By JACK BROOK and CLAUDIA LAUER, Associated Press

A deaf mother trying to escape her abusive husband came to a domestic violence shelter seeking help, but she couldn’t communicate fluently with American Sign Language.

Shelter workers contacted Activating Change, a group that can provide sign language interpreters who are trained to help people experiencing trauma. Over the course of the year in the shelter, the woman worked with the interpreter to file for divorce, gain custody of her children, heal with therapy, and find a job and housing.

“Our superpower is adaptability, and having access to services like Activating Change allows us to have that,” said Marjie George, developmental director at the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services shelter.

Activating Change, which helps people with disabilities navigate the criminal justice system, was one of hundreds of organizations that received a notice on April 22 that the Department of Justice was canceling grants they had received through the Office of Justice Programs. More than 350 grants initially worth more than $800 million were ended midstream, sparking layoffs and program closures.

The disabilities nonprofit had to lay off nearly half its 26 workers after the government canceled $3 million in direct grants, about $1 million of which had already been spent, and ended pass-through grants from other organizations.

Amy Solomon, former assistant attorney general who oversaw the Office of Justice Programs and now a senior fellow at the Council on Criminal Justice, called said the cuts touched on every aspect of the department’s portfolio.

“This is highly unusual,” Solomon said. “You expect any administration to have their own priorities, and to implement that in future budget years and with future awards. You would not expect it to be grants that have already been granted, obligated or awarded to be pulled back.”

The Office of Justice Programs typically awards nearly $4 billion in grants annually.

It was unclear how much money it would take back since some of the rescinded grants were initially awarded as far back as 2021. Grantees were locked out of the financial system a few days before they were due to be reimbursed for already completed work.

How the Justice Department planned to reallocate whatever money is returned was also unclear. Some came from dedicated pots of funding, including from the Victims of Crime Act, which collects fines and penalties in federal cases for programs serving crime victims.

A department spokesperson did not respond to questions about the cuts.

The cancellation notices noted that grant holders had 30 days to appeal. As of Friday, the department had reversed course on a handful of grants, restoring some funding.

Law enforcement priorities

The cancellation letters obtained by The Associated Press explained the cuts by saying the department had changed its priorities to focus on “more directly supporting certain law enforcement operations, combatting violent crime, protecting American children, and supporting American victims of trafficking and sexual assault.”

But advocates, researchers and leaders in criminal justice said many grants served those purposes. Some cuts seemed to target programs that were started by or were a priority under the Biden administration, such as grants for violence intervention programs. But others appeared to target priorities under Trump’s first administration, including elder abuse and financial exploitation.

While cities and law enforcement agencies largely escaped direct cuts, many are feeling the impacts of cancellations to partner programs.

In a scathing briefing Wednesday, New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin noted nearly $13 million in ongoing program funding to the state was canceled.

“To say, ‘We’re going to cut programs that protect people from bias, that help people with opioid addiction, that keep guns off our streets’ — it’s irresponsible, it’s reckless, it’s dangerous, and it’s going to get people killed,” Platkin said.

The cancellations included funding for research organizations that create standards for training or data collection and provide resources for smaller law enforcement agencies.

Three grants to the Police Executive Research Forum were cut, including a study of police plans and responses to protests to develop practices for preventing civil disturbances. And the National Policing Institute lost grants that provided technical assistance to rural police departments and support for improving relationships between police and communities of color.

Mandated functions

A handful of the canceled grants paid for services intertwined with government functions mandated by law, including required audits under the Prison Rape Elimination Act.

Impact Justice, which lost millions, had created and managed the PREA Resource Center for more than a decade. The center has had a hand in nearly every aspect of the implementation and management of the federal regulations from the online audit platform, auditor certification, and developing trainings for auditors, prison officials and others.

“It’s a collaborative relationship, but we are the ones that execute the work and have the systems and maintain the systems,” said Michela Bowman, Vice President of Impact Justice and senior advisor to the PREA Resource Center.

She explained that the center designed and owns the audit software and data collection systems.

“I can’t tell you what the DOJ plans to do in the alternate,” said Alex Busansky, president and founder of Impact Justice.

Safety and victim services

Nonprofits that provide services to crime victims also lost grants. Advocates say many cuts will impact public safety, like the elimination of funding for the national crime victims hotline or the loss of a grant to the International Association of Forensic Nurses to provide technical assistance and training to SANE— Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners— in underserved areas.

“It’s very important for a survivor to be able to access a rape exam done by a SANE nurse. It’s vital,” said Ilse Knecht, director of policy and advocacy at The Joyful Heart Foundation, and who oversees the agency’s efforts to track and combat a national backlog in untested forensic rape kits.

Grants that directly address the backlog seemed to be safe for now, but she said services offered to survivors are essential.

“When we don’t keep this system that has been set up to keep victims safe and make them want to participate in the criminal justice system … we are really doing a disservice,” she added. “How is this helping public safety?”

For Activating Change, the cuts meant an immediate reduction in services. Its leaders rejected the idea their services don’t align with federal priorities.

“It is a catastrophic blow to our organization,” said Nancy Smith, the organization’s executive director. “But also to the safety net for people with disabilities and deaf people who’ve experienced violent crime in our country.”