The announcement that roughly $2 billion in previously-awarded grants would be slashed sent shockwaves through mental health and substance abuse service providers across the nation, prompting confusion, public outcry, and backroom negotiations.
Just two days after the letters went out, the axed funding — which included money for overdose reversal drug Narcan in Lexington — has been reinstated.
Commissioner of Housing Advocacy and Community Development Charlie Lanter, speaking just before news of the latest pivot, said the unpredictable nature of the notices has providers scrambling to keep up.
"The whiplash is exhausting," he said. "We're getting pulled in one direction and then by 4 p.m. the same day you're getting pulled in a completely different direction. And it's making it really difficult for the organizations that help people to do what they do because they don't know from one week to the next which funding they'll have available."
The Lexington Herald-Leader reports the reductions would have also hit treatment programs at Chrysalis House, The Hope Center, and Community Action Council.
Across the country, an estimated 2,000 organizations were originally notified of the now-reversed cuts — cuts providers say would have meant a rapid dismantling of essential safety net programs.