Catalyst Weekly Policy Briefing Issue VII: Courts, Cuts, and Community Costs

Hello again.

Here’s a look at what happened this week. (Catch up on our previous installments of this briefing here.)

 

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

• As of Thursday evening, Senate Democrats were divided, but appeared prepared to vote for the government funding bill passed by a unified Republican House. This “full year” continuing resolution will fund the government through September 30 at minimal levels. Democrats prefer a shorter stop-gap that would leave room to reinstate higher funding levels before the end of the budget year. If a bill is not passed by midnight Friday, a government shutdown will go into effect, a result both parties would like to avoid.
• A federal judge ordered agencies on Thursday to rehire tens of thousands of probationary employees who were fired from roles at the Defense, Treasury, Energy, Interior, Agriculture, and Veterans Affairs departments. The ruling noted that the Office of Personnel Management, which terminated them, does not have the authority to do so. While this ruling reinstates employees fired by the OPM, individual agencies can still choose to reduce their workforce. Meanwhile, federal agencies are set to submit plans for mass layoffs by Thursday according to an earlier mandate from the administration.

 

CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT

• On March 8, Climate United sued the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for illegally withholding grant dollars awarded from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, created as part of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022. Before the money was withheld, Climate United was in charge of administering $6.97 billion for clean energy projects in underserved communities.
• EPA Secretary Zeldin announced that the agency will consider a slate of deregulation actions. Most would require legislative action and face numerous legal challenges. The agency released details of the 31 actions it will pursue, including reversing the 2009 greenhouse gas endangerment finding that is the key legal basis for actions to address climate change.
• Zeldin also directed the closure of all EPA environmental justice offices, including the national environmental justice office and ten regional offices in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City, Denver, San Francisco, and Seattle.

 

IMMIGRATION

• The Justice Department has asked the Supreme Court to allow the administration to move forward with its efforts to limit birthright citizenship. Ten lawsuits have been brought against the administration, and lower courts in three of them have issued universal injunctions that halt the limitations nationwide. The administration argues that the lower court rulings should only apply to the relevant plaintiffs in each case.
• On January 20, all reception and placement services for refugees were halted, effectively ending refugee resettlement. Four organizations operating in San Diego and Imperial Counties work to welcome newly arrived refugees and provide them with 90 days of federally-funded support, serving several hundred individuals. Now that funds are no longer available, nonprofits are left to do their best to meet the needs through other avenues.
• Following the recently announced layoff of over 100 shelter staff at Jewish Family Service of San Diego, Catholic Charities of San Diego announced that 72 people working in San Diego and Imperial Counties working in their refugee services and migrant respite shelter department will be laid off.

 

EDUCATION

• The Education Department eliminated close to half of its staff (1,300 employees) with a heavy toll on student aid, research, and civil rights departments. The layoffs also include hundreds of attorneys that investigate discrimination complaints and around half of the Office of Federal Student Aid.
• Attorneys General from 20 states, including California, and the District of Columbia, sued the administration on Thursday over these layoffs. This lawsuit joins two other lawsuits against the Education Department for their threats to cut funding to schools and freezing of grant payments.
• San Diego Unified School District set up a Federal Budget Watch on its website to track impacts of federal funding cuts to the district. So far, $200,000 for teacher training and $12 million for school buses are listed.

 

TAKEAWAYS: WHAT PHILANTHROPY CAN DO

• Check in with your grantees and be ready to let them know what you are doing, even if you have not yet landed on a plan or if they’ll receive less funding this year. Just knowing there are lines of communication open will help assuage fear or confusion.
• Register for our 100 Days Funder Briefing with Philanthropy California. This virtual session on March 25, 10:00 a.m., will spotlight how organizations are adapting their strategies in response to new challenges and emerging opportunities.
• Nonprofits need support to sustain their workforce. Consider providing access to emergency (short-term recoverable grant) funding to sustain payroll if needed. Send your grantees a microgrant that allows them to provide for staff wellbeing. Do it with no application and no reporting.
• If you want to specifically learn about which organizations are working to support refugee families, please contact us.
• Join our virtual Binational Migration Funders Meeting on Monday, March 17 at 2:30 p.m. to learn more about the role philanthropy can play in ensuring dignity, safety, and support for asylum seekers, refugees, and immigrants.

 

RESOURCES 

• Protecting Communities and Essential Programming through Partnerships & Mergers highlights strategic options, from program collaborations to full mergers, to strengthen resilience in the nonprofit sector by examining different ways for organizations to sustain their work. Register through the Nonprofit Quarterly to attend this webinar on March 27 at 11 a.m.
• “Embracing Philanthropy’s Risky Business,” published by Stanford Social Innovation Review in 2017, provides guidance on how to approach setting up contingency funding, including how to communicate with grantees about what it is for and how they can access it.
• National Council on Nonprofits’ Chart of Executive Orders is an updated brief on the executive orders that impact nonprofits.
• Policy 101 – How Funders Can Engage in and Support Advocacy webinar presented by Funders Together to End Homelessness on March 27 will share a clear overview of how public and private foundations can engage directly in advocacy, as well as funding nonprofits to do so

 

Talk to you next week,

Megan Thomas
President & CEO
Catalyst of San Diego & Imperial Counties