MISSOULA — The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center has been caught in the crosshairs of the Department of Government Efficiency's cost-cutting, with the center receiving notice that their federal funding will be terminated.
The Center was sent a letter of termination stating its federal grant funding would be cut on Friday, Feb. 28.
Founded by an Act of Congress in 1983, the Center used the money for programs that promoted civic engagement and democracy forums in Montana schools. The money also paid for a two-week workshop in Washington, D.C., among other things.
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"The Mansfield Center's work was essential for national security priorities allowed us to broaden the scale of our work to bring in thousands more high school students to support hundreds more classrooms to engage a lot more activities,” Mansfield Center executive director Deena Mansour said. “And there's been great response to the work that we're doing."
The Center had federal grants totaling $3 million a year, starting in September 2023 and it was supposed to go to September of 2026.
However, the U.S. Department of Defense found the grant money was not in line with the department's priorities, a decision that Mansour disagrees with.
"We are a nonpartisan center. We are probably the best positioned in the country to align with Department of Defense priorities for war fighting."
Following the announcement, the Center is left in a difficult position as less than half a percent of their funding comes from the University of Montana.
A lack of federal funding could impact jobs.
"We had some faith in the word of the government. We had some faith in the word of Congress in appropriating these funds,” Mansour tikd MTN. “So. we're in the midst of having to probably terminate a lot of programs ourselves that we don't want to do."
Officials at the Mansfield Center have spoken with U.S. Senator Steve Daines and U.S. Senator Tim Sheehy and say both the senators expressed support for the Mansfield Center.
