Bracing for the worst: Allegheny County agencies, nonprofits fear further federal cuts

Already hamstrung in numerous ways by the Trump administration, state and local government agencies as well as nonprofits are bracing for the worst in the upcoming federal funding bill.

“Everything has been destabilized with the work that we do,” Jordan Golin, president and CEO of Jewish Family and Community Services of Pittsburgh, said Monday during a roundtable session on funding cuts.

Earlier this year, the Trump administration took the group’s annual contract and made it expire every three months, hindering its ability to hire staff and plan ahead on cases, according to Golin.

U.S. Rep. Summer Lee and Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato, both Democrats, assembled the roundtable in Allegheny County Council chambers to highlight the impacts of proposed and enacted cuts by Republicans in Washington, D.C.

“We need clear information, we need a practical plan and we need a united voice,” Innamorato said.

The pair of Pittsburgh-area progressives were joined by representatives from several Allegheny County agencies and Pennsylvania’s Affordable Care Act health insurance marketplace. Other attendees included nonprofits Auberle, Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and Riverside Center for Innovation.

The roundtable comes more than two months after President Donald Trump signed a host of program cuts into law with his “big beautiful bill” and eight days out from the deadline for a Republican-controlled Congress to pass a funding bill.

Trump is asking Congress for a more than 20% reduction in domestic spending, partly by paring economic development programs and social services.

Republicans have left out some of the president’s desired cuts in their spending proposals. Even so, the party appears far from wrangling the seven Democratic votes needed to pass its plan in the Senate ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline.

“We know that Trump’s wish list for Fiscal Year 2026 budget is at play right now,” Lee said. “Right now, we’re in limbo, and we may be barrelling toward a shutdown.”

Pennsylvania’s budget stalemate has made the organizations’ situation more precarious.

The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, seeing demand swell as more stringent work requirements for food stamps go into effect, is hoping for additional state funding.

“Because of that ongoing impasse at the state budget, we don’t know if the increases we’ve requested to support additional food purchases will be available this year,” said Colleen Young, director of government affairs for the food bank.

Allegheny County instituted a hiring and spending freeze this week as the state budget deadlock leaves funding in limbo.

County officials are also bracing for federal cuts, with finance director Tim Cox estimating the county would see up to a $120 million reduction under President Donald Trump’s spending proposal.

That amounts to about 4% of the county’s $3.1 billion budget, affecting services such as homeless assistance, lead water line replacement and substance abuse treatment.

“It would be catastrophic to our operations here,” Cox said.

The HOME Investment Partnerships program appear to be in real danger, with the House going along with President Trump’s call for total elimination.

More than $2 million in expected funds would vanish, said Ed Nusser, the county’s director of housing strategy, much of which is used to create affordable housing through the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program.

“If we lose HOME, we lose the ability to actually bring those projects online,” Nusser said.