Pittsburgh area nonprofits face difficulties after losing federal funding
Local refugee settlement agencies are estimating a $672,000 funding shortfall due to a stop work order from the Trump administration. It's one of a variety of federal actions threatening the services they provide legal refugees in the Pittsburgh region, causing them to struggle to keep afloat. Now Allegheny County is trying to address some of the lost funds.
Ivonne Smith-Tapia is the Director of Refugee and Immigrant Services for Jewish Family and Community Services in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill. While they're keeping the lights on, it's largely due to money coming out of their pockets.
"We're not going to leave anyone behind. We're not going to fire staff," Smith-Tapia said.
The same goes for Hello Neighbor with founder and CEO, Sloane Davidson.
"There's a lot of services that we have to do contractually and that we have a moral and ethical obligation to do," Davidson said.
That contract Davidson is talking about is one going back 45 years ago by Congress, allowing refugees safe passage into the U.S. to help rebuild their lives from scratch.
According to the county, both of the local refugee resettlement agencies, along with Acculturation for Justice, Access, and Peace Outreach, welcomed 224 new refugees to the area in December and January.
At the end of January, the Trump administration put a stop work order into place stripping federal funds that support agencies' newest arrivals from the past couple of months, with a place to live, health and transportation needs, and much more.
For Hello Neighbor, that's just under 200 people, and more than 70 for JFCS.
However, now they're getting some assistance from the county.
"They understand the work that we do. They understand the value of refugees and immigrants to the region," Smith-Tapia said.
The county is pledging to help them fill the gap with $224,000. A spokesperson tells KDKA, the money will come from the Department of Human Services. County leaders are also working with Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey and other charity partners to find more funds.
"These funds from the county absolutely help support our most pressing and dire, immediate need, keeping our newest neighbors housed," Davidson said.
However, the nonprofits said it's not enough, to help them pay for staff and their other programs supporting hundreds of other refugees in the area, which have been impacted by different cuts taken by the federal government.
They said it's bigger than the stop work order, and fear what the future holds for their organizations.
"We hope that the government realizes and understands the benefits of welcoming refugees, not only economically from our country and our city, but also socially and culturally," Smith-Tapia said.
