NBC NEWS – In West Virginia, a nonprofit mental health program for teenage girls is turning to a private donor to help cover its expenses.
Three Virginia health clinics have shut their doors. And a network of health centers in rural Mississippi is facing a deficit of $500,000 and may have to scale back services.
Across the country, health clinics and nonprofit organizations largely serving rural and low-income patients have found themselves unable to access previously allocated federal funds, as a short-lived government funding freeze has continued to disrupt daily operations for a range of programs.
The disruption appears to stem from a vaguely worded, two-page memo the Office of Management and Budget sent to all federal agencies early last week directing them to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance” that could conflict with President Donald Trump’s agenda.
A judge quickly blocked the action last week, and the Justice Department said in a filing Wednesday that agencies are working through the process of issuing all appropriate funding disbursements.
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But some organizations say they are still unable to access money they urgently need to pay for salaries, utilities, supplies and other expenses — threatening their ability to continue operating in their communities.
“We are continuing to hear from nonprofits that are unable to access the funding that they need to continue their programs and to continue paying their staff,” said Diane Yentel, CEO of the National Council of Nonprofits, which was part of a lawsuit filed to block the funding freeze.
“It’s clear that the confusion and the chaos that the directive unleashed hasn’t ended, despite it being rescinded and despite the temporary restraining orders from two different courts.”
Yentel said much of the funding that the groups are unable to access is coming from programs administered by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) …