By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Over the last two days, Dave Wigent has been racking his brain on how to provide services for Wood County residents on $10 million less than his budget had last week.
“It’s been a stressful 48 hours,” said Wigent, director of the Wood County Department of Job and Family Services.
Across Bowling Green, Wood County – and the entire nation – governmental agencies and non-profit organizations have been desperately trying to decipher the meaning of a memo sent out Monday by the White House about a federal funding freeze.
The order on Monday threatened to freeze trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans and sparked mass confusion across the country. A federal judge had temporarily blocked it on Tuesday.
The Trump administration had insisted that direct payments to Americans were not at risk. But the list of programs at risk named many that aid millions of individual Americans, like Medicaid and Head Start.
This afternoon, the order was “rescinded” by the administration – but questions linger and mixed messages from the White House have some wondering when the next freeze may be forecasted.
The programs on the chopping block had been identified by Trump’s Office of Management and Budget for examination to ensure they do not “advance Marxist equity, transgenderism and Green New Deal social engineering policies.”
In Wood County, the programs at risk deliver meals to seniors in their homes, provide early education to children, and help low income residents make home repairs.
As Wood County JFS staff tried to add up the impact, the numbers kept growing, finally hitting about $10 million a year.
“The problem is we are receiving conflicting information,” Wigent said. While a White House spokesperson said SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) would not be touched, the food assistance appeared on the list of programs to be paused.
“There’s a great deal of confusion,” he said.
Based on Monday’s memo, the local JFS staff has been working to identify the most at-risk funds – zeroing in on Children’s Services, employment services, child support enforcement, SNAP, Medicaid, and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families.
Wigent questioned the wide swath of programs identified to have funds halted in order to weed out Democratic initiatives and “woke things.” The list of funds to be frozen included 44 veterans programs and at least 100 agricultural programs, including crop insurance.
“I’ve never thought of agricultural programs as particularly ‘woke,’” Wigent said.
On Tuesday, some agencies found their funding no longer available to them.
A memo from the budget office said that Head Start preschool programs were exempt from the funding freeze. But providers reported Tuesday that their payment portal had been shut down, and some planned to close their doors.
Officials with the White House budget office also said that Medicaid funding was not affected. But states reported that the program’s payment portal was not working Tuesday.
One of the programs identified nationally as being under a microscope was the home-delivered meals that are a mainstay for many seniors. As of this morning, before the order was rescinded, the Wood County Committee on Aging remained dedicated to delivering food to seniors’ doors.
“At the current time, we have not been told we can’t serve meals,” said Nancy Orel, interim director of WCCOA. “We’re in communication with the Area Office on Aging. We’re in a wait and see period right now.”
Also seeking answers this morning was Brent Baer, superintendent of the Wood County Board of Developmental Disabilities.
“At this time we don’t have anything definitive,” Baer said. “We haven’t received any communication. We are keeping our eyes open.”
Cuts to federal grant funding could affect a lot of people using Wood Lane services, he said. The early intervention program for children 3 years and younger relies on federal funds, as do some of the agency’s home and community based programs.
Baer pointed out that the demand for Wood Lane services continues to grow. In the last 10 years, the organization’s enrollment has gone from 800 to nearly 1,400.
“We have a significant number of people and their families who are very dependent on our services,” he said.
The same can be said for Wood County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services, where Executive Director Amanda Kern was trying to get her hands on details of the funding freeze plan.
“We don’t know the direct impact yet to mental health or substance abuse services,” Kern said. The board contracts with several local service providers that receive federal grants.
“Everybody’s in a holding pattern,” she said.
And the mixed messages on Medicaid funding didn’t help.
“If those payments are stopped, that would be concerning,” she said.
But Kern expressed the WCADAMHS’ commitment to local residents. “We still remain committed to the addiction and mental health services for Wood County.”
At Wood County Health Department, Commissioner Ben Robison said services like those offered at the Community Health Center, WIC (Women, Infants and Children) and public health emergency planning could potentially be affected.
“We don’t know anything for sure,” Robison said. But if the funding freeze was just a temporary pause, those services would continue. “We are in a position to provide those services.”
Bowling Green City Schools Superintendent Ted Haselman said he received an email early Wednesday from the Ohio Department of Education trying to calm fears of school districts.
“All this is coming so fast and heavy. Sometimes it’s hard to keep up,” when there are more questions than answers, Haselman said.
Bowling Green Municipal Administrator Lori Tretter said city staff had been gathering information on the possible impact of the proposed federal cuts to city services. While relieved at the order being rescinded, there are some lingering concerns.
City programs getting federal grant funding include BG Transit ($258,000), Community Development Block Grants ($282,000), BG Housing Authority rental subsidies ($471,000), Arbor Day Canopy Program ($400,000) and participation in the Wood County Community Housing Improvement Program ($1.35 million for the county.)
“There may be more, we just don’t know just yet,” Tretter said, explaining that some other funding threads may be connected to federal funds. “The lack of information was very challenging.”
At the Cocoon – a domestic and sexual violence agency providing shelter and advocacy services to survivors in Bowling Green – Executive Director Kathy Mull said the pause or stripping of federal funding could have dire consequences.
“That would definitely affect our services,” Mull said. “There would be large ripple effects in the safety net for survivors.”
Mark Ohashi, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Wood County, has been told by Habitat Ohio officials that it wasn’t known if the ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds that had already been awarded to the local Habitat by the Wood County commissioners would be cut.
“It’s unclear how the freeze would impact Ohio ARPA funds,” Ohashi said.
Wood County Emergency Management Agency Director Jeff Klein said his office could have lost a big chunk of its funding if the cuts had gone into effect.
“FEMA has a bucket of money that it gives to states,” and about half of the Wood County EMA funding comes from that, Klein said. “That’s going to be a big hit.”
At the Great Lakes Community Action Partnership, with federal funding making up 90% of its budget, cuts to federal grant funding would touch “virtually everything we do,” President and CEO Ruthann House said.
“It was a pretty harrowing 36 hours,” until the order was rescinded this afternoon, she said.
The agency had been locked out of funding for its Head Start program, and HUD supported services.
“That was a big scare. We’re all just finally breathing at this point,” House said.
Messaging from the White House leaves questions about the looming threats about funds being frozen.
On Wednesday, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, emailed the following statement after the retraction of the funding memo:
“In light of the injunction, OMB has rescinded the memo to end any confusion on federal policy created by the court ruling and the dishonest media coverage. The executive orders issued by the president on funding reviews remain in full force and effect and will be rigorously implemented by all agencies and departments. This action should effectively end the court case and allow the government to focus on enforcing the president’s orders on controlling federal spending. In the coming weeks and months, more executive action will continue to end the egregious waste of federal funding.”
