Phoenix nonprofit loses $500,000 in federal funding after HHS cuts
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — The abrupt budget cuts by the Department of Health and Human Services has a Phoenix nonprofit scrambling to find ways to continue helping families.
When you ask Lisa Greco what Hushabye Nursery means to her, she struggles to put it into words.“I would not be here without Hushabye. I would not be here,” she said.
Greco was pregnant, homeless, and struggling with addiction four years ago when she reached out to the Valley nonprofit for help. Now, a single mom to a preschooler, she’s working for the organization. “It’s full circle. It’s allowed me to be in a position to help other people with similar backgrounds while caring for my child,” she said.
Hushabye cares for newborns going through substance withdrawal and also helps their parents get clean and back on their feet. The opioid epidemic has kept the organization busy and relevant. “With what we have right now, we can’t scrape by. We don’t have enough,” said founder and executive director Tara Sundem.
Sundem was blindsided last week when the state officials called her to say two grants were being slashed as part of the federal Department of Health and Human Services cuts. The loss amounts to about $500,000 of their $6.4 million budget. “We are under a microscope for everything we do. We’re putting (the money) to the parents and the babies. It’s going where it needs to go. I’m just surprised that’s where the cut was made,” Sundem said.
This is all part of about $12 billion in cuts announced by HHS. The agency claimed the funding was appropriated through COVID-related laws and is no longer needed because the pandemic is over. However, the money is currently being used for public health and substance abuse programs. “We’ve served almost 1,000 babies since we’ve been open in November 2020. If you had to serve these thousand in the neonatal intensive care unit, that would cost $29 million. So when you say give me my $500,000 compared to $29 million, there’s a huge cost savings there,” Sundem said.
Sundem and her staff started a campaign to bring in state tax credit dollars to keep their programs running through April and May. After that, she said she’s just hoping another grant will be available to replace what they’ve lost.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes joined a coalition of 23 state attorneys general in a lawsuit, arguing the federal government can’t rescind money it already allocated. And the suit argues that though it was initially authorized for COVID relief, the government doesn’t acknowledge what the grants are currently being used for.
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