BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho nonprofit that advocates for people with disabilities was forced to lay off staff and pause programs due to federal funding delays, though services have recently resumed.
Disability Rights Idaho (DRI), which provides free legal services and investigates abuse cases for Idahoans with disabilities, laid off four employees in May after federal awards totaling nearly $1.73 million were delayed.
"I would do legal services for people, so one of my cases that I worked on was a guardianship case where a young man approached me and said, 'I don't want to be under guardianship, I don't need a guardianship.' And so we represented him and his guardianship case against the prospective guardians and stopped it from happening," said Hannah Williams, former Adult Unit Staff Attorney at D.R.I.
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The organization also had to decline cases it would normally handle during the funding gap.
"One of the harder parts, even before I left, was turning people away and having to say to them 'normally we would take this case but right now we haven't gotten this grant so we can't help with anything like that,'" Williams said.
D.R.I. recently received its full funding for the year and has since resumed services, but uncertainty remains about future funding.
"Now we're accepting all cases that come through the door. We are back up and doing our monitoring," said Amy Cunningham, Executive Director of D.R.I.
However, Cunningham expressed concern about potential cuts in 2026. A leaked memo from Health and Human Services in April indicates funding cuts could affect some of their grants.
"Two of our grants have been zeroed out, and there's a high chance that we will not receive those grants next year," Cunningham said.
The organization has not rehired laid-off staff, and with two additional employees leaving voluntarily, D.R.I.'s workforce has dropped from 18 to 12 people.
"We're worried about who is going to be the extra eyes and the ears in facilities where children are located, and I will say, unfortunately, we still find abuse and neglect," Cunningham said.
In an effort to reduce costs, D.R.I. has closed its physical office in Pocatello and will soon close its Boise location. All services remain available, with employees now working remotely.
