Kentucky Humanities helped schools and shops recover in the aftermath of eastern Kentucky flooding in 2022. But now, officials say their hands are tied.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A prominent Kentucky nonprofit group says the Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) defunded the organization overnight.
Kentucky Humanities is calling it a “wake-up call,” telling WHAS11 its $850,000 in yearly federal grant money was cut in early April, about the same time record rainfall and historic flooding pounded the state.
The organization’s executive director, Bill Goodman, says they’re losing 70 percent of their operating budget. The Kentucky Humanities Council helps cultural centers, museums and libraries across the state.
During the 2022 floods in eastern Kentucky, the group helped schools and shops recover. But this year, Goodman says their hands are tied.
“We received a termination letter from the acting director of the National Endowment for the Humanities, who in effect told us that all our Congressionally approved granted funds were drawn down to zero. We were completely defunded overnight,” Goodman said. “We’re not FEMA and we’re not the emergency declaration that a lot of people get with millions of dollars for recovery — ours are much smaller grants. But for rural museums and cultural centers, locales of education, schools, we were able to pitch in and help them… and this year, we’re not able to do that.”
The Trump administration has maintained moves like these are necessary to reduce wasteful spending and make federal government agencies more efficient.
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