A statewide advocacy group is facing unprecedented funding challenges in the midst of the government shutdown. Disability Rights Arkansas released a statement last week that without new federal funding, they will be forced to make difficult decisions to preserve their ability to serve existing clients. Tom Masseau is the executive director of DRA. He says as of October 21 they have stopped accepting new clients.
Tom Masseau: Additionally, two more federally funded programs that we receive will also be running out of money. Probably the first or second week of November. And that would leave us with five smaller grants to draw from for the remainder of the year. So essentially, since October 1 we have been operating on previous year’s dollars, which we can do while we wait for Congress to pass a budget for fiscal year 26. And that has had a considerable impact on staffing. I’ve had to furlough six staff, as effective at the end of this month. In addition to stopping cases, we are also looking at, you know, what we need to do to wrap up cases, because I fully expect that come mid-November, around Thanksgiving time, we will be having another tough conversation about where do we go from here.
Moore: When you talk about cases, can you give some details about what sort of work specifically happens within those cases that you’re able to accomplish and take care of through federal funding?
Masseau: Absolutely. So, just from the beginning of September through the middle of October, we had about 310 people call and asking for information referral. That’s all types of questions that may come in, they may need assistance with transition from school to work, employment, working through the Medicaid system. Or, you know, abuse, neglect in their community. So we have priorities, and when we deem it a case, it gets assigned to an attorney or an advocate for them to work it up and work with the individual to get the services and supports that they may need to, whether it be retain their job, get the job or go to school or, you know, get the services they need in the community to remain in their home.
Moore: During the legislative session this year, your organization was brought up, and a bill was passed to provide more oversight in the work that you do. Has that played a role at all in maybe having more advocates or more lobbying voices behind on the state level of people wanting to advocate for your work and for the government shutdown to help relieve some of this?
Masseau: Yeah. You know, it’s interesting because when we were going through that, you know, we received no state funding. So we’re completely independent from the state. So when that bill was introduced, when it came about, you know, we were specifically targeted as the only nonprofit in the entire state subject to this. And so that really took a toll on us. And, you know, the other nonprofits, there’s only one nonprofit who actually spoke out against that bill, and everybody else hid because of the retaliatory nature. And to be perfectly blunt, you know, they didn’t want to stick their neck out there because they would be next. And so that has taken its toll. And the number of, you know, I’ve heard from a lot of individuals who support the work that we do who are very upset that, you know, we are having to stop taking cases, even now and then when we had that incident back in April, you know, they’re very upset and just trying to figure out what do we do. But in terms of the public outcry right now, it's pretty low key.
Moore: Are you worried that if this goes on for another two, three weeks, that you’ll just have to completely shut down DRA?
Masseau: Absolutely. I think one of the other pieces that makes it more difficult for us as a as a federally funded nonprofit is, once they reach a deal, and the lights come back on, if they pass a continuing resolution or a full budget, it is going to take four to six weeks for the federal agencies to begin releasing the funding. What complicates that is due to the administration’s reduction in force, a lot of our program officers, fiscal officers have been terminated. So that’s only going to further complicate the process to send the money to the states or to the agencies. So I fully expect us, you know, not to receive anything probably not until the first of the year. And we will have to, you know, most if that happens, there may be one or two people here and that would be it. Doing the bare minimum that we can do to keep the lights on so we don’t have to restart from scratch. And again, the impact and toll it takes on the staff but also across the state is huge. It’s just disappointing.
Moore: I’m sure that you have reached out to the federal delegation here in Arkansas, but here on a public platform if you could, what would you want to say to our elected officials here in the state of Arkansas?
Masseau: Yeah. So I have reached out to all of the congressional offices. And I’ve heard back from, you know, three of them. You know, Congressman Womack thanked me for the update, which I thought was really great. Senator Bozeman’s office is going to look at expediting our funds once they come back. Representative Crawford’s office was very disappointed to hear the news. I would just, you know, I don’t expect, our plea and our situation here in Disability Rights Arkansas to completely shift the bring everybody to the table to talk about, you know, reopening the government. I don’t expect that. What I hope it gets accomplished is that when the deal is reached, our congressional members will reach out to the federal agencies and push for funding to be released quickly so advocacy services can resume here in Arkansas. Not only for us, but also there’s other programs across the state who are going to be reliant upon the congressional offices to speak with federal agencies to release the funding. So my plea would be that once the government opens is to reach out to the federal agencies and start pushing them to release the funding quickly.
Moore: What gives you encouragement? What gives you hope that, you know that obviously your work is needed and important, but how do you find, you know, gratitude and hope in this period?
Masseau: I think one of the just going back to why we exist in the first place, you know, why does Disability Rights Arkansas do what we do? And that is to support individuals with disabilities. And so my fight, if you will, or my what really gets me going is knowing that people need help and people need the support. There’s a lot of forces against them. And without us or an agency like ours, they don’t get any support. And so for me, just keep pushing and pushing and pushing. And plus we, we see the little wins. You know, we get calls or we see people who, you know, thank us for helping their loved one go to school or get the services they need, or supporting them in speaking out and having a meeting with their state senator, state representative. But as long as you know, what has kept me focused is adhering to our mission, vision and values, as long as whatever we do points to our mission and people don’t like that, I’m sorry. People with disabilities deserve and should have a place in the community with everybody else, so we’re going to keep pushing for that.
Moore: Tom Masseau is the executive director of Disability Rights Arkansas. We spoke over the phone late last week.
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