The Trump Administration notified the state and local nonprofits that it has pulled more than $10 million in grants that fund substance abuse, addiction and mental health services throughout Connecticut, according to the CT Community Nonprofit Alliance.
The alliance, which represents hundreds of nonprofit providers across the state, said the administration notified the state and nonprofit officials overnight about the cuts, which are effective immediately.
NPR reported that the administration sent hundreds of termination letters for federal grants supporting health services across the country on Tuesday night. NPR said sources believed the total cuts to nonprofit groups could reach up to $2 billion, but could not independently confirm the scale of the grant cancellation.
The CT Community Nonprofit Alliance said in a news release that it is still assessing the situation on Wednesday, but Alliance President and CEO Gian-Carl Casa said the impact is a potential catastrophe for thousands of people.
“Nonprofit providers have struggled for decades with underfunding. Providers are still evaluating the total impact, but we know that without necessary funding, many programs will simply cease to operate and lives will be lost,” Casa said in a statement.
“The priority of any government should be the promotion and protection of the wellbeing of the people who live, raise families and pay taxes in its jurisdiction,” Casa continued. “It is hard to understand the Administration’s rationale that programs that literally save lives are not a priority and can be eliminated.”
The statewide alliance said the cuts include an estimated $9 million to frontline substance abuse treatment and mental health awareness, school-based trauma, peer support and family support programs provided by some of the state’s largest providers, including Wheeler Clinic, McCall Behavioral Health, CHR, Rushford and Bridges Healthcare.
The alliance said the Trump Administration made additional cuts to other state-funded programs.
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, issued a statement on Wednesday, saying that U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. canceled billions of dollars in Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration grants. The grants provide resources for overdose prevention, addiction recovery and mental health services.
“These cuts will cost lives,” DeLauro, who is the top Democrat of the House Appropriations Committee, said. “Throughout his tenure, Secretary Kennedy has done nothing to make Americans safer, and everything to place us in more danger. Restricting vaccine access, calling into question proven treatments for diseases, and now stripping communities of the resources they need to prevent drug overdoses and treat addiction.”
DeLauro called the cuts “senseless and unconscionable” and called for the administration to “immediately reverse these cancellations of critical grants.”
“We have an addiction and mental health crisis in this country that spares no family and yet, this administration is decimating the programs that help children, their families, and adults that are in recovery,” DeLauro continued. “We prioritized investments in treatment and prevention to address these crises, and we succeeded: overdose deaths fell for the past two years. This destruction threatens to reverse that progress.
“This abrupt cancellation highlights the urgent need to pass full-year spending bills to protect this funding, and ensure communities throughout the nation have the resources to provide treatment for those who need it,” DeLauro concluded.
Gov. Ned Lamont also issued a statement about the cuts, demanding the federal government reinstate the grants.
“The Trump administration’s recent decision to arbitrarily cut funding for mental health and substance use programs across Connecticut and the nation threatens essential services that countless Americans depend on,” Lamont said. “Halting previously promised funding creates unnecessary anxiety and jeopardizes care for some of our most vulnerable residents, especially those seeking help. As we evaluate the full impact, we demand the federal government reverse course on these dire cuts and ensure those seeking critical resources have access to them.”
Casa said the alliance will be asking Lamont to use the emergency fund, designed to protect residents against cuts by the federal government, to save these programs.
“The good news for Connecticut is that our legislature has created a $500 million fund that is immediately available to the governor to back fill these vital programs,” Casa said.
The legislation allows the Office of Policy and Management to use the fund to respond to any action, or inaction, by the federal government that results in a reduction of funding in various areas, including health care, housing assistance and the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or SNAP. Before spending any of the funds, the governor must provide notice to six top-ranking leaders in the Senate and House of Representatives – four Democrats and two Republicans – who can block the usage by a majority vote.
This story includes previous reporting from staff writer Alex Putterman.
This article originally published at Trump admin’s cuts to mental health, substance abuse funding ‘will cost lives,’ officials say.
