“We have about $12,000 that we’ve already spent that we now can’t get reimbursed for and a lot of uncertainty on whether I need to let people go or stop programming or try to find funding elsewhere.”
Grand Rapids-based nonprofit Literacy Center of West Michigan was one of only 36 organizations in the country awarded this $300,000 grant in 2024. The program helps immigrants and refugees legally achieve citizenship at no cost to the learner. President Trump’s policies have frozen the organization’s grant funding mid-session. Thirty-eight learners are now unable to proceed with their citizenship classes.
“We already have a waiting list for the April classes. The last two years, we were at capacity with the grant with waiting lists, so it’s a very, very popular program.”
Falb says the center has been given no guidance from the current administration on how to proceed.
“All we got was this memo, and it says, ‘Unable to provide a timeline on this freeze. Thank you for your cooperation.’”
In the meantime, Falb hopes she’ll be able to secure local funding to continue their work.
“We’re pretty committed to this. We know how important this work is and the need that’s there and we have some fantastic staff and community partners on this work, so it really would make us heartsick to stop the work in the middle of it.”
There are an estimated 15,000 people eligible for citizenship in Kent County alone.
