DOGE budget cuts translate into service, job cuts in NYC and NJ communities

Federal funding cuts implemented by the Trump administration have begun to transform organizations that work with refugees and immigrants in New York and New Jersey, through hundreds of layoffs and furloughs, along with cuts to longstanding programs that support the resettlement of refugees, expedite citizenship and bolster employment.

Erol Kekic, the vice president of Church World Service, whose global headquarters is on the Upper West Side, said a multimillion-dollar shortfall in federal funding had resulted in 151 of 256 employees having been furloughed at the Manhattan location and another 79 in Jersey City.

The funding cuts will seriously impact the organization’s work in a number of areas, including refugee resettlement, immigration services and combatting gender-based violence, Kekic said.

Additionally, the organization, whose financial reports indicate it relies on government contracts for 85% of its $220 million in income, had also not been reimbursed by the Trump administration for services rendered during the Biden administration. Kekic put that amount “in the tens of millions” of dollars.

The job losses to the nonprofit organizations, according to the New York City Comptroller’s Office, are among the first in the region tied to the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency. Under the stewardship of Elon Musk, DOGE has sought to slash federal funding across a number of agencies, including state and local governments and nonprofits.

While some of the spending cuts have been challenged in the courts and could ultimately be undone, a lack of certainty has meant putting vital initiatives on hold, officials said.

Gov. Kathy Hochul responded to the funding cuts Monday, announcing a “New York Wants You!” publicity campaign, meant to lure laid-off workers, primarily furloughed federal staffers, into the employ of state agencies. The campaign includes digital billboards in Washington, D.C.’s Union Station and Moynihan Station in Midtown.

“Elon Musk and his clueless cadre of career killers know nothing about how government works, who it serves and the tireless federal employees who keep it running,” Hochul said in a statement.

“Here in New York we don’t vilify public servants, we value them and their efforts,” the governor’s statement continued. “So when DOGE says ‘You’re fired,’ New York is ready to say ‘You’re hired’ – and we’re making sure talented, experienced federal workers know about the many opportunities available in our state workforce.”

The White House did not quantify the overall impact of federal spending cuts but in a statement, White House spokesperson Harrison Fields rejected Hochul’s criticisms, saying, “growing the public sector is not President Trump’s definition of job creation.”

“Leave it to the failed New York State bureaucracy to stack their payrolls with more bureaucrats at the expense of the abused taxpayers of New York,” Fields said.

Beyond the furloughs of federal workers, the cuts have impacted nonprofit organizations that heavily rely on federal dollars and reach deep into New York and New Jersey’s communities.

The Rev. Seth Kaper-Dale, the CEO of the Reformed Church of Highland Park Affordable Housing Corporation, said his organization experienced the cancellation of large federal contracts and was unsure about the fate of others, impacting a total of close to $8 million the organization had budgeted for.

He said that a combination of layoffs and furloughs had reduced the organization’s staff size from 137 to 75 employees, all of whom were “active in the work of resettling refugees.”

The affected work included the organization’s  Interfaith Refugee and Immigrant Services and Empowerment.

Kaper-Dale said the program had run for nine years, thanks to funding from the U.S. State Department, but that $2.4 million in State Department contracts were “suddenly and very abruptly ended with a cease and desist order” on Jan. 24. Currently, visitors to the Interfaith RISE website are presented with a message alerting them to the changes.

“Due to recent unexpected federal funding actions, I-RISE has had to furlough many of our hardworking staff members effective February 10, 2025,” the message reads. It goes on to explain that only “limited referral services” will be available as most case managers, employment and English-language-learning staff will be unavailable.

Kaper-Dale said the organization was also waiting for approximately $500,000 in payments from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Kaper-Dale said those payments should have arrived “many weeks ago.”

“And it makes us very anxious,” he said.

Some organizations said the cuts they’d encountered were smaller but, nonetheless, puzzling.

Chris Hanway,  the executive director of the Astoria-based Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement, said his organization had received a notification from the Department of Homeland Security canceling $60,000 in funding.

He said the funding allowed the organization to provide classes for 100 students prior to their taking the U.S. citizenship test. Approximately 60% to 70% of the students are Spanish-speaking students from Latin America, with the rest Bengali, Arabic, Mandarin and Korean speakers, along with a number of Eastern Europeans, Hanway said.

“ These are folks who are dying to become American citizens, who want to be here,” Hanway said. “So these are not folks who are undocumented, who are not here, quote unquote, illegally.”

Melissa Aase, the CEO of University Settlement, which serves immigrant families across lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, said the current atmosphere is marked by uncertainty. She said approximately 40% of her organization’s $60 million budget comes either directly from the federal government or as “pass through” federal funding from New York state. This includes Medicaid funding, said Aase.

“It's really hard to plan ahead when everything's on the line,” she said, pointing out that the city and state would likely “begin making very difficult decisions” about the use of taxpayer dollars as they grapple with changes in federal funding, which would in turn affect local organizations like hers.

”We might be in the position of having to decide between medical care and after school programs,” said Aase. “And that will be really challenging for New York City.”