PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — A pause on federal funds issued by President Donald Trump has been rescinded after less than 24 hours.
The move caught many organizations and nonprofits off guard so we're digging into the numbers on how it could impact many of you.
Nonprofit shares with WPTV how the federal freeze would impact them
Counties across our area tell WPTV they rely on federal funding for various programs and services.
Most counties said that it's too soon to tell how their federal funds could have been impacted and they're closely monitoring the situation.
St. Lucie County officials said that the county received $13,415,784.97 in federal fundings during the 2023 to 2024 fiscal year but that the pause doesn't appear to impact county services.
They said if some of their previously approved federal grants are ultimately revoked, they would need to determine whether to stop moving forward on the related projects/programs or identify alternative funding sources.
WPTV's Joel Lopez asked if there are emergency funds or plans to help local nonprofits and organizations financially if they ultimately lose their funds.
RELATED: Nonprofit tells WPTV how federal funding freeze would have far-reaching implications
St. Lucie County staff said the county does not step in and provide funding to nonprofit organizations when they lose grant funding.
"The last 24 hours kind of put everyone in a tailspin,” said Julie Seaver, the C.E.O. of Compass Community Center.
Seaver said Compass' online payment portal, which is overseen by the Office of Management and Budget (OMG), was blocked hours before the pause was scheduled to go into effect.
“We did get an error message on screens stating that they were experiencing pauses and possible rejections in reimbursments for folks turning in and submitting their billing," said Seaver.
Trump administration rescinds memo on federal funding freeze for grants
Compass Community Center provides services for the LGBTQ+ community from health testing, services people living with HIV, mental health resources, youth programs and more.
"This is causing an impact and one that I don't think that the greater community was prepared for," said Seaver.
In total, Compass said their budget is $4.5 million dollars, 50% of which comes from federal grants.
"We save lives here, we help people," said Michael Riordan with Compass Community Center. "We’re going to continue to help people for as long as we possibly can because they need us now more than ever."
They said if they lose funds, they hope to turn to their supporters, donors, and community partners to help support Compass' initiatives and mission.
At the Palm Beach County Food Bank staff said that the biggest need for the federal funding that they receive is for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Emergency Food Assistance Programs (EFAP.)
"It's a little bit chaotic; my phone has been ringing since about 6 o'clock this morning. A lot of emails, a lot of people are concerned," said Jamie Kendall, the C.E.O. with the Palm Beach County Food Bank. "I had a group of individuals come through this morning for just a general tour and they were under the impression that children weren't going to be fed lunch this morning at the schools and that's not true."
Previous coverage: Drastic federal spending freeze
Kendal said the PBCFB programs are continuing as usual.
The bigger concern, they said, is the increase in demand they could see if other programs get cut.
"If there's additional hurdles for these families and seniors with other programs being cut it will affect the need for food assistance," said Kendall.
She said the foodbank is already seeing an increase in need which could grow bigger from a fund cut.
Kendall said in Palm Beach County 173,000 individuals that are at risk of being food insecure. About 51,000 of those are children.
Their staff on the field report they serve 190,000 people every month.
"If we do have a higher demand then we will kind of have to come up and be very strategic about helping get more food in the door," Kendall said, "and that's going to be a call out to our community and our funders to make sure that we are able to standby and be ready to add the additional assistance."