{"id":786663,"date":"2026-05-10T14:02:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T14:02:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/786663\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T14:02:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T14:02:29","slug":"chicago-health-department-leaves-federal-money-on-the-table","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/786663\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago health department leaves federal money on the table"},"content":{"rendered":"

Throughout last year, Mayor Brandon Johnson vowed to protect<\/a> Chicago\u2019s public health dollars from President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

But behind the scenes, his health commissioner<\/a> voluntarily returned tens of millions of dollars in COVID-19 grants to the federal government months before expiration \u2014 funds that could have gone to disease surveillance to help prepare for an outbreak or racial equity programming to improve health outcomes across the city.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Dr. Olusimbo Ige also terminated over two dozen Chicago Department of Public Health employees last fall despite Johnson emphatically drawing a line against layoffs and his Law Department successfully fending off threats from the White House to slash Chicago\u2019s federal funding thus far. Her actions unfolded alongside investigations of a hostile work environment and significant turnover among her employees.<\/p>\n

The outcome was self-inflicted, said a former CDPH epidemiologist who was let go in December and has filed pending retaliation and disability discrimination complaints against Ige.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I\u2019ve lost belief in the system,\u201d Hannah Matzke told the Tribune. \u201cI\u2019m so disheartened because these are people who should know better, and do know better. \u2026 I don\u2019t know how long Dr. Ige will be the commissioner, but I am afraid that she\u2019s making decisions that impact (CDPH) long term.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement on Friday, Ige defended her handling of the personnel cuts by saying she wanted to \u201ccoordinate\u201d the department\u2019s transition off multiple COVID grants, some of which did expire last year, with one restructuring that \u201cprioritized core functions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI managed a department during period of steep funding decline,\u201d she wrote. \u201cPeople were hurting and I did my best to provide information on the coming changes, but I could not save jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked whether the mayor\u2019s office approved of Ige\u2019s decisions, Johnson spokesperson Allison Novelo said the health department\u2019s handling of the situation was responsible budgeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur administration remains committed to protecting and expanding critical public health and violence prevention services while continuing to advocate for long-term progressive revenue solutions at the local, state, and federal levels,\u201d Novelo wrote in a Friday statement.<\/p>\n

Last summer, Ige informed the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the city would be sunsetting a host of COVID-19 grants early, according to a letter obtained by the Tribune via a public records request. That effectively sends the remaining money\u00a0back to the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cCDPH has achieved the goals and objectives associated with the awards listed above. There are limited opportunities for public engagement activities, staff attrition, and an inability to initiate new partnerships,\u201d Ige wrote on Aug. 27. \u201cAny remaining funds will be reconciled and returned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her letter requested the city\u2019s end date for the CDC\u2019s Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity program move up from July 31, 2026, to Dec. 31, 2025.<\/p>\n

But two of CDPH\u2019s biggest ELC grants still had a combined $94 million left at the time, according to an internal August spending report released in a public records request. The federal government\u2019s grant tracker says about $81.4 million in ELC funds for the city remains unspent as of this month.<\/p>\n

Among the uses for ELC money were supporting the city\u2019s wastewater surveillance program via a contract with Rush University Medical Center, which runs a genomic sequencing lab known as Regional Innovative Public Health Laboratory. Wastewater surveillance is a key way to track the prevalence of disease in the city.<\/p>\n

\"ResearchResearch assistant III Marisol Dominguez works with positive COVID samples at the Regional Innovative Public Health Laboratory at the Rush University’s Medical Center campus in Chicago on March 3, 2025. (Antonio Perez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

The grants also funded the city\u2019s Healthy Chicago Equity Zones, a program that began under then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot to address racial disparities by mobilizing public health ambassadors tailored to each community\u2019s specific needs.<\/p>\n

