DOGE cuts hit Michigan youth programs, reading initiative
Raven Hill Discovery Center, a 157-acre indoor-outdoor museum in northern Michigan’s Charlevoix County, is already feeling the impact of federal funding cuts that have trickled down to state and local programs. Photo courtesy of Raven Hill Discovery Center.
by Lauren Gibbons (Bridge Michigan)
It didn’t take long for President Donald Trump’s sweeping federal funding cuts to impact the Raven Hill Discovery Center in northern Michigan, where founder Cheri Leach uses outdoors and hands-on activities to teach kids and their families the connections between science, art and history.
The 157-acre indoor-outdoor center in East Jordan, founded in 1991, is poised to lose $25,000 in grant funding for the year, about one-eighth of the center’s total budget, following a broader $65 million spending reduction by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Cuts and layoffs at affiliate organizations and agencies have halted progress on Raven Hill’s planned “living STEM lab” for kids to track water and air temperatures throughout the year, and the center’s outreach programs to local schools and libraries face an uncertain future.
“It was so unreal, I couldn’t believe it,” Leach said. “Within two weeks, it had trickled down to us.”
Like many local nonprofit museums and cultural centers, the Raven Hill Discovery Center primarily relies on a combination of private donations, admission fees and public grants to fund operations.
But with federal public dollars drying up amid Trump cuts, the organizations are increasingly scrambling to secure a diminishing pool of resources, with some facing the prospect of rapid downsizing or closure.
Though nonprofit groups can and do raise funds from outside sources, the sheer scope of federal cuts across the board also means the plight of cultural organizations may not be the top priority, said Larry Wagenaar, executive director and CEO of the Historical Society of Michigan.
Private foundations, corporations and other donors “are very generous, but there’s a limit to what they can pick up,” Wagenaar said. “Can they pick up all this missing federal support? I doubt it.”
Big cuts for humanities, libraries, museums
The latest cuts stem from a near-total depletion of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, which has funneled funds to museums, libraries, historic sites and other public-facing organizations both directly and through state affiliates since its inception in 1965.
About 80% of the national agency’s staff have been placed on administrative leave, and all federal grants backing state humanities programs were terminated this month, a combined $65 million, according to the Federation of State Humanities Councils.
The Michigan Humanities council lost the roughly $900,000 remaining of its $1.5 million annual federal operations grant, 90% of the organization’s total budget.
Among the initial casualties: The nonprofit is scrapping its annual Great Michigan Read, a statewide program that’s offered free books and programming centered around a specific book related to Michigan each year since 2007.
A letter to the council from Michael McDonald, the federal agency’s acting director, stated that the grant “no longer effectuates the agency’s needs and priorities” and that NEH is “repurposing its funding allocations in a new direction in furtherance of the president’s agenda.”
The administration reportedly aims to use some of the savings to construct a patriotic sculpture garden – Trump’s proposed National Garden of American Heroes – and celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence on July 4, 2026, according to The New York Times.
Michigan Humanities has already halted roughly $600,000 worth of planned local grants and other statewide programming, said Jennifer Rupp, president and CEO of Michigan Humanities. Without federal funding, she said the council will likely have to close by fall 2025.
That’s on top of recent cuts to the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a major source of funding for e-library databases, a statewide loan system for transporting materials between libraries and grants for individual libraries and museums — including small facilities that don’t have access to expensive artifact preservation systems.
A White House statement said those proposed cuts would “enhance accountability, reduce waste, and promote innovation.” But museum and library cuts are already facing court challenges, including a multistate lawsuit that’s being supported by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.
Billionaire business owner Elon Musk, at Trump’s behest, is working to quickly shrink the federal workforce and drive down costs through the Department of Government Efficiency, which moved to cut the humanities funding.
Since the pandemic, the federal deficit has doubled to nearly $1.8 trillion. Prior to Trump taking office, the number of federal workers had grown to 3 million from 2.75 million since 2015.
The federal debt has grown 121% since 2015, and interest payments alone on it cost $881 billion this fiscal year — more than the government spends on veterans or children. By 2034, interest costs could consume 20% of federal revenue, according to a US House analysis.
The National Endowment for the Humanities’ overall budget last year was $211 million, less than 1% of the country’s $6.9 trillion federal spending. The museum and library institute was founded in 1996 and has a budget of $280 million.
‘Tragic’ losses ahead?
Advocates for humanities programs acknowledge that on paper, the cuts sound small compared to agencies with much bigger budgets.
But they fear the cost of not funding humanities is far greater than the dollar amount, arguing it will be felt the most by children, families and seniors seeking free or low-cost community connections and a sense of place.
Michigan residents will likely notice the lack of humanities funding in small but meaningful ways, Rupp said, whether that’s programs they enjoy getting canceled, local organizations decreasing their operating hours or the possible closures of longstanding community institutions.
Deborah E. Mikula, executive director of the Michigan Library Association, said those losses “will be felt in every Michigan community for years to come,” noting in a statement that summer reading programs, artist residencies and performances, poetry programs and other services library patrons have come to expect will be among the first things to go.
To be sure, the loss of federal funds doesn’t mean that libraries and other cultural institutions can’t try to raise money on their own.
But Michigan Humanities is already scrapping its regional programs aimed at encouraging veterans to reflect on their experiences, partnerships with the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street bringing museum exhibits to rural areas and individual grants benefiting local organizations.
Some programs losing federal support are expected to live on through other means, including the Michigan History Day program, a student competition where participants present original historical research projects.
Winners of the state-level competition typically advance to the National History Day finals, though the national program’s future is uncertain beyond this year, said Wagenaar, of the Historical Society of Michigan.
“Some of these programs will continue because there’s other sources of support,” he said. “But some of them are going to die on the vine, and that’s tragic.”
“Our ability to understand what we are as Americans and what our sense of place and community comes from the humanities,” he continued. “That’s at risk when this funding goes away, and it’s such a tiny piece of the federal budget…this is minuscule, but so important in our communities.”
For Raven Hill Discovery Center, Leach said the initial cuts could lead to “compounded problems” in the future if longstanding donors pull back or invest elsewhere. She fears the potential impact on kids in her region, who she’s found respond better to science and history when they can see and feel it.
“You’ve got all these connections that kids can pick up on and actually, literally, be able to hold on to the learning,” Leach said. Without support for the humanities, she said, “There’s going to be less motivation to learn.”
This article is being republished through a syndication agreement with Bridge Michigan. Bridge Michigan is Michigan’s largest nonprofit news service and one of the nation’s leading and largest nonprofit civic news providers. Their coverage is nonpartisan, fact-based, and data-driven. Find them online at https://www.bridgemi.com/.
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