Budget cuts & funding freezes
Safety through
smart funding
Crime is being used as a smokescreen. From gutting safety-net programs to expanding detention, militarizing cities, and overriding local control, these moves share one goal: consolidating power—not keeping communities safe.
The Pattern
How budget cuts erode our safety
For decades, community organizations have worked to prevent violence before it happens—by investing in healing, housing, youth opportunity, and care. But now, grants supporting these efforts across the country face devastating cuts. These cuts don’t make us safer—they strip away the very solutions that reduce harm at the root.
Top arguments & evidence
Where the budget cuts are most damaging
01
Violence prevention investment lowers crime
Over the last couple of years, crime has dropped significantly, thanks to targeted investments in community violence intervention. Yet despite their impact, the federal government has cut over $800 million in funding—putting frontline organizations and the communities they serve in jeopardy.
02
Cuts to healthcare increase crime
The federal government cut $1 trillion from Medicaid. That will lead to about 3 in 10 young adults losing their health care. In addition to providing people with essential health care, Medicaid is also a crime prevention strategy. One study of mass disenrollment from Medicaid found that it increased crime rates by 16.6%.
03
Lifesaving research cuts undermine public health
Since the beginning of 2025, major cuts have been made to scientific and medical research. These cuts imperil research into finding cures to diseases and they affect all Americans. Nearly 1 in 30 clinical trials to find cures to cancer and infectious diseases have been interrupted, and over 150 clinical trials have ended, including for pediatric brain cancer.
How it works
What the budget cuts look like
Budget cuts and funding freezes target the very programs that prevent harm—healthcare, housing, food assistance, and community safety—while leaving punitive systems untouched or expanded. The result is less support, more instability, and greater risk for everyone.
Join the coalition
// Cuts to the social safety net
Destroying last-resort protections
Programs like Medicaid, SNAP, and housing assistance are designed to support people before crisis turns into catastrophe. Slashing these lifelines pushes families deeper into instability and increases the conditions that lead to harm.
// Cuts to violence prevention
Removing safeguards against violence
Community violence intervention, youth programs, and prevention strategies are proven to reduce shootings and save lives. Defunding them dismantles effective safety infrastructure and leaves communities without tools to interrupt harm before it happens.
// Cuts to science & research
A deliberate war on knowledge
Funding cuts to medical and scientific research stall lifesaving breakthroughs and shut down clinical trials. Undermining research doesn’t just delay cures—it sacrifices public health and weakens our ability to respond to future crises.
Our response
What we are doing about it
Through legal action and organizational support, we are helping to combat the attacks on our safety, and fuel the organizations that are the backbone of community care—delivering vital services like mental health support, addiction help, youth programs, and violence prevention.
Take action
Download our issue explainers
Use clear, source-backed language to push back on fear-based narratives and demand policies that truly keep people safe.
In the news
Stories of cut services & people hurt
Coverage from national and local outlets documenting the assault on our social safety net and how it makes us and our families less safe
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Sign up to get updates on the funding cuts, calls to action, petitions to sign, and news about our progress. Because real safety takes all of us.