’s Bipartisan Working Group to End Domestic Violence, expressed her support for domestic violence nonprofits while emphasizing the importance of fiscal responsibility.
“Reining in federal spending is a good thing, but we cannot pull the rug out from under organizations relying on this funding to support domestic violence victims,” Kim said.
Sanya Singh for TROIB News
