Church World Service Lancaster has furloughed much of its staff — the latest fallout from Trump administration policies to cut off funding for nonprofits that help refugees and immigrants.
On Jan. 31, Church World Service “informed our U.S. based staff that the organization will be implementing a furlough for a significant number of employees,” said Valentina Ross, director of the organization’s South Central Pennsylvania region and its Lancaster office. “This painful decision comes following the administration’s policy and funding changes that have severely impacted the organization over the past two weeks.”
Ross said the organization’s access to federal resources is “extremely limited” as a result of policy changes made by the new Trump administration, including the executive order that halted refugee admissions to the U.S. “as well as notices of suspension and stop work orders received in several large CWS programs.”
Lancaster resident Farida Mohammadi, a refugee from Afghanistan, is one of the thousands of people whose families have been affected by the policy change. She was hoping her husband and other family members, who are in Pakistan, would be able to join her in the U.S.
Afghan refugee Farida Mohammedi talks to her husband, who is in Pakistan on a video call from her Lancaster city home on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.
Mohammadi is also a Church World Service employee, and she confirmed Monday that her position was furloughed.
“For now it is for 60 days,” said Mohammadi, a 28-year old Afghan war veteran who served alongside U.S. troops. However, she said, it’s unclear if furloughed employees will get their positions back.
Ross declined to say exactly how many employees were affected, noting that the organization wants to let its clients know about the furloughs.
Courtney Madsen oversees nine Church World Service offices in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Michigan and Indiana. Across Pennsylvania, at least 150 CWS employees have been furloughed, Madsen said. Overall, CWS cut two thirds of its staff. “This is a pretty deep cut across our services.”
Madsen explained that CWS, like many nonprofits that work with the government, operates through reimbursements, meaning it does the work first, then bills the government for payment. The federal government hasn’t paid CWS for services it delivered in December. Messages to the office of GOP Congressman Lloyd Smucker of Lancaster were not returned Monday afternoon.
“Our hope is that the government honors its contracts, and we receive payment, and we can end the furloughs,” Madsen said. “We need people to understand that these decisions made in D.C. impact communities like Lancaster. They impact people, who had good jobs, doing a good thing.”
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