CLEVELAND — Brenda Glass was stunned when she read a text message on her phone on Tuesday.
"Something like this knocks the wind out of you," she said. "It cuts to the core."
She learned that a federal grant given to her nonprofit organization, the Brenda Glass Multipurpose Trauma Center, was terminated.
The letter she then received from the U.S. Department of Justice said her award was terminated because it "no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities."
The letter then says the department will now use discretionary grant funding to focus on "more directly supporting certain law enforcement operations, combatting violent crime, protecting American children, and supporting American victims of trafficking and sexual assault, and better coordinating law enforcement efforts at all levels of government."
Glass said her center, which provides mental health and services to victims of violent crimes, was already working towards those goals.
About the DOJ's changing priorities, Glass said, "It depends on what you consider as waste. It sounds to me that you consider people of color as waste because that's what this funding is actually supporting. Its supporting those individuals that we long forget about."
Glass said she used the grant money to hire four additional staff members and to pay rent for four clients who needed to relocate to escape dangerous situations.
Though she may have lost the money to pay those staff members and clients' rent, she will continue to offer services to the community.
"I cannot allow that to just end because the federal government doesn't think that we're worth saving," she said.
Glass and the Cleveland Peacemakers Alliance received the $2 million grant in 2023.
Glass has previously said she received $800,000 of the money.
Cleveland State University's Criminology Research Center also received some of the funds to evaluate the programs.
The organizations can appeal the grant's termination in writing within 30 calendar days, according to the letter.
