Public safety nonprofits across New York City say they\u2019re scrambling to fill major funding gaps after the Trump administration terminated millions of dollars in antiviolence grants this year \u2014 and warn the city could face an uptick in violence if the money isn\u2019t replaced.<\/p>\n
Five organizations working in New York City to reduce gun violence, aid crime victims, house domestic violence survivors and counsel at-risk youth say the cuts have forced them to lay off staff and scale back services. The groups say those reductions have already hampered their ability to connect with the residents most affected by crime, and they worry recent progress in those neighborhoods could be jeopardized.<\/p>\n
Nearly 20 city-based organizations lost roughly $60 million in overall funding when the U.S. Department of Justice terminated more than $800 million in national grants, according to the nonprofit Council on Criminal Justice<\/a> and Reuters<\/a>. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi tweeted<\/a> in April the department was slashing \u201cmillions of dollars in wasteful grants,\u201d and mocked outreach programs for vulnerable people.<\/p>\n Cincere Wilson, a former \u201cpeace broker\u201d at Exodus Transitional Community in East Harlem who was laid off in April when the grant funding dried up, said some of the young people he\u2019d been mentoring landed in jail for offenses like gun possession and attempted murder after losing the structure and resources the organization provided them.<\/p>\n Before the cuts, Wilson and his colleagues would patrol the neighborhood into the night, aiming to diffuse tensions among youth and checking on their mentees. They also advocated for young people in the criminal justice system and led three group meetings a week with teens court-mandated into the program as an alternative to incarceration.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a few participants that I actually fear for their life if we are not there, because of the activities and stuff that they’re involved with,\u201d Wilson said. \u201c\u200aWhen they don’t spend the time with our programs and doing the things we have them do, then they’re in the street.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The same month Bondi announced the cuts, affected organizations received an email<\/a> stating the DOJ had \u201cchanged its priorities\u201d for discretionary grants to focus more on \u201claw enforcement operations\u201d and \u201ccombatting violent crime,\u201d according to a copy obtained by Gothamist.<\/p>\n Many of the grants were funded through the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act<\/a>, a landmark law meant to address root causes of crime and gun violence, such as mental health crises, racial disparities and a lack of economic opportunity.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was one of the first and most important pieces of legislation to address violence and gun crimes in decades,\u201d said Amy Solomon, a senior fellow at the Council on Criminal Justice who served as an assistant attorney general at DOJ under President Joe Biden. Organizations applied for violence intervention grants<\/a> on the promise they\u2019d receive the money into 2026.<\/p>\n But the Trump administration rescinded those and other public safety grants, upending groups\u2019 plans for using the funding. Besides community violence intervention, grants were earmarked<\/a> for policing and law enforcement as well as prisoner re-entry and corrections programs.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s unprecedented to cut off grants midstream en masse in this way,\u201d Solomon said.<\/p>\n DOJ grant cuts by the numbers<\/p>\n \u2018We\u2019re still doing what we can\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n A group of nonprofits, including the Brooklyn-based Vera Institute of Justice, challenged the cuts in federal court<\/a> in May. Mayor Eric Adams\u2019 administration and other local governments filed briefs backing the lawsuit, but a district court judge dismissed it<\/a> in July, saying while the cuts were \u201cshameful,\u201d the court lacked jurisdiction in the case.<\/p>\n The legal challenge could soon move to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims following an appeal ruling, according to Insha Rahman, vice president of advocacy and partnerships at Vera.<\/p>\n \u201cThe federal government exists \u2026 to invest in programs, services and solutions that actually work to make our lives better, and not to do the exact opposite of what the evidence tells us,\u201d Rahman said.