Mass layoffs and a sweeping restructuring at the Department of Health and Human Services could disrupt programs that deliver support for Holocaust survivors and kosher meals to homebound seniors and people with disabilities.
As part of the Trump administration’s move to slash federal spending, the department is reducing its workforce by 25% and eliminating the Administration for Community Living, which coordinates federal support for services such as Meals on Wheels, adult day care, elder abuse prevention, and independent living supports.
Jewish social services agencies throughout the country deliver kosher offerings to peoples’ homes as part of the Meal on Wheels program. Holocaust survivors also receive other assistance from the ACL through a special program administered by the Jewish Federations of North America.
An estimated 40,000 Holocaust survivors live in the United States today, and more than one-third of them are living in poverty.
Cuts to Holocaust survivors
JFNA, which has been fielding calls and emails about the federal cuts from concerned Jewish organizations, says it is advocating with the government to protect services.
“ACL serves a critical role in supporting the independence of people with disabilities and older adults, including Holocaust survivors, and Jewish Federations are focused on ensuring that the vital programs it oversees will continue uninterrupted through any potential administrative changes,” David Goldfarb, senior director at JFNA’s strategic health center, said in a statement.
Established in 2015, the Holocaust Survivor Assistance Program aims to make welfare service providers more effective by training them in a healthcare approach known as person-centered, trauma-informed care. The program has received strong bipartisan support in Congress, which most recently allocated $8.3 million for it, while cutting many other earmarks, in the budget resolution approved last month.
In announcing the move, the department said that the reorganization would not affect “critical services.” It said essential programs housed under ACL will become the responsibility of other agencies in the department including the Administration for Children and Families, Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services come as a spending freeze at another federal agency puts security grants for synagogues and Jewish nonprofits in limbo. Jewish groups and a group of lawmakers from both parties are calling on the Trump administration to resume the Nonprofit Security Grant Program that stalled as part of the freeze ordered at FEMA, the federal disaster relief agency.