LISTEN: Hundreds of organizations have received notice that the Department of Justice has canceled ongoing grants they had received through the Office of Justice Programs. GPB's Orlando Montoya reports.

The U.S. Dept. of Justice building in Washington, D.C., is pictured in a 2023 photograph.

The U.S. Dept. of Justice building in Washington, D.C., is pictured in a 2023 photograph.

Credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP

The U.S. Justice Department is canceling about $3.1 million in grants to Georgia organizations working on crime prevention and victim services.

The cancellations recently sent to four Georgia groups, all in metro Atlanta, were among hundreds nationally.

In total, the Trump administration’s move promises to save $800 million in federal spending.

State Rep. Marvin Lim (D-Norcross) administers one of the affected grants through the nonprofit that he runs, the Lucky Shoals Community Association.

"It's a little bit puzzling to me because these are great groups that are intending to help not just certain groups but entire neighborhoods or entire regions with crime prevention,” Lim said. “It feels like it's consistent with what the administration is doing.”

Three of the four affected organizations had grants referencing “hate crimes” or “inequality.”

One of them was “to address the significant barriers faced by the local South Asian and larger AAPI community in accessing victim services and compensation.”

Atlanta was the site of deadly shootings at area spas when a man killed eight people, six of them of Asian descent, in 2021.

The fourth organization targeted for grant cancellation aimed to help young people in two particular Atlanta neighborhoods “who are in gangs or at risk for joining gangs.”

An unofficial copy of a list of targeted grants was published by the Associated Press.

Whether any of the affected programs will be able to continue without federal funding will be up to the organization’s abilities to switch funding sources mid-stream.

“We are certainly vowing to continue the work once we find some additional funding,” Lim said. “But it will not be able to replace the amount of funding that had been set aside.”

The Associated Press noted that many questions remain over how much money would actually be returned, how it would be reallocated and how many more cuts are coming.

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