On Jan.14, the local non-profit organization, Jana Marie Foundation, announced that it had lost funding from a federal grant that supported many of its operations. The organization reported losing $90,000 in government funding. While it was reported the next day that the action was still under review and the money was brought back, the future financing of non-profit organizations remains uncertain.
Background
The Jana Marie Foundation was founded in 2012 by Marisa Vicere in memory of her sister, Jana Vicere, who died by suicide in 2011. The organization has become critical to combating young mental health challenges through informing the importance of mental health, especially today, when 1 out of 5 teens reports suffering from depression or anxiety. The Jana Marie Foundation has hosted several local and school events, including the mental health summits held towards the end of each marking period.
“It’s been really inspiring to see all of the growth in the programs that Jana Marie puts on in the community and with the community to bring about conversations on mental health and try to challenge and increase everyone’s mental health,” Peter Horn, the Education and Program Director at Jana Marie, said. “It’s a great organization.”
Funding Scare
On Jan. 14, the White House abruptly canceled 2 billion dollars worth of federal grants to nonprofit organizations for mental health across the country. The Jana Marie Foundation was just one of the thousands of organizations to lose their funding.
“We really received no notification prior to an email that went out in mid-January we received by Marisa Vicere, our founder…that email came out at 11 p.m., and the next day we started to see all of the public information released about these funding cuts to the grant that we were receiving,” Hannah Brewster, Operations Manager at Jana Marie, said. “[There was] a lot of uncertainty [as] to whether or not we would be able to continue programming and continuing to have the impact that we have on our community, by providing things like in-school education and programs, just all of the things that we do to support the emotional needs of the community.”
Reactions
Shortly after their funding was lost, the Jana Marie Foundation alerted the community through Facebook and Instagram. Following the news, the Centre County community rallied to support the foundation, donating 20,000 dollars to the organization, as well as providing testimonials.
“We are incredibly grateful for the support of our community; we could not do the work that we do without members of [the] community recognizing and prioritizing mental health education and suicide prevention education…grant funding is an overall big part of our overall budget, but community support is an even larger part of that,” Brewster said.
The nationwide backlash against the federal funding cuts to mental health programs made the White House reinstate the funding 24 hours later.
Future
“[Currently] we believe that funding has been reinstated,” Brewster said. “We continue to receive the obligated funding to support our program… Right now. because of federal funding, we are able to host in-school programs on [a] weekly basis.”
Jana Marie consistently hosts events at State High, such as the weekly Getaway Cafe during lunches, and has agreed to host the Spring Mental Health Summit next month.
