LOWELL — Amid the Trump administration’s makes an attempt to drastically lower authorities spending, a neighborhood nonprofit was knowledgeable by the Division of Justice this week it might be shedding $2 million in grant funding in the course of the grants’ cycles.
UTEC, a Lowell-based nonprofit geared toward group violence prevention and intervention, introduced Wednesday the DOJ is slicing almost $2 million in Group Violence Intervention Grants beforehand awarded to the group.
In an announcement from UTEC, the nonprofit mentioned they had been knowledgeable by the DOJ Tuesday of the termination of two grant contracts awarded in 2021 and 2023 for group violence intervention companies. With the extra lack of DOJ awards to legislation enforcement and different nonprofits to which UTEC was a subgrantee, the nonprofit is shedding $2 million in federal funding.
“The Department of Justice’s decision to immediately cancel hundreds of grants, including critical funding for gun violence prevention and community-based intervention programs, is deeply disappointing,” mentioned UTEC CEO Gregg Croteau in an announcement Wednesday. “This negatively impacts our communities in a time where we are working so intentionally to combat the harms that affect our young people. These cuts directly affect communities like ours across the country that are working to prevent violence and who are working to support young people most at risk.”
Croteau mentioned the applications UTEC had funded by these grants are “highly effective.”
“We know that these programs are highly effective because we do this work everyday–in partnership with a variety of other community based organizations, law enforcement and correctional facilities. We know the impact of this sustained investment in community-based approaches to gun violence protection,” mentioned Croteau. “Cutting off funding to programs like these, midway through grant cycles, with no warning, undermines trust, stability, and progress. We must continue to support the community-rooted solutions that have been proven effective. Today, we call on federal leaders to act and ensure that funding decisions reflect the urgent need of our communities.”
The DOJ letter mentioned the grant funding “no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities” because the reasoning for termination, Croteau mentioned in a telephone name Wednesday.
The DOJ didn’t return a request for remark from The Solar Wednesday afternoon.
Croteau mentioned they acquired the information from the DOJ at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, and that UTEC nonetheless must take a while to evaluate the sensible impacts of shedding this funding.
“Obviously we are committed to making sure we are still standing alongside our young adults and doing the work,” mentioned Croteau.
The problem just isn’t about UTEC, neither is it distinctive to the Lowell nonprofit, Croteau mentioned, with tons of of organizations throughout the nation getting the identical information Tuesday.
“This is not about UTEC, we are just one of many that are getting cut. This is about the entire field, and our commitment to public safety and young adults,” mentioned Croteau.
DOJ officers got here to UTEC’s Lowell headquarters beneath the Biden administration in 2023 to announce the second award of Group Violence Intervention Grants, together with 4 different Massachusetts organizations which acquired a complete of $5 million. These had been Roca Inc., Suffolk College, the Boston Public Health Fee and Health Sources in Motion Inc.
When UTEC acquired that award, Croteau mentioned the funding can be used to assist the group’s road and jail outreach applications, in addition to supporting younger grownup academic employment programming.
The funding was given by way of reimbursements for associated bills by UTEC. With the cancelation, Croteau mentioned some bills made for the reason that starting of April are prone to go with out reimbursement from the grants. UTEC is prone to enchantment the cancelation of the grant, Croteau mentioned, they usually have been in communication with different comparable organizations in and out of doors of Massachusetts since they obtained the information.
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