'DOGE does it again': Federal cuts come for mentoring program

A loss of federal funding won't dethrone the middle school environmentalists in a Meadville Area Middle School (MAMS) after-school program, according to leaders of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Mentoring Program.
Armendia Dixon and Nancy Smith learned last week that a $50,000 federal grant expected to fund the program through next year had been frozen.
'DOGE has done it again,' said Smith, president of the Dr. Martin Luther King Scholarship Committee Inc., the nonprofit that oversees the MAMS mentoring program.
Recent cuts to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental and Climate Justice Program included the $50,000 grant that was funding the mentoring program. DOGE refers to the Department of Government Efficiency, the Trump administration effort guided by billionaire Elon Musk, which has gutted billions in federal programs over the last few months. DOGE has in many cases become the public face for federal budget cuts, even those for which it is not directly responsible.
In January, participants in the MAMS program unveiled RecyclKings, a student-led recycling business they began operating in partnership with various community organizations. The initiative was funded by a government-to-government grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Environmental and Climate Justice Program.
Fresh off seeing students in the program present their work at the Creek Connections Student Research Symposium at Allegheny College earlier this month, Dixon was determined to see students continue their efforts through the spring despite the loss of funding.
'I'm not one to complain because this is an opportunity for us to problem solve,' Dixon said. 'I'm sure we're just not going to give up because our students have worked diligently on this grant where they saw the opportunity to form their own company.'
'Terminated by the EPA'
A spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which administered the grant funding from the EPA, confirmed the loss of the grant but offered little additional insight.
'The DEP can confirm that future funding through the Environmental Justice Government-to-Government program has been terminated by the EPA,' the spokesman said in an emailed statement. 'DEP is evaluating the impacts of the loss of this funding, as well as the impact on the currently allocated and obligated money and determining next steps.'
The EPA did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Environmental justice programs have been the target of multiple executive orders from President Donald Trump, including one that directed federal agencies to ''terminate, to the maximum extent allowed by law, all DEI, DEIA, and 'environmental justice' offices and positions.' DEI refers to diversity, equity and inclusion programs while DEIA adds the term 'accessibility.'
In a New York Post op-ed published April 4, the same day MAMS students were presenting their work at Creek Connections, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin labeled environmental justice programs as 'scams' and said he had canceled more than $22 billion in environmental justice and DEI grants and contracts.
'Instead of directly fixing actual environmental problems with our precious taxpayer dollars, the Biden Environmental Protection Agency lit them on fire to fund cronies and activist groups,' Zeldin wrote. 'Many American communities are suffering with serious unresolved environmental issues, but under the 'environmental justice' banner, the previous administration's EPA showered billions on ideological allies, instead of directing those resources into solving environmental problems and making meaningful change.'
Pennsylvania's Office of Environmental Justice was created as part of the DEP via an executive order from Gov. Tom Wolf in 2021. The DEP defines environmental justice as 'the just treatment and meaningful involvement of all people, regardless of income, wealth, race, color, national origin, area of residence, Tribal affiliation, or disability, in agency decision-making and other activities that affect human health and the environment.'
'The Meadville way'
Smith said that about $2,000 of the mentoring program's grant money had been spent before the grant was terminated. She was optimistic the terms of the grant would not require the program to pay back the money already spent.
'But there's no guarantee of that, either,' she added. 'It's a big disappointment.'
Among the expenses covered by the grant so far were RecyclKings T-shirts for students in the program, rental and pickup fees for a dumpster and recycling containers at MAMS, radio advertising announcing the business launch and the catered event at the school in January where students announced their plans. Similar events aimed at students' families and community mentors were scheduled to take place later this semester, but the status of those events remained unclear.
Smith said the program has other funding sources.
Crawford Central School District pays transportation costs to take students home and a Rotary grant covers expenses for field trips and recurring outings to the Meadville Area Recreation Complex for skating and swimming opportunities. Smith and others who teach in the program volunteer their time.
Crawford Central Superintendent Jenn Galdon said the district would 'seek to work with Allegheny College to fund the mentoring program for next year.' Allegheny has partnered with Dr. Martin Luther King Scholarship Fund Inc., the nonprofit that oversees the mentoring program, on a variety of efforts.
Now in its 15th year, the mentoring program was making its first foray into student-led business development.
At the January unveiling, eighth grader Jocelyn Hart, the RecyclKings president, said that launching the business would expose students to the basics of entrepreneurship and allow them to work with local experts on leadership and marketing skills, communication, workplace expectations, and the fundamentals of environmental studies.
Dixon, who has led the program since its start in spring 2011, was upset about the loss of funding but was not willing to lose time to frustration. Looking ahead to an aluminum can recycling contest that would start this week as part of the middle school's 'pod wars,' she encouraged organizations and individuals interested in assisting the after school program to contact Crawford Central. She remained optimistic about the program's future, she added, saying that 'getting ticked off wouldn't solve the problem.'
'We will continue to meet,' Dixon said, a hint of defiance in her voice. 'I am sure we're going to find a way to keep the program going because that's the Meadville way.'

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