International News

‘This is Very Difficult,’ Caritas Puerto Rico Director Says Amid Funding Freeze

A school bus is seen under a fallen tree on November 12, 2018 in Santurce, Puerto Rico. The tree fell on the bus during Hurricane Maria. It has not been removed more than a year later. The effort continues in Puerto Rico to remain and rebuild more than one year after the Hurricane Maria hit and devastated the island on September 20, 2017. The official number of deaths from the disaster is 2,975. (Photo: Al Bello/Getty Images for Lumix)

PROSPECT HEIGHTS — Amid the uncertainty around the future of federal funding, Father Enrique Camacho said he has received calls at the Caritas Puerto Rico office from concerned citizens looking for answers — answers he is unable to provide until he gets some clarity.

“The people have uncertainty, and the people are desperate, and they are calling our phones, and we sometimes have to be almost psychologists to people because they are right now in anguish because of the uncertainty,” Father Camacho, the organization’s director, told The Tablet. “They see the news, they see the social networks, and a lot of things have been said.”

“This is very difficult,” Father Camacho said. “We have been through a lot of situations with Hurricane Maria, the earthquakes, the COVID-19 pandemic, and people are so affected by all of those things, and now, in some cases, they are going to lose things they need.”

On Jan. 27, the federal Office of Management and Budget issued a memo instructing federal agencies to temporarily pause their spending to review whether or not it aligned with President Donald Trump’s executive orders. The memo was then rescinded on Jan. 29, with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later clarifying the funding freeze would continue.

The review puts trillions of dollars on the line for entities like nonprofit organizations and states.

Archbishop Roberto González Nieves of San Juan, Puerto Rico, told The Tablet in an email that the funding freeze is “short-sighted and fails to acknowledge and continue the longstanding commitment of the United States to enable those trapped in poverty to work their way out of this entrapment.”

Father Camacho cited two federally funded Caritas Puerto Rico programs that could be in jeopardy — one is an effort to provide food and shelter to individuals and families in need, and the other is an effort to provide solar panels to people and families who can’t afford it, or electricity, themselves.

Father Camacho said that if either or both of these programs are cut, the community will suffer.

“If these programs are cut, there could be significant people on the streets because of that,” Father Camacho said. “So, I hope, and I have faith in God, that people who are going to review those programs are going to keep these services because they have really helped maintain the economy and the welfare of communities and people.”

The first program is the Federal Emergency Management Agency-run Emergency Food and Shelter Program, which, according to FEMA’s website, “supplements and expands the work of local nonprofit and governmental social service organizations to provide shelter, food, and supportive services to individuals and families who are experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, hunger and/or homelessness.”

Under the EFSP, Father Camacho said, Caritas Puerto Rico administers funds for the program’s “served meals project” to dozens of local organizations, which then use the funds to provide hot meals to those in need. Congress authorized the EFSP in 1983, and under its current phase, Caritas Puerto Rico has received more than $500,000, according to the program’s website.

Father Camacho said the program helps more than 30,000 people in Puerto Rico annually. However, he noted that while they currently have funds from the program that they received before Jan. 20, he is unsure what to do because of the funding freeze.

“With this uncertainty, really, I have to be honest — I don’t know if I can distribute the money,” Father Camacho said. “There’s really some lack of clarity. It would be really good if people in charge of that will clarify what funds are stopped and which funds are not.”

FEMA did not respond to The Tablet’s request for comment on the funding freeze’s impact on EFSP.

The other program Father Camacho is concerned about is a U.S. Energy Department initiative to construct solar panels in Puerto Rico. He said Caritas is a “solar ambassador” of the program — created by the Biden administration — in which they install solar panels in the homes of people and families in need. The program has approved around 11,000 cases, but only 20 percent have been installed, he noted.

“Now, 80 percent of the cases that were approved to receive solar panels are calling and asking if they are going to receive solar panels or not,” Father Camacho said.

Since the federal Office of Management and Budget issued the memo on Jan. 27, many states, members of Congress, and nonprofit organizations — including Catholic Charities USA — have been outspoken about their concern and confusion. Acknowledging the hardship that this has caused in the United States, Father Camacho also noted the outsized impact these kinds of decisions have on Puerto Rico.

“What is going to affect the 50 states, in Puerto Rico, because of our situation, we’re going to be affected three times more because we have a fragile economy, we already have a situation with unemployment, with people who are really in need,” Father Camacho said. “All of this uncertainty could affect the already fragile situation in Puerto Rico.”