A federal judge has temporarily put a pause on the White House freezing federal grants in an effort to review spending. One locally based national organization now says they’re scrambling to acquire funds to help refugees they promised to assist when they got here.
Without that funding, those refugees would be left to find their own resources if the ban were to return.
“We didn’t have any prior warning or heads up,” said Bob Elston, a grant writer for the Ethiopian Community Development Council. “We’re cobbling together whatever resources we can.”
He said news of the federal grant freeze came as a shock, as they have hundreds of refugees they’re helping transition right now, including those just arriving.
Elston said they’re pooling leftover funds and their own money in the meantime as they prepare.
“I went to the grocery store with a couple of our program managers and we bought as many gift cards and Uber cards as we possibly could with available budget funds. We actually had to put it on my personal credit card,” he said.
Elston said they currently have about 200 people they’re helping in Virginia and around 50 in Maryland.
“Oftentimes, they don’t have a driver’s license. They don’t have a Social Security number. They don’t have housing. They don’t have their kids in school and that’s the services that we provide,” he said.
Most of the refugees are from Afghanistan and Ukraine, with some also coming from Central American countries.
The temporary block set by the federal judge on the grant freeze is in effect until Monday.
The Trump administration said programs that provide direct assistance to Americans would not be affected — such as Medicare, Social Security, FAFSA student aid and SNAP benefits. They said the ban on federal grants was planned so that the administration could assess where to cut back on spending.
The Ethiopian Community Development Council is currently accepting donations through their website.
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