AURORA, Colo. — A nonprofit in northwest Aurora that serves more than 4,000 people a week faces millions in federal funding cuts.
"$5 million in total is at risk for our federal funding. We have 12 grants that are subject to federal claw-back or termination," said CEO of Village Exchange Center (VEC) Amanda Blaurock.
Blaurock said her nonprofit has received $3 million in stop-work orders and terminations in the last three weeks alone.
"We work with people from 42 different countries of origin, all of the receiving communities come here, white, black, veterans, everyone," she said.
As immigrants arrived from the Southern Border, the center stepped up hosting vaccine clinics, job fairs, and cultural programs.
Blaurock said the funding fallout is putting the center in a difficult position.
"When you lose food for 4,000 people a week, that's going to impact the dignity and safety and security of all people in Aurora," Blaurock said.
Denver7 contacted Colorado's congressional Republicans about the loss of grant money, but so far, we haven't heard back.
However, just this week, President Trump praised Elon Musk's work as the Head of DOGE for making more cuts.
"We found hundreds of think of it, just hundreds of millions of dollars of fraud and abuse and waste, and they're still going. I mean, they're going strong," said President Trump on Thursday.
Adams County Commissioner Steve O'Dorisio worries it will leave families with nowhere to turn.
"It also puts more pressure on the local governments to have to fill in the gaps. Unfortunately, our funding is also being cut," said O'Dorisio.
But at the federal level, RFK Jr. insists the cuts are necessary.
"HHS was a bloated agency, and it was not doing its job," he said during a visit to an elementary school in Alexandria, VA, this week.
But Blaurock said it puts her work in jeopardy.
"We'll always keep our doors open, but potentially at a different capacity," she said.
Blaurock said a lawsuit filed by Attorney General Phil Weiser helped get back about $650,000 in federal grant money that was recently pulled from her nonprofit.
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