<\/p>\n A CUNY study<\/a> on Exodus\u2019 peace brokers program found staff mediated more than 38 \u201chigh-risk\u201d conflicts and served more than 200 young people from 2023 to 2024. The study said that had a significant effect on shootings. And during that time, shootings in East Harlem\u2019s 25th Precinct<\/a> dropped by half, according to NYPD data.<\/p>\n The grant cancellation slashed the program, including $150 weekly stipends for participants as an incentive to attend meetings.<\/p>\n Even without the funding, laid-off employees like Wilson say their work is too important to give up, so they\u2019re putting in the same hours for no pay. They say they\u2019ve been struggling to afford food and rent.<\/p>\n \u201cI can’t have a 15- or 16-year-old kid saying, \u2018Hey, you know what? You failed me,\u2019\u201d Gregory Ellis, another former Exodus staffer, said in April. \u201cSo even though we don’t have any finances, we’re still doing what we can.\u201d<\/p>\n Exodus’ facility on East 123rd Street and Third Avenue in East Harlem<\/p>\n Brittany Kriegstein \/ Gothamist<\/p>\n In September, the Department of Justice put out a new call for $35 million in grants under the violence intervention initiative it had rolled back months earlier. But many of the groups that won funding in 2022 no longer appear eligible:<\/a> According to an application notice<\/a>, city, county and tribal governments can participate, with the grants tailored to \u201claw enforcement efforts to reduce violent crime and improve police-community relations.\u201d Community-based organizations that deploy credible messengers \u2014 trusted peers who use their own experiences with the criminal justice system to prevent violence \u2014 are effectively barred from direct funding.<\/p>\n DOJ spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre said its new grant guidelines will help the department double down on supporting law enforcement agencies and \u201censure the efficient use of taxpayer dollars.”<\/p>\n \u201cThe department has full faith that local law enforcement can effectively utilize these resources to restore public safety in cities across America,\u201d she said in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u2018Like a rock dropped on us\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n Staff at the five nonprofits Gothamist interviewed described a series of domino effects that rippled through their work and communities after the cuts.<\/p>\n When its $666,000 DOJ grant was revoked, the Bronx Osborne Gun Accountability and Prevention initiative could not accept as many young people into its yearlong diversion program offering cognitive behavioral therapy, mentorship, job training and intervention workshops in lieu of a prison sentence. The program<\/a> \u2014 developed by the nonprofit Osborne Association and the Bronx district attorney\u2019s office \u2014 serves teens and young adults charged with carrying guns in the borough and said<\/a> it lost a third of its funding due to the cuts.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was like a rock dropped on us,\u201d said Maurice De Freitas, a former program manager who was laid off along with one of the initiative\u2019s credible messengers.<\/p>\n Losing $200,000 in funding has made it harder for the Asiyah Women’s Center in Bay Ridge to provide legal services and health care to domestic violence survivors. Shaniyat Turani, the shelter\u2019s development programs specialist, said the city\u2019s domestic violence rates, which have spiked in recent years<\/a>, could worsen due to the cuts.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we’re taking away social benefits from people who need it the most, they’re often held captive by their abusers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a hard pill to swallow.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Tiffany Lamela, LIFE Camp executive director<\/p>\n Staff members at LIFE Camp<\/a>, an antiviolence organization based in Southeast Queens, say scaling back services after losing grant funding means the group no longer has enough money for street patrols on Mondays. Executive Director Tiffany Lamela pointed to the fatal shooting of 13-year-old Sanjay Samuel<\/a>, who authorities say was gunned down on a Monday morning in September by a 16-year-old during a fight<\/a> outside a Dunkin\u2019 store in Cambria Heights.<\/p>\n \u201cThere’s so many things that we might have been able to do. There would’ve been an actual person there to be able to deescalate, to prevent anything from happening,\u201d Lamela said. \u201cIt\u2019s a hard pill to swallow.\u201d<\/p>\n Cincere Wilson points at a whiteboard used for organizing mentees and workshops at Exodus’ office.<\/p>\n Brittany Kriegstein \/ Gothamist<\/p>\n Stalled momentum<\/b><\/p>\n\n
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