By Mike Harris Monday, March 3rd, 2025

Central Coast universities, nonprofits and support organizations are keeping close tabs on the Trump Administration’s attempts to cut trillions of dollars in federal funding.

Republican President Donald Trump has vowed to cut wasteful federal spending but Democrats have challenged the funding freeze in court with some success.

Meanwhile, regional universities, including Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, are monitoring with concern the proposed federal funding freezes.

“The situation is in great flux and conversations are happening at the CSU and state levels regarding how to respond to developments at the federal level,” Cal Poly SLO spokesman Matt Lazier told the Business Times Feb. 24.

The university has received various federal grants, including Pell Grants from the Department of Education for eligible undergraduates working on a first bachelor’s degree or pursuing an initial credential, according to the university’s website.

UC Santa Barbara and Cal State University Channel Islands officials are also closely tracking the funding freeze.

Congressman Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, said in a Feb. 10 news release that he and his team are in touch with regional entities that have flagged more than $22 million in federal funding at risk of being halted.

The funding includes that from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, he said.

Carbajal and other members of Congress from the Central Coast — Zoe Lofgren, Jimmy Panetta and Julia Brownley, all Democrats — are calling on the Trump administration to clarify its actions and disclose a full list of programs and initiatives facing continued obstruction by federal agencies.

“The Trump Administration’s lawless attempts to freeze federal funding are leaving our Central Coast communities scared and vulnerable,” they, along with more than 150 other House Democrats, said in a letter to Trump’s White House Office of Management and Budget.

“Without needed federal funding, community organizations and local governments’ operations are threatened, and families will face difficulty accessing basic services like health care, education, childcare, food assistance, and more,” the letter stated.

One such example the press release cited is the Santa Barbara-based Community Environmental Council, which has enlisted businesses and community groups to fight climate change. 

“We have been told that a number of federal grants previously awarded to CEC and our partners are on hold and cannot proceed,” Sigrid Wright, the council’s CEO and executive director said.

Wright said one such project the group has been working on for almost two years is improving access to electric vehicles and other clean energy technologies on the Central Coast. 

“This freeze will leave CEC with a $2.5 million hole in our budget and would deprive the Central Coast of the critical investments needed to ensure that our communities can meet the challenges of the climate crisis,” she said.

Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, run by billionaire Elon Musk, a Trump advisor, has thus far eliminated about 95,000 federal jobs as part of its downsizing mandate, with tens of thousands more positions expected to be cut.

Bruce Stenslie, president and CEO of the Economic Development Collaborative, a Camarillo-based business consulting nonprofit for Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, told the Business Times Feb. 24 that he’s already seen a few regional impacts of the job cuts and attempted funding freeze.

Stenslie said EDC has been giving office space to a small team of resource specialists from the U.S. Small Business Administration’s disaster assistance division who are in the area to help those companies impacted by the 2024 Mountain Fire in the Camarillo region and the January 2025 Los Angeles County fires.

One of the specialists has been laid off, Stenslie said.

On another front, he said, “We’ve got clients who are trying to get SBA loan guarantees, and they’re really anxious. There’s a lot of them that worry that capital is drying up,” he said. 

The Port of Hueneme has received its share of federal grants over the years, including a recent $42.3 million award from the Environmental Protection Agency to help the facility become the nation’s first port to transition to zero emissions terminal equipment.

The award was announced Oct. 29.

“The port has no formal indication that the grants will not move forward,” Stacy Lange, the port’s chief commercial and public affairs officer, told the Business Times Feb. 24.

Panetta, whose district includes northern San Luis Obispo County, said he has identified significant federal investment for area projects that have been impacted by the Trump Administration’s funding freeze.

Disruptions range from climate-focused infrastructure to small business assistance and more, Panetta said.

Across Ventura County, critical local projects are now at risk due to the intended funding freeze, according to Carbajal’s news release.

“Initiatives essential to the safety and economic stability of the region — including those focused on infrastructure upgrades, electric vehicle charging, and key community development — are now in jeopardy,” the release said.

Some in the region applaud DOGE’s work.

“The voters have sent a clear signal to the bureaucracy that they are too large and have too much power with not enough oversight,” Ryan Grau, executive director of the Ventura County Taxpayer Association, a non-profit taxpayer advocacy group, said in a Feb. 25 statement to the Business Times.

“Taxpayers are motivated by DOGE and their progress, and we are seeing the effects locally in Ventura County with increased support for our own efforts,” he said.

VCTA has been favorably compared to DOGE with its work on the Ventura County Medical System, Oxnard street sweepers and more, Grau said.

The taxpayers association has raised concerns about what it says are ongoing cash flow shortages at Ventura County’s medical system.

It has also questioned the city of Oxnard giving its street sweepers an enormous pay raise to almost $200,000 annually in salary and benefits.

“While government spending reform has traditionally crawled, the Ventura County Taxpayers Association and waste warriors like DOGE race to keep taxpayer dollars transparent and to hold our public institutions accountable,” Grau said.

A federal judge on Feb. 25 indefinitely blocked the cutting off of grants and loans.

But at least some federal agencies have ignored previous such court orders and continued to suspend funding that’s not in keeping with Trump’s agenda.

email: [email protected]