Last week, the White House issued a memo ordering a freeze on all federal grants and loans. MyRWA and many other non-profits, educational institutions, researchers, and municipalities were told that no more money would come to these programs starting that day. For MyRWA, this impacts our staffing capacity and threatens our federally funded projects that:
Plant trees in some of our most urban watershed areas
Monitor air quality related to transportation pollution
Remove invasive species and build climate resilience in Belle Isle Marsh
This is not all the federal funding that is directly improving our watershed communities. Right now, MyRWA has $1.2M in funded projects from the federal government that would build more green infrastructure to improve water quality, protect people from urban heat island effects, and restore important habitats in almost all of our 21 communities.
The good news: after the immediate and tremendous pushback — including a judicial pause — the White House rescinded the memo. For now, funding is back on for these important projects. But even over the weekend, we learned of new efforts to limit the disbursement of previously approved funds.
We wanted to share how this federal action plays out locally — as we know it will arise again. Though they were unsuccessful at this time, the federal administration has made it clear they want to eliminate funding related to climate change, addressing environmental injustice and even pollution sources. They are also targeting many of our most vulnerable populations — people who live and work in our watershed.
Even in the face of this administration, MyRWA will continue to push for a healthy Mystic for both people and places, which is only possible thanks to you and our watershed communities.
