Some agencies, such as the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency, have seen cuts to their Dallas offices, and additional North Texas agencies that rely on federal funding have suddenly been cut off. The common thread between these groups appears to be the good they’re doing for our community.
Here are the agencies and nonprofit organizations whose funding cuts and resulting layoffs could most affect North Texans. The Observer will continue updating this list as new information becomes available.
Dallas County Health & Human Services
DCHHS has reportedly lost two federal grants totaling $70 million, triggering a “chaotic and destructive” fallout across the agency, Dr. Philip Huang, the agency’s director, told county commissioners. As of early April, the county department had laid off 11 full-time and 10 temporary employees.Most of those staffers worked in Dallas County’s immunization outreach program, which sponsors temporary clinics at schools or community events to distribute vaccines for diseases like measles. The terminations come as Texas grapples with a measles outbreak that has affected more than 600 individuals across the state.
"People don't see measles and they think, ‘Well, I don't see measles, measles isn't around, why do I still need to get this shot?’” Huang said. “And it's exactly because of the effectiveness of the vaccine."
Catholic Charities of Dallas
A religious organization dedicated to resettling refugees in North Texas has been forced to cease many of its operations after losing federal funding. In February, Catholic Charities of Dallas laid off more than 60 employees who worked in federally funded programs. The layoffs were triggered by Trump’s signing of an executive order suspending the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.In a letter sent to the Texas Workforce Commission, Chief Operating Officer Brenda Huffman warned that while the restoration of funding could result in some employees being brought back to the organization, “no employee who is being laid off should count on being recalled to employment.”
In the Houston area, Catholic Charities laid off 120 employees. In early March, the organization’s Fort Worth branch sued the federal government, accusing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of illegally freezing funds to which it was entitled. Those funds were eventually issued.
RAICES
A San Antonio-based organization dedicated to providing legal aid to immigrants announced more than 150 layoffs last month after the Trump administration ended a contract that funded legal services for unaccompanied minor children. The nonprofit RAICES has offices in Dallas and Fort Worth, although the layoffs are isolated to the San Antonio office, filings with the Texas Workforce Commission show.According to The Dallas Morning News, RAICES officials said the suspension of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program resulted in an “8-figure funding gap that cannot be reasonably and sustainably replaced in full.” RAICES had previously laid off more than 60 employees working in refugee resettlement.
National Weather Service
A wave of layoffs across the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which includes the National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center, has affected the office that forecasts weather for all of North and Central Texas.A FOX 4 investigation found that one Fort Worth NWS office technician was fired late last month, leaving just two individuals to complete “dozens” of tasks daily. An NBC 5 report found that one probationary employee was fired from the Norman, Oklahoma, National Storm Prediction Center, which is responsible for issuing tornado advisories for the entire country.
“Anytime you lose people, you're going to have some impacts. All I can say is we're doing the best we can, and will the basic mission suffer? I don't think so. But people will be under a lot of additional stress, a lot of additional strain,” Victor Murphy, a climate services program manager for the National Weather Service Southern Region, told the Observer. “For the tireless public servants that are keeping the train on the tracks, where is the light at the end of the tunnel for these people?”
Further staffing cuts across NOAA and NWS are planned for later this spring.
Environmental Protection Agency
Eight employees with Dallas’ Environmental Protection Agency were placed on leave in February, leaving Region 6, which covers Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas and is headquartered in Dallas, without permit reviewers or a children’s health coordinator. The change came after Trump issued an executive order targeting the agency’s environmental justice staff.NBC News reports that a formal process to fire EPA employees involved in environmental justice or DEI initiatives began this week.
“The potential dismissal of employees based out of the EPA Region 6 Office in Dallas threatens the health and safety of communities in our states,” a letter signed by various members of Congress and addressed to the administrator of the EPA, Lee Zeldin, said.
Department of Education
The Department of Education’s entire Dallas branch was severed last month as part of the Trump administration’s push to dismantle the federal agency. The push to lay off more than 1,300 DOE employees affected five other regional offices.The Dallas office oversaw operations in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Oklahoma.
