This included the cancellation of a more than $200,000 recent federal food shipment, more than $2 million to the Clark County Combined Health District leading to staff layoffs and reduced services and most of a $1.6 million grant to study and address gun violence in Springfield.
Health department
The Clark County Combined Health District lost an anticipated $2.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, leading the agency to lay off 11 staff members — seven who worked full time and four part-timers, Deputy Health Commissioner Gracie Hemphill said.
“These included in-person Haitian Creole interpreters and members of our communicable disease team who were slated to support our new Community Connect Clinic,” Hemphill said. “While we continue to carry out essential communicable disease work, we are no longer able to open the clinic, which was intended to offer health screenings and connect community members to primary care services.”
The health department’s federal award for Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) that began July 1 was reduced from $104,940 to $78,705 with the approval new federal funding plan, Health Commissioner Chris Cook said.
“There is hope that this funding will be restored, but right now that’s unclear,” Cook said. “This will hamper our ability to respond to current public health emergencies and emerging threats that we are tasked with carrying our community through.”
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
A loss of state funds will limit the health department’s ability to provide lead poisoning prevention education, Hemphill said, The state eliminated the Lead Safe Home Fund, reducing the health district’s projected funding by around $300,000 over the next two years.
“Although the future of additional funding remains uncertain, we are actively planning for all possibilities,” Hemphill said. “No matter what happens, we remain committed to providing high-quality public health services to the people of Clark County.”
Gun violence in Springfield
The federal government also canceled the majority of a community violence prevention grant, resulting in a loss of $1.24 million for Springfield’s local efforts to curb gun violence.
OIC of Clark County (Opportunities for Individual Change) is managing the grant, and it hired the county’s gun violence prevention coordinator to lead the effort, which also involved a coalition of nine local agencies.
The coalition used almost $400,000 on research and planning to launch a street outreach program to begin concrete efforts to reduce gun violence, particularly among young people.
Springfield lately has seen a rising trend in gun violence, both fatal and non-fatal. Springfield saw higher numbers of homicides from 2021 to 2023 (nine, then eight, then 11), before a drop to 6 in 2024, followed by a rise to 8 so far in 2025.
Many Springfield residents for months have pleaded for the violence to stop, with some pointing out that the federal government does not appear to be willing to help with the problem.
At a recent city commission meeting, Ohio Director of Public Safety Andy Wilson told commissioners the state is willing to work with the city regarding youth gun violence.
Mental health
A large portion of federal funding changes will come from Secretary for Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said CEO Greta Mayer of the Mental Health and Recovery Board (MHRB) of Clark, Greene and Madison counties.
The federal budget cuts $1 billion from the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and reductions in federal workforce create problems for MHRB, Mayer said.
“Less workers reduce responsiveness to grant applications for current and pending funding and to programs that are reliant on overdose prevention resources like funding for Narcan,” Mayer said. “The secretary has also voiced concerns about treatment for substance use disorder, including use of medication assisted treatment, and has proposed alternatives that are not evidence based.”
MHRB is concerned about fewer SAMHSA funds for addiction science research with ongoing high death rates due to “the ongoing drug epidemic,” Mayer said.
MHRB may see a reduced workforce but is mostly concerned about an increase in deaths with less access to overdose prevention resources, Mayer said.
MHRB usually receives approximately $1,671,000 through the Ohio Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services, but state fiscal year 2026 lists 27% as “to be determined,” Mayer said.
Because of federal cuts to state allocations, Clark County has seen a 6% cut in mental health funding and crisis and criminal justice services.
“As funds are finalized, MHRB continues to analyze funding availability to minimize disruption to current services,” Mayer said. “However, it is likely that some funding of services will have to be reduced to assure funding is preserved for Community Assessment and Plan specific care.”
A $600,000 new federal Bureau of Justice Assistance grant was canceled before MHRB submitted its application. The organization is “in deficit spending in Greene County and cannot increase jail-funded services without cutting other contracted service providers,” Mayer said.
Second Harvest Food Bank
The food bank expected to received nearly $500,000 in government support this year, not including the value of the food product, Development Director Jennifer Brunner said.
“June was the final month for some of the government funding support we receive, so the impact will start to be seen and really felt beginning this month,” she said.
In anticipation of funding cuts, increased demand, reductions in government programs like SNAP and decreasing food donations, the food bank eliminated its direct mobile distributions earlier this year. This allows them to rely on and support their partner agencies to distribute food.
“We have over 30 partner agencies in the county and felt this was one way to save money while minimizing the impact to our neighbors,” Brunner said. “We have also been reducing the size of our staff in some areas when we are able to through attrition.”
