The ongoing dismantling of the federal government by the current presidential administration is disrupting government at all levels. The Albemarle Board of Supervisors learned at their March 12, 2025 budget work session about one way the county will be affected.
“One of our grants awarded by the [United States Environmental Protection Agency] is going to be rescinded by the federal government,” said Andy Bowman, Albemarle’s assistant chief financial officer.
Albemarle County had been awarded funding through the Environmental Justice Government-to-Government grant for a project called the Climate Resilience Cohort.
“The Climate Resilience Cohort is a community engagement initiative to partner with community-based organizations (CBOs) that serve disadvantaged or vulnerable community members in Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville,” reads a section of the Engage Albemarle website.
The project was to last three years and organizations were asked to submit applications for funding. The Trump administration is seeking to eliminate the concept of “environmental justice” and is implementing other funding cuts based on ideology and a belief that the executive branch does not have checks and balances.
While legal fights continue, the termination of a grant means that Albemarle will not have available funding to continue an ongoing program.
“Still learning and working through this, but it appears that any cost expended to date we will be able to recover and get those reimbursed,” Bowman said. “There will not be a loss of funding the county has spent to date, but the remaining Grant which totaled $460,000.”
In a sign of how haphazard the White House agency known as the Department of Governmental Efficiency is, the EPA’s website for the government to government program is still active.
Bowman said that the $460,000 grant was in the early stages of implementation.
Greg Harper, Chief of Environmental Services, said they would be discussing the future of the cohort internally.
“I hate to see this one go,” said Supervisor Jim Andrews.
Supervisor Ned Gallaway suggested that the county publicly document the impacts of a federal government that has decided to wind down much of its existence.
“I would think for our own sake and for our community members sake, we should start a little federal Fed grant cut tracker,” Gallaway said.
Continue reading for more coverage in this newsletter on Albemarle’s FY2026 budget. For new readers, you can catch up on nearly four years worth of stories on Information Charlottesville.
Before you go: This is the first of many stories from the March 12, 2025 budget work session in Albemarle County. How many? I’m not sure. As a one-person town crier in a community that’s a wee bit bigger than a town, it takes me a while to go through some of this stuff. This was published in the March 22, 2025 edition of the Charlottesville Community Engagement newsletter. The stories to come may be a bit more bite-sized. Why? Not sure. It’s the way I feel like experimenting today.
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