Feb. 1—FAIRMONT — On Thursday, Meredith Pride, executive director of the Charleston-based Appalachian Center for Independent Living, nervously checked the federal payment system to see if the funds her organization requested had been deposited into their account.
One single notification greeted her.
“Due to executive orders regarding potentially unallowable grant payments, TMS is taking additional measures to process payments,” the notice said. “A review of applicable programs and payments will result in delays and or rejection of payments.”
Confusion over whether or not federal funds are frozen continued into Friday. President Donald Trump’s administration rescinded the order that froze federal payments to state and local agencies and non-governmental organizations. However, President Trump’s executive order that mandated the freeze in the first place, is still in effect.
After the Federal Office of Management and Budget rescinded the memo, Pride believed the funds would return immediately. Because of how the payments are structured, the organization exists “paycheck to paycheck,” Pride said, which means the Center experienced the interruptions to their funding almost immediately. A shut down would be devastating for the individuals who rely on the organization, Pride said. One more week without funding would result in cutting services and there’s no money for the next payroll.
The Center helps individuals maintain their independence in spite of any intellectual or physical disability. The elderly rely on the Center to live independently in their homes as well. The Center is part of the Centers for Independent Living, which has three centers in the state. Between the three of them they cover North Central West Virginia, the Central part of the state and the Southern portion.
“We take an 86-year-old-woman to dialysis treatments,” Pride said. “We actually take her every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The agency is her only way to get these life-sustaining appointments.”
The agency also helps a 19-year-old with job training, who recently aged out of the foster care system and obtained a job at Goodwill. They assist an intellectually disabled 63-year-old woman with budgeting, cleaning, housing advocacy and food pantry services. The loss of funds led the Appalachian Center for Independent Living’s board of directors to cut three of their five employees. The two who are left have to perform the work of five people.
“It will be a huge harm to our clients to be trying to function with two people instead of five,” Bruce Perrone, board chair, said. “We are cutting everything possible to cut right now, but that’s only going to last a few weeks. If nothing changes and federal funds don’t arrive, we’ll have to cease operations.”
This is what a federal funding freeze looks like.
Pride said they’ve reached out to their congressional delegation for help, as well as Gov. Patrick Morrisey. Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., responded with a form letter, she said. By the afternoon on Wednesday, Pride said they were working with the Governor’s office. On Thursday, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., held a press conference updating the public on the status of Trump’s funding freeze. The order was scheduled to begin Tuesday, but Judge Loren L. AliKhan froze Trump’s freeze until Feb. 3. An injunction filed in federal court may block the freeze further.
“Right now, we are operating under the assumption that the OMB memo has been withdrawn and that money is still moving out,” Capito said during the conference. Capito added that a permanent freeze of funding could create a constitutional issue.
As of 8:30 p.m. on Friday, Capito’s office indicated that the Senator’s remarks still stood.
“Which we understand means there is no pause to any federal funds,” a spokesperson said.
The Senator’s office provided no explanation for why funds hadn’t begun flowing to entities like ACIL.
Gov. Morrisey broadly supports the freeze. Sen. Justice told NBC News that West Virginians aren’t confused about what’s going on with the funding freeze and argued there was a need for a reset, urging constituents to give Trump “a little more time.”
The federal government sent $7.2 billion to West Virginia in 2023, covering grants for non-Medicaid programs, highway and surface transportation programs, free and reduced school lunch, adoption assistance and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
Pride said their funding comes through the Administration of Community Living, which is part of the Department of Education. She added the freeze will affect the hundreds of thousands of residents all three centers serve. Perrone said it’s not just the Center that hasn’t received its funds yet, but that its other two counterparts in the state and other Centers nationwide still haven’t received their funding.
Perrone said if funding returns, they’ll be able to bring back the employees they laid off.
“During these uncertain times, we just would love to hear back from our congressional delegation and the Governor’s office, to see if they’re willing to go to bat for us,” Pride said. “To get our funding reinstated and lift this freeze. It’s impacting West Virginia.”
Reach Esteban at [email protected]
