OLATHE, Kan. — The Trump Administration’s recent sweeping tariffs are having an impact across many industries including the nonprofit sector.
It has become another source of uncertainty for local nonprofit organizations as many of them are already dealing with executive orders that prompted policy changes and funding cuts.
“As we’re seeing the need arise in the community due to inflation and layoffs and everything that’s going on, we’re also at the same time seeing a decrease in resources that are available. And so, that’s trickling down into organizations like mine, where places that we originally could have referred out to, that assistance is getting more difficult to get,” said Center of Grace’s Director of Operations, Jessica Ferrell.
Center of Grace is a community outreach center in Olathe, Kansas. Anyone can walk in and get access to basic need items, employment programs, financial assistance and free meals.
Ferrell says the center serves about 30,000 people every year, but calls for help lately are breaking records. They had more phone calls about food insecurity than ever before in the last four months.
This has prompted Center of Grace to relaunch its food pantry this summer, which was no longer needed ten years ago.
“Trying to operate from the same budget while also supporting more people and new programs, obviously that math doesn’t really make sense. So we’ll see across the board, we’re going to be trying to do more fundraising to get that money,” said Ferrell.
Ferrell is encouraging people to give in anyway they can, because their operations are possible thanks to donations and the organization can only run because of volunteers like David Graham.
“I don’t think any of us has the power to magically change some of the big issues we face, but we can all do our part to make what’s close to home better and hopefully that’ll make a difference for everyone,” said Graham.
The Kansas City metro has more than 12,000 registered nonprofit organizations. That is why the United Way of Greater Kansas City is hosting a resource event next week called Unite for Impact: Confronting Our Uncertainties Together. It will kick off with a panel of attorneys and experts in public policy.
“We know that this has just been an extraordinarily challenging time since the new administration took office due to a range of issues,” said Kera Mashek with United Way of Greater Kansas City. “How can we really, best as we can, navigate through all of this uncertainty, pool our resources together, do the best job that we can to walk through what’s just a really, really challenging time.”
Any organization interested in participating can register online.
Ferrell was a client at Center of Grace before she became an employee. She knows first-hand what a place like this can do for struggling families and hopes that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
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