SLO County nonprofits prepare for the worst under Trump federal funding freeze
As federal judges fight the Trump administration over its national funding freeze, San Luis Obispo County nonprofits are experiencing the impacts of potentially permanent budget cuts firsthand — and preparing for the worst.
Since taking office on Jan. 20, President Donald Trump has signed dozens of executive orders slashing funding for things like diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and climate goals.
One week into his presidency, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget issued a sweeping memo that required all agencies to identify and pause funding to programs that didn’t comply with a string of Trump’s executive orders, “including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology and the green new deal.”
The memo called for a temporary freeze on all federal fund distributions during a two-week review period, blocking federal agencies from issuing new awards and disbursing open awards. The memo also included a blanket statement prohibiting “other relevant agency actions that may be implicated by the executive orders.”
In immediate response, attorneys general from 22 states — including California Attorney General Rob Bonta — formed a coalition to sue the Trump administration and block the funding freeze.
Nevertheless, on Feb. 10, the federal judge that blocked the freeze found that the Trump administration continued to suspend federal grants in violation of the court order, NBC reported.
The budget office memo was ultimately rescinded, but White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt posted on X that the move was “NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze,” only the memo, and that the freeze will “remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented.”
The courts are continuing to fight the administration’s defiance, but in the meantime, nonprofits across SLO County are suffering the consequences.
“Every single one of our programs is threatened by these cuts,” Jennifer Adams, CEO of Lumina Alliance, told The Tribune.
While federal funding taps haven’t been completely turned off yet, Trump’s directives have created a landscape of uncertainty for many organizations that rely on government grants, nonprofit leaders told The Tribune.
Some have said their organizations have stopped hearing from their federal benefactors all together.
“It’s really, really disheartening to be in complete darkness on what next steps are, where the funds are,” Rita Casaverde, director of the Diversity Coalition, told The Tribune. “That’s definitely (the) immediate concern, but we know that it’s only going to get worse.”
Nonprofits receive radio silence from federal agencies over promised future grant funds
With three offices across SLO County, Lumina Alliance supports survivors of sexual assault and intimate partner violence through multiple services including emergency shelters, transitional housing, a 24-hour crisis line, therapy, advocacy and prevention programs. Lumina serves more than 2,000 victims a year and 1,000 more people who used services via their prevention program.
Of Lumina’s over $5 million budget, 47% comes from federal funds, Adams said. That’s nearly $2.9 million threatened.
Lumina receives federal dollars from a variety of agencies both directly — from the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice — and indirectly — from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Housing and Urban Development — as grants distributed through local and state governments.
But since Trump took office, it’s been radio silence from all of them.
“Really, they aren’t talking to us,” Adams said.
Lumina’s current federal contracts haven’t been interrupted, but Adams was notified by the state domestic violence service provider coalition and the California Department of Public Health that future funding for their domestic violence prevention and education program was suspended.
Lumina has two multi-year contracts with the CDC totaling $290,000 to fund the program for the upcoming year, one of which ended in January and the other which is set to sunset at the end of February. Adams was told by the public health department and the state coalition that both contracts are currently “up in the air, and so we aren’t supposed to do any work on them,” she said.
If the funding freeze takes permanent hold, Lumina stands to lose more than $1 million over the next four years from its CDC grants alone.
Lumina was also in the process of reapplying for a transitional housing grant for $550,000 over three years through the Office on Violence Against Women, which is a part of the Department of Justice, when the application was suddenly taken offline, Adams said.
Lumina has relied on the grant for the past decade to support 16 transitional housing units in the county. Come October, their current contract will expire.
“We have no idea whether it’s going to be put back up, whether they’re just going to get rid of it,” Adams said.
Diversity Coalition San Luis Obispo County — which focuses on education and advocacy around DEI issues, including climate equity — is in a similar situation.
The Diversity Coalition receives 30% of its budget from federal sources, mainly from the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency. The DOE posted the court order prohibiting the agency from freezing funds on its website, but hasn’t seemed to be following it, according to Casaverde.
The Diversity Coalition is currently waiting on the second installment of a $95,000 from the DOE awarded last year, but similarly to Lumina, Casaverde said the group has heard nothing from its contacts at the agency since the inauguration.
