Disability Advocacy Group in New Jersey Suspends Work: ‘We Are Fighting For Our Very Survival’

Disability Rights New Jersey, a legal advocacy group that serves people with mental illness and developmental disabilities, is suspending most of its work for the next two weeks as it grapples with how to handle a funding freeze from the Trump administration.

Per NJ.com:

The federal government has released just $1.6 million of the $3.1 million that Disability Rights counts on to represent people facing hardship in state-run institutions and state licensed nursing homes and group homes. They also fight for people at risk of losing Medicaid coverage for their health care and housing, said the organization’s executive director, Gwen Orlowski.

The nonprofit is down five attorneys and cannot replace them with the uncertainty around its finances, Orlowski said. Money has flowed in fits and starts since January when President [Donald] Trump was sworn in. Orlowski said late last year [that] senior leadership held off on raises anticipating the worst. Some attorneys left as a result, she said.

Shutting down until May 5 will allow leadership to reassess its priorities, Orlowski said. It’s possible the organization won’t be able to make payroll next month if the Trump Administration does not release more money, she said.

“We are fighting for our very survival,” Orlowski said.