Federal government cuts target civil society

While the other day I wrote about the alleged "Nonprofit industrial complex" ("The "nonprofit industrial complex," city government and service delivery"), at the same time, nonprofit organizations are a key element of American civil society, as President George H.W. Bush said, "1,000 points of light." 

Many nonprofits are top down, with few opportunities for volunteers, while volunteers and efforts focused on delivering outputs helping communities are the mission of many others.

I haven't read Project 2025 : Building for conservative victory through policy, personnel, and training, but given that it is a handbook targeting "progressive action," we shouldn't be surprised.

Nonprofits are the foundation of civil society and civic engagement.

Grant cuts are likely to affect cities and counties as well, and in turn nonprofits that get grants this way ("Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump administration freeze on federal grants and loans," AP).  According to the Los Angeles Times:

... a Jan. 27 memo from the White House budget chief. The memo ordered a wide-ranging spending freeze, specifically calling out “the use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering.”

Image from "Community Gardens: What Are They and How To Find Them," Nourishing Neighbors.  Also see "8 Great Tips to Start a Community Garden," Sunset Magazine.

Cuts at the Agency for International Development ("Secretary of State Rubio says purge of USAID programs complete, with 83% of agency’s programs gone," AP) diminish civil society development in foreign countries, and reduce the effectiveness of "soft power" and public diplomacy efforts of the US.

At USDA ("USDA’s $1B in cuts leaves farmers and schools bracing for impact," Washington Post, "Trump's USDA secretary defends $1 billion cuts to funding for food banks, schools," NBC, "A message from the Board of Directors," Green Urban Lunchbox, Salt Lake City), from GLUB:

We are reaching out to share an important update regarding The Green Urban Lunch Box’s programs. After thoughtful deliberation, we have made the difficult decision to pause all our current programs for this year - including the Small Farm Initiative (SFI), CSA, FruitShare, and Back-Farms - while we evaluate the best path forward.

... This decision was not made lightly. We are deeply committed to exploring sustainable ways to continue serving our community and advancing our mission. We are actively engaging in discussions with like-minded organizations and partners to ensure that the impact of our collective efforts endures. However, we do not anticipate resuming our programs this year.

EPA (E.P.A. Plans to Close All Environmental Justice Offices," New York Times, "A West Philly nonprofit lost a multiyear grant worth $700K to DOGE cuts," Philadelphia Inquirer, "The protectors of Santa Monica Bay are caving to Trump’s dangerous demands," Los Angeles Times),  From the PI:

The Overbrook Environmental Education Center is now without up to $700,000 promised to the group for its work to support other organizations working on community gardens, waste reduction, sustainable agriculture, and other environmental projects in disadvantaged local communities, said Jerome Shabazz, executive director of the center.

From the LAT:

A page on the Bay Foundation’s website that previously explained how climate change is affecting the watershed — as seen on the Jan. 21, 2025, version of the page, available via the Internet Archive — was rewritten to delete all references to climate. The group also removed its Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion page, which had previously pledged its commitment to “equity and inclusion across race, gender, age, religion, identity, and experience.”

Also alarming: a draft work plan presented last month to the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission. Before the Environmental Protection Agency doles out federal funding for Santa Monica Bay restoration, it must approve a work plan written annually by the commission and the Bay Foundation, then submitted to the EPA.

HUD ("Trump DEI Purge Hits Affordable Housing Groups," Bloomberg), from Bloomberg:

The canceled awards include ongoing projects in more than 1,000 communities to address homelessness, disaster recovery, persistent poverty and other housing issues, according to a list seen by Bloomberg CityLab.

... At least eight national organizations saw their technical assistance contracts with HUD terminated following the DOGE review of their public-facing sites. Technical assistance refers to grants for consulting on tools, coordination, systems and other solutions.

DOGE further eliminated awards for least two of the three groups that administer grants for a program known as Section 4. Federal law requires these awards to be managed and distributed by national intermediaries; HUD’s own guidance for these awards, which are meant to provide support for capacity-building and community development, requires recipients to “advance housing justice” and “support underserved communities.”

(Interestingly, while LISC and the Enterprise Foundation have lost their grants, Habitat for Humanity, which is religious affiliated, did not.)

parks ("Trump administration eyes 30 percent payroll reduction at National Park Service," The Hill, "Workforce cuts raise concerns over national park upkeep," Roll Call).  The National Park Service was one of the first agencies to face massive cuts, cuts so deep professionals are afraid the parks can't be managed and operated in the face of high usage ("National Parks cutting hours, limiting services as Trump layoffs reduce staffing," USA Today).  

NPS is a big utilizer of volunteers and the likelihood is that such programs will barely function this year.  It's one of the largest "citizen-facing" agencies.  And for many it begins to engender greater understanding of the environment and wilderness.  .

 It reminds me of my old joke, that the guiding principle of property management at DC Government was demolition by neglect.  The Trump Administration aims to wreck the Park Service ("DOGE cuts National Park staff as visitation rate peaks," Washington Examiner).  The Park Service was ordered not to share statistics on use ("National Parks Had a Record Year. Trump Officials Appear to Want It Kept Quiet.," New York Times).

