The U.S. Department of Justice announced this week it is terminating hundreds of federal grants, a move that will impact several Southern California organizations providing victim services and working to prevent crime in local communities.

According to Reuters, the Justice Department is cutting 365 grants totaling $811 million that were awarded to organizations across the country. The Washington Post reported that the Justice Department cited concerns about inadequate vetting processes under the previous administration as the reason for the cancellations.

Advocacy group Californians for Safety and Justice said dozens of organizations across California will be affected, including several in Los Angeles.

Among them is St. John’s Community Health, which is poised to lose $400,000 in funding, President and CEO Jim Mangia said.

“This is a very important grant to hate-crime victims,” Mangia said. “It allowed us to provide case management, care coordination and direct legal services to hate crime victims.”

Mangia said the funding loss is especially concerning given the recent rise in hate crimes. According to the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations, reported hate crimes increased by 45% from 2022 to 2023, reaching 1,350 incidents—the highest number recorded since the agency began tracking data in 1980.

St. John’s plans to take legal action in an attempt to have the grant reinstated, Mangia said, and remains hopeful for a positive outcome.

The Urban Peace Institute, based in Los Angeles, is also bracing for major losses. Executive Director Fernando Rejón said programs supported by the organization are expected to lose more than $2 million in federal funding.

“Pulling federal funding that supports a broader understanding of what public safety is will be detrimental to overall safety in L.A.,” Rejón said. “We have to lay off community intervention workers who are working to increase public safety in L.A.”

Community intervention workers are often formerly incarcerated individuals who have turned their lives around and now work to combat crime and violence, Rejón explained. They engage people caught in cycles of violence, respond to homicides, and help prevent retaliatory violence.

According to Rejón, homicides were down more than 40% last year in areas where community intervention teams focused their efforts.

Other organizations also facing cuts include Groundswell—formerly known as the Orange County Human Relations Council—which will reportedly lose $400,000 earmarked for hate crime prevention. Long Beach-based Centro CHA is set to lose $1.5 million in funding for violence intervention and prevention initiatives.

Attorney General Pam Bondi defended the cuts on social media, citing the elimination of $250,000 in funding to provide gender appropriate housing for incarcerated transgender individuals.

But advocates warn that the broader cuts could have serious consequences for public safety.

“These programs focus on community violence intervention, mental health, and trauma recovery—approaches that have contributed to record drops in violence in many cities,” said Tinisch Hollins, executive director of Californians for Safety and Justice and California state director of Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice.

Hollins, who has lost family members to gun violence, said victim services are critical not only to help survivors heal, but to prevent future cycles of harm.

“Cutting funding for organizations that serve survivors of violent crime and their families will not improve public safety,” she said. “We all deserve to feel safe.”

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