01 29 25 Colo Nonprofit Association's Paul Lhevine on Trump's federal funding freeze

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It is Colorado's Morning News. Marty Lens, Gina Gandi, Good morning.
President Trump's plan to freeze all federal financial assistance is
caused for concern as it includes grants to nonprofit organizations.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Federal funding concerned critical for these nonprofits, and the Colorado
Nonprofit Association released a statement yesterday regarding the impact that
this freeze could have. Joining us now on the ka
Common Spirit Health Hotline to talk more about it is
the president and CEO of the Colorado Nonprofit Association. It's
Paul Levine. Paul, thank you so much for your time
this morning.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
Marty and Gina, thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
From a nonprofit perspective, what was the initial reaction? What
did you witness yesterday when this federal aid freeze was
first announced.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
You know, the initial reaction was utter caught, chaos and confusion.
You know, the breadth and depth of these freezes was
unimaginable for the nonprofit community, not just in Colorado, but
across the country.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
How much of your organization, the nonprofits you're Philip fromailiar with,
how much of what percentage of that aid comes from
the federal government?

Speaker 3 (01:05):
You know, the nonprofits in Colorado generate about sixty two
billion dollars in economic impact annually. We're talking about billions
of dollars coming from the federal government to support those efforts.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Did you see disruptions? We had a lot of reports
of organizations not being able to access portals for their
financial aid and for other assistants. Were those impacting some
organizations in our state? Yesterday?

Speaker 3 (01:31):
It was impacting our state inasmuch as people didn't know
what to do. People didn't know how to react. People
were nonprofit leaders were already looking at what do we
do with paying salaries and benefits? How do employees pay
their rents if those funds are inaccessible. It was the
confusion and in the chaos that they didn't know what

(01:55):
to do at the time.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Our social media question, we thought we'd put it out
to our listeners today. We thought we'd ask them, what
do you think about President Trump's plan to freeze the
federal funding? Our options were a good idea or great idea,
bad idea, and not sure yet. Fifty percent of our
respondse on the poll very unscientific, say it's a great idea.
What is your response to them thinking that this is good?

Speaker 3 (02:17):
Well, you know, I'm not sure that they really understand
all of the impacts that the federal freeze has or
potentially has on social services, on food assistants and operating
food banks, on shelter and housing support and counseling, education,
youth development, healthcare, mental health, on and on. Really non

(02:41):
the work of nonprofits touched the lives of, you know,
all individuals across our state, and I think the more
we talk about the work of our nonprofit sector, I
think those numbers will change over time.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
What do you think it could look like if it
does go into effect. You mentioned that a lot of
these organizations are impact did but are there specifics because
we know of the basic ones that they mentioned in
the report in their push to pause or freeze the
financial aid, but there's a lot of unknown like Meals
on Wheels is one that they mentioned that it's like
we might not realize the extent of what this could impact.

Speaker 3 (03:18):
Well, Gine, I think you've absolutely hit the problem on
the head is we don't really know all of the
impacts that this will have, and it'll take a really
long time for us to really start to unwind what this,
you know, to start to learn the meaning of freezing

(03:38):
federal funds for nonprofits and which funds are being frozen,
which nonprofits are being affected? You know, I think this
action really felt like it's just a sledgehammer against an
entire sector serving communities.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
I asked you about the financial date, or at least
what you know of that, the percentage that they get
from the gun. But how many people here in Colorado
and if you shared it and I missed it, I
apologize are impacted or helped by the nonprofits in Colorado.

Speaker 3 (04:07):
Well, we do know that nonprofits in the state of
Colorado support one hundred and eighty two thousand jobs. That's
just the jobs that the sector supports. We're talking about
millions of people that are that are benefited each and
every day by our nonprofit sector.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
Paul, if you had the opportunity, what would you express
your thoughts when it comes to the Trump administration in
this freeze right now?

Speaker 3 (04:31):
What I would suggest is for this administration to take
their time and be thoughtful and don't come, you know,
again with a with a with a sledgehammer, be thoughtful
about the process in which they want to, you know,
run their administration.

Speaker 1 (04:52):
President and CEO of the Colorado Nonprofit Association it's Paul Levine.

Speaker 3 (04:56):
Thanks Paul Hey, thank you so much, Martin and Gena