Healthy Southwest Director Jessica Biggs, one of the regional leads for the program, said CDPH informed her organization last fall that the initiative was ending in December due to lack of funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just abruptly ended without any plan for anything,\u201d Biggs, also an elected Chicago school board member, said. \u201cLots of folks in the funding community, mostly in philanthropy, are baffled that we would just let this go away. \u2026 It feels like a pretty big unfortunate miss.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to questions about specific programs, Ige\u2019s team on Friday provided the Tribune a copy of an October \u201cResilience Strategy\u201d briefing they said they presented to department employees. The slide deck listed Healthy Chicago Zones among the initiatives that ended in December due to \u201cgrant expiration\u201d but did not acknowledge that the ELC funds could have lasted until July of this year.<\/p>\n

Another CDC funding source known as the Public Health Infrastructure Grant, which doesn\u2019t conclude until next year, has $36.8 million of $42 million remaining in unspent funds, according to the federal tracker.\u00a0Ige responded to questions about that remainder with, \u201cWe are working on spending down fund balances, but we are not hiring additional staff on short-term grants that will need to be laid off when grants expire.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the coronavirus pandemic, local governments including Chicago received federal stimulus packages to tide over them over amid the health emergency. City officials knew the $1.9 billion under the American Rescue Plan Act would sunset around this time, presenting a thorny challenge for a department like CDPH that leans mostly on outside funding.<\/p>\n

\"FirstFirst Deputy Mayor for Community Safety Garien Gatewood, Mayor Brandon Johnson and Commissioner of Chicago Department of Public Health Dr. Olusimbo Ige at a City Hall media availability, Aug. 12, 2025. (Antonio Perez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

And although Johnson campaigned on a platform of restoring public health services, the city\u2019s steep budget deficits meant agencies like CDPH were expected to\u00a0eventually face reductions. City data show the department currently employs 595 people, about the same as the number of positions originally allocated in 2019.<\/p>\n

One former employee who was terminated in the last year said Ige\u2019s decisions further destabilized the health department.<\/p>\n

\u201cChicago is less safe with this health commissioner,\u201d the ex-staffer, who asked to remain anonymous to avoid retribution, said in a phone interview. \u201cShe has created a culture of fear among staff, has harmed partners and community members through these cuts \u2014 nonsensical cuts \u2014 and we are all suffering for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

About 200 CDPH employees have either been fired or quit since Ige began her tenure, while department leadership ranks have thinned. CDPH currently lacks a general counsel and has seen four deputy commissioners and seven assistant commissioners depart since 2024, employee records show.<\/p>\n

Former or current employees who spoke with the Tribune expressed similar alarm over the direction of the department since Johnson fired Dr. Allison Arwady, Lightfoot\u2019s health commissioner, and appointed Ige in 2023. They said that while local health agencies across the U.S. are buckling under the second Trump presidency, CDPH leadership has unnecessarily accelerated the gutting and harmed morale.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, the timeline above is just a sample of the culture of intimidation and bigotry that Commissioner lge has cultivated,\u201d wrote an anonymous staffer who filed a Department of Human Resources complaint in October. \u201c(She) has exposed Chicago government to significant and avoidable legal, financial, and reputational liability during what is already a challenging time for the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tensions within CDPH reached a boiling point last fall when Ige forged ahead with a controversial reorganization that included at least 20 employees losing their jobs amid her early sunsetting of federal grants.<\/p>\n

Another five high-ranking staffers whose jobs were funded by the city\u2019s corporate fund were terminated amid a \u201crestructuring\u201d \u2014 a move at odds with the pro-labor mayor\u2019s directives during the recent budget cycle. Johnson\u2019s budget director, Annette Guzman, had briefed reporters in October that his 2026 proposal had no structural layoffs, notwithstanding jobs funded by expiring federal grants.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany staff were blindsided to receive (reduction in force) notices later that same day despite being corporate-funded and\/or holding positions that appear in CDPH\u2019s 2026 budget proposal,\u201d read one complaint in November. \u201cOther impacted staff are supported by grants that do not expire until mid-2026, which Commissioner Ige chose not to spend despite a budget deficit facing the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ige disputed that the job cuts were a surprise to her staff, given that employees knew for years that these COVID grants were only temporary, and said all employees were given a \u201cnotice of grant expiration\u201d at least a year earlier.<\/p>\n

