The recent announcements restricting, pausing, or potentially freezing federal funding has sent shockwaves through many organizations across the country and in St. Louis. Where do things stand now? Ben: In the last month, a series of directives and executive orders out of DC have created widespread uncertainty. While it is ordinary for new administration to review programs and shift future strategies, the abruptness and breadth of recent directives, including freezes of funding across a whole range of federal programs, has paralyzed many programs and activities that support individuals across the country. It started with questions about anything that potentially runs afoul of new executive orders, but it then expanded to other broad freezes. Important work across the country has been stopped, stalled or put at risk.
Now that many of those freezes have been paused by the courts, recipients of federal awards and contracts and their clients are catching up with the possible implications, but this doesn’t mean the threat to critical funds has passed.
This situation is complex. Each individual agency is interpreting the uncertainty in their own lens, based on their own programs and their own rules, and based on criteria that is unclear.
Across 60 or so Executive Orders, the work of administration allies to review all federal spending, and new leadership in every agency, the potential implications for federally supported programs run far beyond the ones that made headlines.
Ben: BioSTL’s goal is to grow St. Louis’ economy through our strengths in innovation. To do this, we bring together the key partners and lead specific programs to ensure we accomplish more together. We bring together investors, startups, nonprofits, corporations and universities —all of the pieces needed to get innovation to market and create jobs and economic activity in our region.
One example of where this convening benefits the region is through leading collaborations that attract federal grant funding to augment and match local and private dollars and increase supports to entrepreneurs and job-seekers in St. Louis. BioSTL, together with more than a dozen partners, currently have 6 awards with 3 different federal agencies – a total of nearly $10M, across multiple years into the future, already secured for growing the St. Louis economy, yet now at risk. Many of our region’s research institutions, startups, and nonprofits depend on federal grants to drive innovation, connect people with jobs, conduct critical research, and sustain their operations.
Federal funding freezes, in St. Louis and across Missouri, mean this important work, the people doing it, the clients receiving services, and the outcomes of these programs are at risk.
Ben: We’re working with our advocacy representatives in DC to talk to policy makers to make sure they understand the impact to startups and our partners in St. Louis. We’re working with our grant consultants to understand the specific impact for existing grants as well as potential impacts for future funding. We are organizing our national partners to amplify voices from across the country. And, we’re also working with research institutions, other nonprofits, and startups to help them navigate this uncertainty.
Even with this lack of a clear path, BioSTL remains committed to our objective of growing St. Louis’ economy and ensuring that economic growth benefits all people of our region — across urban and rural communities.
We encourage our partners to stay grounded in your commitments to the impact we’re all having. We must continue to work together to ensure that, even as funding may be uncertain now, the mission continues.
We encourage you to share the story of your work in whatever way you can. It’s critical that federal decision-makers understand the impact of these funding disruptions on innovation, job creation, and economic development in St. Louis.
It is important to put a face on the impact of your work, show the people and share the outcomes. Our work, and the federal funding that supports it, is not just mythical, bureaucratic grants and contracts. Every one of these dollars has an impact in our region and fuels stories of individuals whose lives are improved through services supported by federal funding.
These extreme cuts to funding put our economic mission at risk, put lifechanging innovations at risk, and, importantly, puts the United States’ economic strength and technology leadership at risk.
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