A West Philly nonprofit lost a multiyear grant worth $700K to DOGE cuts

A key player in Philadelphia’s burgeoning environmental justice community is among the nonprofit groups to see its federal funding cut by President Donald Trump’s administration.

The Overbrook Environmental Education Center is now without up to $700,000 promised to the group for its work to support other organizations working on community gardens, waste reduction, sustainable agriculture, and other environmental projects in disadvantaged local communities, said Jerome Shabazz, executive director of the center.

Shabazz said he was told that the multiyear Joe Biden-era grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was deactivated “effective immediately” at the end of February as Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency helped eliminate similar federal environmental justice grants.

The 2023 Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Centers (TCTAC) program, run by the EPA in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, was meant to support the West Philadelphia group’s work to help other nonprofits navigate the complex federal grant-making system. Now the organization is petitioning its philanthropic partners to “fill the void,” Shabazz said. And while the center has not yet had to turn away anyone seeking assistance, that could quickly change.

“We’re looking forward to other funding sources to help to lessen the blow,” Shabazz said.

Overbrook and eight other organizations in the Mid-Atlantic region received the funding through the National Wildlife Federation, which had been funded by the Biden administration’s $177 million TCTAC program as part of its efforts to “ensure that 40% of the benefits of certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities,” according to a 2023 EPA announcement.

The NWF grant appears to be have been terminated on Feb. 21, according to HigherGov, an online tool for government contractors and grant recipients.

The NWF declined to comment.

The EPA did not respond to multiple requests for comment, but the agency website notes the NWF program is inactive and, in bold red letters, announces: “NOTE: NOT ALL TCTACS ARE CURRENTLY ACTIVE.”

The funding halt marks yet another move by the Trump’s administration to undo Biden-era environmental policies. An internal memo from EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, reported Tuesday by the New York Times, told agency leaders that he intended to eliminate the offices of environmental justice at all 10 EPA regional offices as well as the one in Washington. The regional EPA office in Philadelphia contains an environmental justice office.

More broadly, the United States’ stance on certain environmental issues is set to undergo significant changes, as Zeldin recently asked the Trump administration to reconsider a 16-year-old finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare, the Associated Press reported.

Alisa Shargorodsky established ECHO Systems as a Bucks County-based nonprofit in 2022 to assist companies in the food sector, mainly focusing on those in low-income areas, in a transition to a “circular economy,” which “keeps materials and products in circulation for as long as possible,” according to the EPA. A circular economy is recognized as a key mitigation effort for slowing climate change, and the group wanted Overbrook’s help as it applied for EPA’s Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program, due at the end of March, she said.

Even though TCTAC is deactivated, Shargorodsky wants to continue to apply for the EPA grant, but she is wary of the uncertain climate created by the EPA, and the nonprofit’s plans for the future are in limbo.

“It feels kind of akin to creating a space for a home,” Shargorodsky said. “And you do everything, you clear the trees, or you flatten the ground and build, you dig the foundation, and you do all the stuff, and you start to get the foundation poured, and then you build the walls up, and next thing you know, you’re like, ‘Oh, sorry, we ran out of money.’ It kind of feels a little bit like that, like the house never got built.”

John Quigley, senior fellow at University of Pennsylvania’s Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, said this grant was crucial for both urban and rural communities — many of which are low-income and confront issues like pollution — to have autonomy over solving the environmental issues in their neighborhoods.

“What the community wanted to pursue would be decided by the community,” said Quigley, who previously served as Pennsylvania’s secretary of conservation under Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell and secretary of environmental protection under Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf.

The funding also allowed hyperlocal groups to stay competitive in an often-cutthroat federal grant-making process where certain skill sets such as grant writing and communication with policymakers are key, Quigley said.

“The fact that funding is being pulled back, that means that these communities are not going to have the resources to navigate federal grants, to write the proposals, to manage the funds, to really engage in their communities and provide a voice to policymakers,” Quigley said.

The Neighborhood Gardens Trust (NGT), which protects community garden properties across Philadelphia, turned to the Overbrook Environmental Education Center when it recently applied for an EPA grant to create a plan for managing the care of hundreds of trees at its community garden sites across the city.

The trust’s executive director, Jenny Greenberg, described Overbrook’s assistance as “an important bridge” to federal funding. The decades-old NGT operates on a small budget and has only three staff members to oversee almost 75 gardens, she said. Shabazz has continued to offer support for the community gardens, Greenberg said, but she is hesitant to continue vying for her desired grant given the uncertain future of EPA funds.

“The risk seems like maybe we should focus our fundraising strategies elsewhere at the moment, unfortunately,” Greenberg said.

Looking ahead, Shabazz fears that the loss of federal support for local environmental projects could stymie efforts toward green neighborhoods and to complete other projects, such as Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s “clean and green” initiatives.

A spokesperson for Parker did not immediately return a request for comment.

“Are we really saving, you know?” Shabazz said. “Are we really saving taxpayer dollars with cuts? Some cuts are costing us, right?”

Data reporter Chris A. Williams contributed to this article.