The mayor\u2019s spokesperson did not say whether Johnson\u2019s team was aware of or supported her personnel cuts at the time beyond noting individual \u201cdepartments were given the responsibility and flexibility to manage their budgets.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCDPH navigated the expiration of temporary federal pandemic-era funding as anticipated,\u201d Novelo wrote. \u201cAs federal funding priorities continue to shift, CDPH took steps to provide advance notice and support to impacted employees throughout this process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even those whose jobs and teams were spared expressed frustration at what they described as a chaotic reassignment, records of internal emails show. A CDPH director wrote in a January email thread that included Ige: \u201cI am going to pay the price for all of this \u2026 A lot of damage has been done to my team as it pertains to trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my twenty-four years of service, I have never seen the lay off process unfold as this one has,\u201d another staffer wrote in email correspondence with Ige.<\/p>\n

The disruption that ensued at one point included posters anonymously taped up to the walls in the office that read, per a photo obtained by the Tribune and verified by staffers, \u201cYou have rights!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Simbo Ige or her staff have made bigoted comments about you or people like you, and you are experiencing: discipline, interference with your funding, negative changes to your work assignment, threats & intimidation,\u201d read the flyer that went up in December. \u201cIt could be illegal retaliation \u2014 report it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Records from Ige\u2019s personnel file also show that earlier last year her staff was repeatedly scrubbing graffiti phrases from the women\u2019s bathroom such as \u201cNO Ige!!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am beginning to get my own hate mail,\u201d Ige wrote to her close aides in an Aug. 6 email, ending with a smiley face emoji. \u201cThis is familiar territory once staff changes start.\u201d<\/p>\n

The kerfuffle over who was scribbling those messages resulted in another HR complaint filed against Ige. The unnamed employee noted that Ige approached them that month to ask about the bathroom scribblings, repeating that she could \u201cfix\u201d it, while touching their shoulder.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt extremely uncomfortable being questioned in front of my colleagues and touched by someone who has insulted and threatened me repeatedly in the past,\u201d the complainant wrote.<\/p>\n

The staffer then alleged that since 2024, Ige has \u201csingled out staff with disabilities\u201d and stalled approval of their reasonable accommodation requests. Ige said, \u201cThis is where unions cannot protect you,\u201d during a 2024 all-hands meeting in which she insinuated her staffers were abusing telework, according to records.<\/p>\n

These accommodations are adjustments to working conditions that are required by law, but Matzke alleges Ige delayed approval of her renewal request for about half a year. She said she since filed complaints with the Illinois Department of Human Rights.<\/p>\n

In the November complaint, the employee reported Ige for saying, \u201cHow is someone disabled only on a Wednesday?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCommissioner Ige has repeatedly insulted, threatened, and attempted to access and share the private medical information of disabled staff, both individually and as a group,\u201d the staffer wrote. \u201cCommissioner Ige\u2019s conduct towards people with disabilities violates standards of both competence and ethics in public health.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked whether she made those comments on unions and disabilities, Ige said she could \u201conly recollect conversations about missing time,\u201d pointing to attendance reports she said showed employees absent for at least 35 hours.<\/p>\n

Then she blamed another department for any concerns over disability accommodations. \u201cDHR handles all requests, including approval and denial, of reasonable accommodations,\u201d Ige wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Throughout last year, Mayor Brandon Johnson vowed to protect Chicago\u2019s public health dollars from President Donald Trump. But…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":786664,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,5404,5386,1818,1370,50,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-786663","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-cook-county","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-illinois","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-politics"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116550654806415105","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=786663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/786664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}