With Justice grants rescinded, nonprofit will shut down

Ryan Tarinelli, CQ-Roll Call on Aug 14, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

A national criminal justice and racial justice nonprofit will shutter its operations for good this week, with the head of the organization saying there was no path forward after the Trump administration terminated two Justice Department grants this spring.

Equal Justice USA says it lost out on $2.4 million because of the midstream termination of two DOJ grants, part of a larger Trump administration decision to cancel a swath of department grant funding nationwide.

The nonprofit, which was founded in 1990 and became an independent organization in 2007, will close down on Friday. Dozens of staff members will be laid off, according to a nonprofit official.

The closure is one of the latest ripple effects to stem from a pullback in DOJ grant funding earlier this year, an effort that has dovetailed with the Trump administration’s push to reshape the purpose and focus of federal justice grants.

Several organizations hit by the move sued in federal court, seeking to reverse the terminations. They also sought class-action status to cover other groups in a similar position. But a judge dismissed the lawsuit, and the case is now working its way through the appellate process.

Jamila Hodge, the CEO of Equal Justice USA, said the decision to shut down the organization was one of the hardest professional decisions of her life. But she also criticized the administration’s decision to cancel the grant funding midstream, saying it equated to an illegal taking of congressionally approved funds.

“We definitely weren’t expecting this administration to have a bunch of new grants available for our kind of work, but no one expected them to go back and take grants that had already been awarded by a prior administration,” Hodge said.

“That is not how our country operates. You set your own priorities, but you don’t go back and undo what a prior body has done,” Hodge said.

Even before the grant terminations, the nonprofit already faced financial pressure as private sources began to pull back on directing money toward racial justice, she said. But the nonprofit, which is based in New York City, had a plan to try to survive, she said.

Then the grant terminations came down.

In an online note, Hodge said the organization’s leadership decided to close down operations after dozens of meetings and hours of deliberations and analysis.

One department grant allowed the nonprofit to fund and assist five community-based organizations in Louisiana, with the goal of bolstering community safety in areas that are underserved and experience high rates of violence. The $2.9 million grant was set to end in September 2026, and the nonprofit said it lost out on $2.1 million in funding because of its termination.

The second canceled grant aimed to reduce high-level crimes committed by youth and young adults by expanding a pre-prosecution diversion program to several new jurisdictions, Hodge said. That grant for $867,000 was set to end next month. The nonprofit reported it lost out on $326,000 in funding.

Hodge said the ripple effects likely won’t end with them.

“I honestly think we’re at the tip of the iceberg,” she said. “I think we made the call early. I think there are a lot of organizations sitting with this question right now. How do they address the taking of their federal dollars? Can they survive if they just cut a number of staff? Will they have to close down?”

_____