The nonprofit charged with administering federal family planning money in Mississippi is laying off half of its staff two months after the federal government withheld its grant.
Despite complying with the demands of the federal investigation that prompted the funding freeze, Converge leaders have heard nothing about the status of their case and say they must continue operating as if the money won’t come through. That means laying off 10 members of their staff, as well as stopping funding streams to the dozens of clinics around the state that rely on the grant to offer preventive reproductive health services to low-income Mississippians.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) told Mississippi Today on May 14 that the agency was reviewing the submitted documents to assess compliance with the law and the president’s executive orders. When asked for an update Monday, the department declined to comment.
Title X, a federal program that has been providing money for family planning services to states for over 50 years, flows through Converge to 91 clinics around the state. On March 31, HHS told Converge it was withholding $4.5 million intended for Mississippi’s Title X program indefinitely pending an investigation into the organization’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices.
Seven states, including Mississippi, had Title X funds completely withheld, while another sixteen had their funds partially withheld. An estimated 834,000 people nationwide would be affected if the funds are never disbursed, Guttmacher estimates.
In 2024, Title X funded 30,000 visits in Mississippi, the organization’s head told Mississippi Today.
Since they received the letter, Converge leaders sent in the documents they were asked for, met with members of Congress, fundraised, and furloughed half their staff with the hopes of reinstating those employees if the federal funding came through before June 1. But now that it has not, the organization was forced to institute permanent layoffs.
Danielle Lampton, left, and Jamie Bardwell pose for a portrait at Converge: Partners in Access in Jackson, Miss., Wednesday, April 6, 2022. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today“I thought that it would not come to this,” said Jamie Bardwell, co-executive director of Converge. “Because the accusations were so bizarre, we naively thought that all we had to do was show what we’re doing and we could get the money unfrozen. And I think that that was wishful thinking.”
Bardwell said Monday she has not heard from HHS since submitting all the requested documentation.
The nonprofit is relying on fundraising to offer services like telehealth availability and pop-up clinics in the meantime.
“I think often about the fact that we all feel so helpless right now, like, everything seems to be crumbling,” she said. “And the idea that we can do something, as individuals and as an organization, to help people in these dire moments, feels so good. And we’re going to channel that for Converge to create something that is useful for people, even though we never imagined this is how we’d need to do it.”
The next pop-up clinic will take place July 26 at the Jackson Medical Mall and will include physical exams, testing for sexually transmitted infections, pregnancy tests and preconception counseling, and prescriptions for birth control. All services will be available on a sliding scale.
The team will have reproductive health kits available that include emergency contraception, condoms, a pregnancy test and feminine hygiene products. They will also be giving out free three-month supplies of Opill – the first over-the-counter birth control pill.
In addition, staff will be available to help people enroll in the Medicaid family planning waiver, which allows low-income individuals to access Medicaid for family planning purposes.
Bardwell is hopeful Converge will find new ways to offer services, but knows it will be difficult for the organization to operate on the same level it has been without the $4.5 million it was receiving annually from the federal government.
“Mississippians are nothing if not creative and problem solvers, so I feel confident that we can meet this moment, but it will be very challenging,” Bardwell said.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Mississippi’s Title X recipient lays off half its staff amid funding freeze )
Also on site :