PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – An Oregon nonprofit is facing a round of layoffs and froze its senior job program amid a delay in federal funding — which could be “devastating” for the communities they serve statewide, the nonprofit says.

Easterseals, a national nonprofit with state affiliates, claims to be the largest nonprofit health care organization, working with children and adults with disabilities, along with veterans and older adults.

For the last 78 years, Easterseals Oregon has offered key programs including summer camps for children, veteran housing assistance and paid job training programs for adults 55 and older, the latter of which is paused because of delayed funding.

Between May and June, the United States Department of Labor typically releases funding from its Senior Community Service Employment Program to Easterseals. The funding is then dispersed to state affiliates, such as Easterseals Oregon, which was expecting around $5.5 million.

“Every once in a while (the funding is) delayed,” Easterseals Oregon Director of Employment Services Kathryn Gerhards told KOIN 6 News. “But we typically receive it around this time.”

“This year, it was different,” Gerhards said.

According to Gerhards, if there is a funding delay, the Labor Department typically alerts funding recipients and lets them know funding is on its way.

However, because of a delay in the release of the funds, “Easterseals Oregon has made the difficult decision to lay off staff due to the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the U.S. Department of Labor’s Senior Community Service Employment Program,” an Easterseals Oregon spokesperson told KOIN 6 earlier in August.

“This delay, now well past the expected release timeline, has effectively frozen funding for the national program, leaving no option but to pause operations and reduce staffing,” the spokesperson continued.

Because of the delayed federal funding, Easterseals Oregon is planning on laying off 12 staffers in August, including payroll, IT, employment specialists and administrative support workers.

On top of the layoffs, the delayed funding is also impacting the nonprofit’s paid senior job training program.

Easterseals Oregon’s Senior Community Service Employment Program offers more than 220 low-income adults job training skills. The paid program helps adults 55 and older with computer skills, polishing their resumes and sharpening their interviewing skills to help them find a job.

However, with the delayed Labor Department funds, Easterseals Oregon said they paused the job training program in July. The seniors involved in the program — who rely on the program’s stipends to pay for rent, groceries, medications and bills — have not been paid since July 10.

“Because the Department of Labor hadn’t announced that they were expecting to delay the release of the funding, we made the decision to furlough participants,” an Easterseals Oregon spokesperson told KOIN 6.

The 220 furloughs come as Easterseals Oregon says they already have a waitlist of around 700 older adults who are waiting to enter the program.

“With the additional cuts that we are expected to see coming up, the demand for the program is only going to increase because people are going to have to go back to work to be able to age with dignity,” Gerhards said, noting if the funding is not released, “it will be devastating statewide, and we will feel those repercussions for a long time.”

Danielle Gibson — the chief financial officer of Easterseals Oregon — told KOIN 6, “The sudden stop of this funding has drastically impacted the population that receives these funds,” noting, “These stipend payments to the participants are also taxable wages and gives them the opportunity to add a positive impact to the economy. The state and federal government now loses those tax dollars and there is reduced funding in the economy.”

Gerhards and Gibson told KOIN 6 that Easterseals is advocating for more funding, claiming the Labor Department has not responded to their requests for additional information about the funding delay.

Knowing the funding could potentially be excluded from the budget reconciliation bill — dubbed by President Donald Trump as the “Big Beautiful Bill” — Easterseals Oregon was planning to help their seniors exit the job training program.

“There is no reason, as far as we know, that the money has not been released. But next year, starting July 2026, it is written out of the Big Beautiful Bill and zeroed out,” Gerhards said. “There is still advocacy happening on the national level to be able to ensure that it is written back in.”

“We have known that (the funding) is potentially not going to be awarded for 2026 starting in July 2026 and so with that in mind, we were making plans to prepare to exit people gracefully, to get them set up with the resources and support that they would need to be able to find employment and thrive without the program,” Gerhards continued, noting, otherwise, “they are just kind of left to try to figure it out on their own.”

“I’m hopeful that the funding will be released,” Gerhards added. “I’m still hopeful that we’re going to be able to pick up and serve this population. This is the fastest-growing population in the nation.”

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Labor told KOIN 6 News on August 14 that the funding is under review.

“This is people’s lifeline. This is how people pay for medication, this is how they pay for food, this is how they keep a roof over their heads. It is not just fun money,” Gerhards said. “It is really helping them age with dignity.”