The University of Rhode Island is working through the termination of all USAID federal funding to officially end research grants despite government battles with the Trump Administration.
URI takes $900,000 a year from the funding, including indirect costs and direct costs to fund projects, according to Bethany Jenkins, the vice president of research and economic development at the URI. The money is used for financial stability on overseas projects.
Without the USAID grants, there’s “no need to” keep the support services in place because URI is in the process of terminating the awards, according to Jenkins.
The lack of funds impacts the URI staff who were supported by the grants for their projects, according to Jenkins. One fisheries project that was cut looked at ways to improve fishing and feeding globally. The people overseas who were direct beneficiaries were also affected by the termination.
However, URI is still seeking payment from USAID for work that was done before the stop work order was issued in order to close the grant, according to Abby Benson, the vice president for administration and finance at URI. The federal government has said they should pay URI but the issue is tied up in a broader legal battle around whether or not it was legal to pause federal funding.
“When people have grant funded projects like this, and their salaries are supported by the grants, it’s really devastating when [the funding is] terminated, for the work from the awards,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins’ team in the research division has been supporting the people working on research grant projects by finding other employment opportunities within URI. The team relays the directions they were given by USAID to wind down and close the books on their projects.
“I want people in Rhode Island to understand that this was not a political selection,” Jenkins said. “It was a decision that all of the USAID awards we have would be terminated.”
The federal government reimburses URI and with the reimbursement, URI spends money according to Benson. After the reimbursement, URI expenses the federal government to submit for payment.
The payments are to ensure the vendors who were working on the research projects are paid and contracts are canceled, according to Benson. URI hasn’t been paid from USAID since January even though URI submitted invoices to them. If they don’t get the funds back, the number for the reimbursements will end up as a negative number on their research balance.
So far, most courts across the United States have ruled that the Trump administration has violated USAID laws, according to Dawn Bergantino, the assistant director of external relations and communications at URI.
“We’re hoping to have most of [the research grants] closed out within the next 60 days,” Benson said.
The “big goal” is making sure URI is prepared financially for when the money comes, according to Benson.
