PAA’s Executive Director, Fran Gerbig, spoke with WOUB Public Media about a sudden and alarming federal funding situation that briefly put $2 billion in addiction recovery and mental health grants at risk before being restored. In the interview, Fran highlights the impact of even a short interruption on nonprofit organizations and communities across Ohio, especially on prevention efforts and essential support services. Her perspective underscores the importance of sustained federal investment in prevention, recovery, and community-based supports.
“[…] to take away very basic prevention dollars just felt like whatever shaky scaffolding we had put around some families, and some communities, this was just the Jenga piece that was going to make the whole thing fall down again,”
By: Amanda Pirani
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB/Report for America) — Nonprofits in Ohio are reeling after the federal government cut and then subsequently restored $2 billion in grant funds supporting addiction recovery and mental health this week.
“It’s been 24 hours of panic, and anxiety, and ‘What are we going to do?’” said Chris MacNeal, executive director of Recovery Connections of Southeast Ohio.
Grant termination letters were sent to over 2,000 organizations Tuesday evening.
Fran Gerbig is executive director of the Prevention Action Alliance, a statewide nonprofit working to prevent substance misuse. She said the letters she read cited a lack of alignment with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s updated strategic plan.
“To know how sweeping these terminations were, from very basic mental health protections and prevention protections to eliminating the delivery of Narcan and preventing Hepatitis-C, it just did not make sense to me whatsoever,” she said.
The terminated grants were restored Wednesday evening.
MacNeal said that while his organization would not have been directly affected by the cuts, they could have affected the ability for state organizations to grant Recovery Connections funding in the future, and diminished resources available to those he serves.
“Down here in south rural southeast Appalachian Ohio, resources are thin to begin with,” he said. “There’s just not a lot around. So then when even a little bit gets cut, it has a tremendous impact on this region and this area.”
Margaret Lutterus is a public policy coordinator for Prevention Action Alliance. She said many of those affected were local organizations for which federal funding was a key source of income.
Advocates said they learned about the cuts when partner organizations received grant termination letters, or from news coverage. They quickly mobilized in response, urging lawmakers to get the funding restored.
“I think that the voices of people with lived experience of substance use disorder and other co-occurring mental health disorders were raised loud and clear,” said O’Neill.
O’Neill said community-based support services would have been the most affected by the funding loss. Those services provide a range of resources outside of clinical treatment, from support groups to recovery-friendly employment.
While still limited, research increasingly suggests support services are critical to maintaining sobriety. But funding is still catching up to that need.
“We spend 95% of the dollars for behavioral health on 5% of the process, which is treatment,” O’Neill said. “Then we scrape and scratch and look in the couch for nickels and dimes to provide to the recovery community service providers.”
That lack of funding made the rescinded cuts especially alarming, and left some nonprofits with a sense of uncertainty about federal support.
“Prevention specialists are creative and innovative people and believe in what they do,” Gerbig said. “But I can’t say that people aren’t feeling threatened and anxious.”
She added that while there has been great progress, many of the factors contributing to substance misuse, such as environmental stressors like a lack of food or safe housing, have yet to be addressed in the region.
“So, to take away very basic prevention dollars just felt like whatever shaky scaffolding we had put around some families, and some communities, this was just the Jenga piece that was going to make the whole thing fall down again,” she said.
