After learning it had abruptly lost $2 million in federal funding, the Pride Center of Maryland moved to lay off a dozen employees, or about a third of its workforce, the Baltimore nonprofit’s leader said Thursday.

The group is one of thousands nationwide that reportedly received letters late Tuesday from the Trump administration. Their mental health and addiction grants had been terminated, effective immediately, the letters said.

By Wednesday night, federal officials moved to reverse the funding cuts by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, estimated to total $2 billion, according to national media reports. But the Pride Center of Maryland’s CEO Cleo Manago said as of Thursday morning he had not heard anything from the federal government confirming those reports.

“In order to not close and dismantle, we had to move quickly,” Manago said. In addition to laying off employees, the organization is planning to scale back services and cut staff wages by up to half, he said.

In 2024, the Maryland Pride Center served more than 9,000 people across the state, with a focus on members of the LGBTQIA+ community, according to the organization. Manago said the grants in question fund a wellness center that helps treat sexually transmitted diseases and substance use disorder, and an outreach team that passes out overdose-reversal drug naloxone in alleyways and on street corners.

Manago said he plans to rehire staff once funding is restored, but some damage has already been done.

“We deal with a population who has been historically marginalized,” Manago said. “They’re re-traumatized by the uncertainty and potential loss.”

The funding termination and reversal threw other community organizations on the front lines of a deadly drug overdose crisis into panic.

Voices of Hope, the largest nonprofit that offers drug addiction recovery services in Cecil and Harford counties, was shocked earlier this week to hear it would lose a federal grant it uses to operate 24-hour centers where people can seek help.

Executive Director Jennifer Tuerke spent a frantic Wednesday meeting with board members, contacting elected representatives and appealing to possible donors for help. She feared the group may have to dip into money it uses to help struggling people meet basic needs like clothing, medical co-pays and transportation to important appointments.

She wondered if her group was targeted for cuts because it also offers harm reduction services, such as clean syringes and wound care, to people who use drugs. A July executive order from President Donald Trump accused harm reduction efforts of facilitating illegal drug use, though such programs have been shown to prevent the spread of disease and save lives.

After learning that Voices of Hope could keep its grant after all, Tuerke said she felt thankful, but uneasy and plagued by unanswered questions.

“What just happened, why did it happen and is it going to happen again?” Tuerke asked.

It is unclear how many local groups received grant termination letters this week, but a federal grant database shows Maryland-based organizations were awarded more than $176 million from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in 2025.

Behavioral Health System Baltimore, which helps distribute government grants for mental health and addiction services in the city, said it is tracking the situation and wants to hear from any programs that experience a disruption in federal funding.

“The mental health and substance use services supported through these grants provide live-saving information and resources and support services that people need to recover and thrive,” said the organization’s spokesperson Adrienne Breidenstine in an email.

“Reducing these services at a time when our community is seeing mass overdose events and an increase in suicide would be short sighted,” she wrote.