Catholic Charities agencies in the USA are still affected by funding

More local agencies of Catholic Charisies throughout the United States have been forced this week to fire employees and close programs as a result of the freezing of federal aid funds promulgated last month by the administration of President Donald Trump.

Catholic Charisies of Florida, Texas and Kansas spoke this week about how the freezing of funds has impacted the efforts of both specific programs and the entire agency.

Since President Trump issued a directive that stops all foreign aid during a 90 -day review, federal funds have been blocked for Catholic Charities programs throughout the United States, which especially affects service programs for migrants and refugees.

Texas Catholic Charities announces the closure of your refugee program

Catholic Charisies of the Texas Panhandle announced on Monday that he had made the decision “with great regret” of indefinitely suspend his refugee relocation program.

“Catholic Charisies has proudly helped refugees that the United States Department of State legally authorized to settle here since the mid -1970s,” said the organization in a press release, According to local press reports. “We offer our most sincere thanks to the organizations and people who have associated with us to provide this ministry during the last 50 years.”

“We ask our community partners to help our team and our clients during this difficult time of transition,” added the organization, also pointing out that it will transfer the program personnel to other departments within the agency.

Catholic Charities Jacksonville despide a 26 personas

Similarly, Catholic Charisies Jacksonville said Wednesday that he had fired 26 employees of the Florida refugee program after the freezing of funds caused his office not to receive reimbursement for the services he had already provided in November, According to a local report.

The agency would be supposed to receive more than $ 600,000 in federal funds for the program.

The agency’s executive director, Anita Hassell, said in the report that the organization was forced to fire employees without compensation after the executive order.

Now, Catholic Charisies seeks to compensate for the freezing of funds appealing to donors.

“What we have done in each of the programs we have is to leave someone who can collect the loose ends, and we have been calling our donors and talking with foundations to see if we can receive money for direct assistance so that we can continue providing them with what they need,” said Hassel in the report.

Catholic Charities in Kansas makes an urgent aid

Catholic Charisies of Southwest Kansas issued an “urgent call for support” after the federal government blocked the reimbursements that it was hired to receive for its program of help to migrants, which resulted in a financial crisis throughout the agency.

“In recent weeks, our community and our nation have faced unprecedented challenges due to the new executive orders that affect the United States refugee intake program and foreign aid,” said executive director Debbie Snapp in a letter addressed to those who support the organization. “The freezing of crucial funds represents a critical threat to Catholic Charisies of Southwest Kansas and our ability to continue helping those in need.”

Snapp said in an interview with CNA – Ewtn News agency – that the organization hoped to receive about $ 500,000 in reimbursements of both organizations combined for December and January.

“It seems really disappointing because we have had very good alliances with our federal financing partners,” he said. “All that idea of ​​a public-private alliance has worked very well in our communities.”

Snapp explained that the small agency of the southwest of Kansas manages “quite tight margins”, so when the financing for its migrant program was blocked, the agency was forced to use other unattended funds, as well as donor funds, to pay their accounts.

As a result, said Snapp, operations throughout the agency are affected: “The things we would do, such as emergency assistance, rent assistance, payment of public service invoices, we cannot do that for anyone in the community at this time.”

“Last Tuesday a man visited my office,” he recalls. “I had just completed a treatment program and needed a reception center. I had to pay a small rental amount in the reception center. ”

“We had to tell him that not because we don’t have the funds to pay that because we are only trying to pay the invoices we have every month,” he said. The agency is now struggling to find ways to provide rental help as the first day of the month is approaching.

While the agency anticipated that it would have to make changes in the services it would provide to migrants under the Trump administration, SNAPP said the agency was not prepared for abrupt freezing, having received approximately 70 migrants in the 30 days prior to the inauguration.

“We had given us some guarantees that we were going to have administrative funds for the rest of the fiscal year until the end of September so that we could finish these programs and fulfill our obligations, in particular with the newcomers who arrived just 30 days before the freezing occurred,” he said.

According to SNAPP, the agency plans to continue providing services to immigrants, including labor assistance and English classes, “because we hope that if fund freezing is raised and we have those funds, we can still provide services to people.” Last year, he said, the agency provided services to approximately 1,500 people.

As reported CNA last week, the local agencies of Catholic Charisies in Dallas, Syracuse (New York) and Santa Rosa (California) were also forced to say goodbye and reduce program operations due to freezing.

Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in CNA.