To further diminish the quality of visits, the government is cancelling leases of land that hold visitor centers and museums ("Trump property purge to include national park visitor centers, museums," Washington Post).

transportation ("Sec. Duffy Moves to Rescind Billions for ‘Woke’ Transportation on Feb. 18 — So Advocates Must Speak Up Now," Streetsblog): cuts will target sustainable mobility programs and affect biking, walking and biking programs, among others

the arts ("'Chilling effect': Arts organizations react to end of DEI initiatives from fed agency," NPR), etc., public radio and television ("Trump's FCC chief opens investigation into NPR and PBS," NPR). are attacks on civil society.  From the PI:

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Note: for Sugar House Park, I intended to apply for a grant to create a senior nutrition community garden in association with the Utah State University Extension Service--the grant proposal is due around now.  

But that call for proposals was issued by the Biden Administration, and with all the changes with grants in the Trump Administration, it seemed like a waste to put in the energy to apply, since it's not likely such grants will be proffered.

Is DC screwed economically because of Trump and the Republicans? Probably.

 I'd say yes.  Moving agencies and firing employees reduces the demand for office space and housing in DC proper.  The growth in the federal government after 9/11 definitely benefited the city in terms of residents, even though much of the business of cybersecurity is in the suburbs.

-- "High anxiety: What losing 100,000 federal jobs could mean for the local economy," Washington Business Journal

Although in his first term he was successful in doing this with only a couple agencies, even though it came with crippling those agencies in terms of talent unwilling to locate, especially the USDA's Economic Research Service moving to Kansas City, but also BLM to Grand Junction, Colorado.

Although this has been a problem for the last couple decades, as Republicans have been uninterested in investing in federal agencies, especially those located in DC proper.  Plus the Maryland and Virginia delegations constantly aiming to move agencies to their jurisdictions.

From the article:

But one of the potentially most destabilizing and long-term changes would be if the soon-to-be president follows through on his goal to reduce federal employment in this region — a bedrock of the local economy where roughly one in 11 people work directly for the federal government and many more work as contractors.

Some 370,000 people across D.C., suburban Maryland and Northern Virginia are federal employees. Federal civilian employment in D.C. alone is 162,144 as of December — more than any other U.S. territory or state, according to data from the Congressional Research Service. Roughly 27% of wage and salary income earned in D.C. is from federal work, said Erica Williams, executive director of the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute.

...Trump and allies from his incoming administration have said they’d like to cut spending on federal employment. That includes relocating roughly 100,000 jobs out of the high-cost D.C. region to states with lower cost of living and possibly closing some agencies altogether, such as the Department of Education. Some of his inner circle such as those leading the Department of Government Efficiency are also looking into consolidating agencies that regulate banks, according to The Wall Street Journal.

,,, It’s likely there would be multiple layers of challenges to any attempt by Trump to drastically reduce the federal workforce in Washington or elsewhere. He would need congressional approval in order to shut down an agency. A vote that would have eliminated the Department of Education failed to garner the needed 60 votes to pass in the Senate in 2023.

Uncertainty won't help either.  People will decide not to take government jobs.  It will definitely reduce office demand regardless.  It's hard to say about the residential market.  Many 10,000s of jobs would have to be eliminated to make a difference, especially since housing demand remains greater than supply.  This will have long term negative impact on "talent attraction".

Don't forget the multiplier effect.  Each primary job generates additional support jobs.  I don't know what the multiplier effect is for "paper pushers" (information coordination) versus doing jobs.  For example one economist estimates for "innovation jobs," the multiplier effect is 5 ("The Multiplier Effect of Innovation Jobs," Sloan Management Review).

Diversifying DC's Economy.  For a long time and for obvious reasons DC has been focused on the federal government as its primary economic engine, along with the trade associations, law firms, lobbyists, and related groups that seek benefits, provide services, etc.

DC proper needs to continue to focus on diversifying its economy.  I've written before that the government functions in the city proper tend to be information coordination, not doing, which has less positive impact.  E.g., when Obamacare was created DC economic planners said well, we can do electronic health records as a cluster etc. (note that the big player in health care is the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services which is based in Baltimore).  But health informatics isn't part of what HHS proper does.

Military.  In the past, I've mentioned how the area economy is divided into military related and not military related  ("The East-West Divide | DC area regional economic development: anchors and where they are placed matter + airports | But military spending matters the most," 2021).  NoVA has a stronger economy because it is more centered on the military..  The strong IT cluster is broader than the military, but is still heavily focused on it. 

Engineering/Higher education.  DC should work to leverage the higher education institutions in the city, especially around engineering ("Naturally occurring innovation districts | Technology districts and the tech sector,"), but they haven't really done it.  For example, comparably to how Bloomberg created the Cornell Tech initiative in NYC ("Cornell Tech’s economic impact on NYC to double by 2030," Cornell Chronicle, "Better leveraging higher education institutions in cities and counties: Greensboro; Spokane; Mesa; Phoenix; Montgomery County, Maryland; Washington, DC,"). From the Cornell article:

A new analysis finds that Cornell Tech, its alumni and its 115 startups achieved $768 million in total economic impact and supported 2,800 jobs in New York City in the 2023-24 fiscal year.

