Five nonprofits have filed a class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration to restore more than $820 million in federal grants for violence prevention and community safety programs.
The lawsuit comes after the Justice Department last month canceled more than 370 grants for violence intervention, addiction recovery, juvenile justice reform, mental health treatment, and victim services. Critics say the cuts — which have already caused layoffs and program cancellations — imperil efforts to save lives across dozens of states and cities.
The nonprofits filed the lawsuit on April 21 in the federal district court in Washington, D.C. In it, they accuse the Justice Department of violating the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause and the Administrative Procedures Act, a federal law that governs how agencies make decisions.
“These terminations violate the Constitution and agency regulations, exceed [the Justice Department’s] lawful authority, and are arbitrary and capricious,” the suit alleges.
Three of the five nonprofits operate community violence intervention programs. They are FORCE Detroit; the Center for Children & Youth Justice, based in Seattle; and the Boston-based Health Resources in Action. The other two plaintiffs are the Vera Institute of Justice and Stop AAPI Hate. Combined, the five nonprofits lost grants totaling more than $25 million.
If a judge allows the case to move forward, the plaintiffs could end up representing a class of more than 200 other organizations whose grants were also terminated.
The defendants include Attorney General Pam Bondi; the Office of Justice Programs, the Justice Department agency that administered the grants; and the office’s acting head, Maureen Henneberg. The Justice Department declined to comment.
The defunded grants were valued at about $820 million, with more than $169 million slated for violence intervention and community safety programs — the largest single category. Most were multiyear grants in various stages of implementation. An analysis by the Council on Criminal Justice, a think tank, estimated that more than $500 million remained unspent when the grants were canceled.
On May 2, a group of 47 House Democrats sent a letter to President Donald Trump demanding that the funding be reinstated. The cuts largely dismantled the Justice Department’s Community Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative, which Congress funded as part of the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.
The lawsuit accuses the Trump administration of breaking that law. “Defendants decided, simply because their own policy priorities changed, to stop spending the money that Congress appropriated,” the lawsuit states. “But Congress’ command did not change, and Congress’ command left Defendants no leeway to simply pocket the money.”
The grant cuts cost FORCE Detroit approximately $2 million for its violence intervention program, Keepers CVI. The money supported salaries and contracts with community partners, including local coaches, mentors, and licensed therapists. After receiving the grant termination notice, the organization was forced to lay off three frontline employees.
“This work has resulted in Detroit’s lowest homicide rate since 1965,” Dujuan Zoe Kennedy, the group’s executive director, said in a statement. “Eliminating federal grants adds incredible strain on our police departments, costs lives, and dismantles communities.”