The coalition was in the process of reapplying for an EPA grant when the agency went silent, Casaverde said.
“We’re not expecting any response from them now,” Casaverde said.
Now, following other reports of federal websites being taken down for containing flagged keywords, she said the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy webpage that listed one of the coalition’s climate-related projects about building electrification has been taken down entirely, sending users back to the agency’s homepage after briefly flashing a 403 Error message.
“Every week last month we saw something else disappear,” Casaverde said.
The only responses Casaverde has received are automated messages from the DOE, and at least two contacts at the EPA have told her they may leave their jobs in the coming weeks as a result of buyout offers from the Trump administration, so they couldn’t help.
The coalition is concerned with how its other federal funds might be reevaluated, too.
“DEI is in our mission, so we expect to be targeted heavily there, too,” Casaverde said.
Lumina also holds DEI as a top commitment, and while this will mostly likely be considered during its contract reviews, the organization is standing firmly on its beliefs, Adams said.
“We will not be changing how we do business, how we hold up the values of diversity, equity and inclusion in order to be in compliance, and my board of directors is 100% behind that decision,” Adams said.
You can call Lumina’s 24-hour crisis and information line at 805-545-8888.
The Tribune reached out to the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, California Department of Public Health, Office on Violence Against Women and the White House for comment, but did not receive a response from any agency.
Among chaos and confusion, nonprofits are preparing for the worst
With multiple pending court decisions and a flood of executive orders, it is hard to know if the Trump administration is just blowing hot air, or if the funding freezes should be taken seriously.
“It’s pretty emotional” and “pretty scary,” Adams said. “It’s heartbreaking to think that we may have to lose staff and we may not be able to provide service.”
Lumina is not currently taking any action to suspend its services, but that may not be the case in the future if these freezes take hold.
Right now, the organization is focused on raising additional funds to offset federal cuts. They have launched a fundraising campaign and just added a third night to their sold-out fundraising event Dancing with our Stars in early May.
“All of us are going to be impacted,” Adams said. “I don’t think people realize the safety net that nonprofits provide in the community, and what will happen if were not here or able to serve at our current levels.”
Other organizations like Community Action Partnership of SLO County, Transitions Mental Health Association and One Cool Earth have said access to their federal funds have not been frozen — yet — but they are worried about the availability for federal grants in the future.
San Luis Obispo city spokesperson Whitney Szentesi said the city hasn’t needed to pause any federally supported services, including administering DEI grants, and it reaffirmed DEI among its 2025-27 Financial Plan goals.
Either way, nonprofits and local leaders are bracing for the worst-case scenario.
“We can assume it will impact all budgets, and I think we can assume that as a rural county, there will be all kinds of funding at stake,” Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg told The Tribune.
If the current situation holds, Casaverde estimates that the freeze will affect 10% of the Diversity Coalition’s 2025 budget, and all of it in 2026.
The Diversity Coalition only has about about a six-month runway of federal funds, Casaverde said. If its grants haven’t kicked back in at that point, the group would have to reevaluate its programs and consider cutting jobs.
“This is going to have a hit on the economy of our county, and it affects all of us,” Casaverde said. “I can imagine being in the tens of millions of dollars not getting to our local community through nonprofits.”
If it comes to that, there might not be much SLO County’s local government could do to mitigate the economic impacts.
“We just don’t have a place where we could borrow money to simply do economic support,” Supervisor Bruce Gibson told The Tribune.
Gibson said two-thirds of the county’s budget comes from federal funds. The county is already dealing with a projected budget deficit in the future, and if federal funds remain frozen, the county stands to lose “way more” money than nonprofits might, he said.
Ortiz-Legg said if it comes down to it, “we would work really hard to find a way to help the most vulnerable folks in our community that are served by nonprofits.”
But still, it’s simply too early to tell, and all there is to do at this point is to evaluate potential impact, plan accordingly and wait.
“Under the guise of ‘government efficiency,’ an unelected billionaire is making decisions that are harming people both globally and in our own community,” Supervisor Jimmy Paulding said. “If this administration follows through on their threats to blatantly defy court orders, I believe the American people will rise up like never before.“