Brunner said they are “trying very hard” to find solutions so “neighbors do not feel the impact,” including identifying funding sources to replace food product that was cut, working to increase partner agency membership and working with partner agencies on efficient and less costly solutions to get food out, such as food pick-ups.
About 50% of the food bank’s products come through government programs, and the other 50% is donated through retail partners such as Kroger, Walmart and Aldi.
“The passage of the federal budget reconciliation bill has left us even more worried about what’s ahead. The changes it brings to food and health care assistance will place real strain on families and communities, like ours, already facing hardship,” she said.
The food bank recently had support last month from corporate and community partners to fill the growing gap of rising hunger and funding being cut.
Second Harvest was awarded $75,000 from Honda to support hunger relief operations.
The grant will directly support the food bank’s operational capacity such as logistics, staffing and infrastructure needed to distribute millions of pounds of food.
Second Harvest has won Honda grants before, and the grants are part of the normal grant cycle, but this award amount is 50% greater than past grant awards. It will help the food bank reach more families, seniors and children with nutritious foods while giving the food bank the flexibility to meet the increasing need in the region.
In March, the food bank lost more than $200,000 of federally funded food via the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) program, which was canceled, along with the Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA) program after June. Officials previously said the impact was $453,867 in food value lost and 378,222 fewer meals available for families.
The six canceled loads included essential items such as chicken, pork, milk, eggs, cereal, turkey breast and more that come from the CCC program, also known as bonus loads, which are a part of the Emergency Food Assistance Program.
The LFPA program that was recently canceled started during COVID and is one where money is given to the state to purchase food from local farmers that’s distributed to the food banks. The food bank averaged about $500,000 annually worth of product from this program. This program catered specifically to local farmers to get dairy products from them, so it’s affecting not only the food bank, but the farmers as well.
The overall food insecurity rate for Ohio is 15.3%, with Clark County coming in higher at 16.6%, Brunner said, according to the latest Feeding America data.
“The speed at which the food insecurity rate has grown is alarming. In a span of just two years, food insecurity rates in our service area increased from 13.1% to 16.6% in Clark County, from 11% to 13.3% in Champaign County and from 9.9% to 14.1% in Logan County,” she said.
The food bank serves more than 56,000 people annually and distributes nearly five million pounds of food through 60 non-profit partners such as pantries, mobile markets and school programs.
Clark County
Commissioner Melanie Flax Wilt said the county’s budget is not dependent on federal funding.
The county government’s $336.3 million budget for 2025 was approved in March, projecting a year-end balance of $448,958 without touching their $12 million in reserves.
The county listed the general fund portion of its budget for this year at $58.5 million. The general fund has a projected $53 million in revenue, which is 1.5% more than 2024, and expenditures of $58.1 million, which is 5.3% less than 2024. This decrease is because of reduction in ARPA funds and capital projects planned this year.
“The greatest impact of federal funding in the county’s operations is where dollars are funneled from the federal government through the state government down to the counties for those specific services,” she said. “Some departments under our oversight and elected officials (who are not under our oversight) may have federal grants for which they apply and depend upon, but those are not determined by commissioners of the general fund.”
The federal budget for Clark County Job and Family Services has not been released as it normally arrives in October or November, according to Director Virginia Martycz. She said to date, its funds have not been cut but changes in match rates will start impacting state and counties in October 2026.
The county received $268,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds for 2024, according to Ethan Harris, Clark County Land Bank executive director, but he said they “have no knowledge at this time” of those dollars being rescinded. He said the county receives funding from the state’s allocation from HUD since they’re a non-entitlement community on a bi-annual basis.
Last month, commissioners approved the submission of applications to the state for two different chunks of grant funding — $500,000 in CDBG funding for an infrastructure project in Bethel Twp. and $700,000 in Critical Home Improvement Program (CHIP) funding to help people with home repairs.
Harris said the Community and Economic Development Department has not been affected by federal funding cuts.
“It’s too early to tell how the recently passed federal budget will affect us,” he said. “At this time, the community should not expect any reduction in the County’s Community and Economic Development Department services. That may change in the future, but it’s too soon to tell.”
Kerry Pedraza, executive director of United Way of Clark, Champaign and Madison Counties, said in April the nonprofit is currently overseeing one federal program under the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The Emergency Food and Shelter Program, which includes funds for housing and rental assistance, as well as food, was put on hold.
This included about $60,000 earmarked for Sheltered Inc., Project Woman, and the local Salvation Army, Pedraza said.
If the nonprofits do not get these federal dollars, Pedraza said they will have to reexamine their budgets, which may lead to some cuts in services and staff.