According to the report, from economic development firm HR&A Advisors, Cornell Tech is projected to generate $1.5 billion in annual economic impact while supporting 7,000 jobs by 2030, affirming its reputation as the most effective economic development project undertaken by city government in recent decades.

“New York City has been a consistent draw for ambitious and intelligent people from around the world,” said Greg Morrisett, the Jack and Rilla Neafsey Dean and Vice Provost of Cornell Tech. “Cornell Tech has created a novel academic and entrepreneurial environment that brings new tech talent to the city who go on to become industry leaders and builders who are driving our city’s workforce and technology industry.

Corporate headquarters recruitment.  Before covid I thought the city could compete for "back to the city" corporate headquarters, but those still seem to be focused in the DC area on the suburbs, e.g., Boeing or Hilton ("Could bringing premier regionally headquartered business enterprises to the Pennsylvania Avenue Corridor be key to its renewal and revitalization?").

Health education and biotechnology.  In the series about better leveraging health care east of the river, the second piece was repositioning St. Elizabeths campus as a center for biotechnology research and graduate health education ("Part Two: Creating a graduate health and biotechnology research initiative on the St. Elizabeths campus"), but learning more about what happened in Ann Arbor, after Pfizer closed its research center there, made me realize that it's a lot easier "to start from the ground up" when you already have products in the pipeline   ("How the closure of a Pfizer research center in Ann Arbor, Michigan led to the development of a more robust and independent biotech sector").  Children's Hospital got a portion of the Walter Reed campus to do this kind of research too, but I haven't heard much about it since.

Maglev as a way to rebrand the Central Business District.  I also argued that maglev to the central business district could be a way to strengthen the appeal of locating business in Washington, but the city government was oppositional (""DC, Transformational Projects Action Planning, and the Baltimore-Washington Maglev project"). 

In short, many opportunities but few taken. 

Dr Oz at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services: a chance to improve food service in hospitals

The people Trump proposes for the cabinet are mostly unqualified. And except for the fact that Trump wants to tear down government ("Trump takes aim at government as public faith in US institutions continues to erode," USA Today, "A big win for the Blow It Up Party, but what then?," Washington Post) not aiming for innovation ("Healthcare innovation: process redesign and innovation in DC and Prince George's County," 2011), so goes it for Dr. Oz, who has promoted Medicare Advantage plans, which tend to be a bad deal for patients and government spending ("Mehmet Oz loves promoting this inferior Medicare substitute," MSNBC, "The Great Medicare Advantage Marketing Scam," American Prospect). 

I have been admitted to the hospital a lot this year--5 times--once for 8 days (covid, pneumonia, myocarditis). One of the things that has surprised me about the hospital I use, which is a for profit owned by the largest hospital chain in the country, is that depending on time and availability, they send people from various units to talk to the patients, room by room (all private).  It turns out all for profit hospitals are not the devil.  And this one hasn't outsourced food service.

Last week when I was hospitalized, the leaders of the food service department happened to come around, and I had a long conversation with them (given my background in hospitality and familiar with some industry trends, it was pretty lively).  Despite various limitations, a few of their items are restaurant quality already, but certain key dishes are not and a majority of dishes are not.  

Opal Gordon and Sumei Rodriguez prepare fruit plates for patients at Lenox Hill Hospital. (Jeenah Moon for The Washington Post)

CMMS, among other things, regulates hospitals in many ways, including food service.  

While there are programs at various hospitals to improve ("Corewell Health among healthcare systems leveraging local farms for healthy food options," Rapid Growth, "Hospital Food You Can Get Excited About," New York Times, "Hospital food is a punchline. These chefs are redefining it," Washington Post) some of these efforts are hindered by CMMS.

One of the requirements is cooking proteins to extra well done.  Which makes eating cooked meat and fish--salmon should be medium rare--often intolerable when it comes to eating.  And I'd prefer to order salmon when it's offered because it is heart healthy.

"Dissatisfaction with food quality" was an element mentioned in the academic paper, "Hospital Food Service Strategies to Improve Food Intakes among Inpatients: A Systematic Review," Nutrients, 2021.

During his unsuccessful campaign for Senate two years ago, Oz complained about the high cost of crudités (a vegetable plate), for which he was pilloried for being out of touch ("Mehmet Oz’s crudité video gave opponent John Fetterman a golden opportunity," NBC News).  Regular people offer vegetable platters or trays and don't call it a crudité.

Instead Oz could redeem himself and focus on improving food service outcomes in hospitals.  

Except for that fact that the last thing the second Trump Administration cares about is improving services.

People claim government can't do (and there are serious problems with this, which I will write about), but Obama, Pelosi, the Affordable Care Act, Utah voters forcing the government to expand Medicaid, and Medicaid have saved my life.

I'm certain that is the case at least a million other times.  And there is plenty that the federal government does that is exemplary.  However, Republicans by focusing on cutting taxes, have made it impossible to provide the right amount of money to agencies necessary to fully fund services.