Washtenaw JFS Youth Mental Health Grant Restored

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) cancelled $ 2 billion in grants, according to Associated Press. They reported that SAMHSA Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Christopher Carroll, justified the terminations using a regulation that says the agency may terminate any federal award that “no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities.”

Carroll is a long time SAMHSA bureaucrat - not a Trump appointee - and may have been engaging in malicious compliance, a favorite Deep State tactic to discredit the Trump Administration.  Regardless, he was reversed by his superiors within 24 hours.

https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2026/01/federal-grant-restored-for-washtenaw-county-groups-youth-mental-health-services.html

Federal grant restored for Washtenaw County group’s youth mental health services
By Samuel Dodge | January 18, 2026

ANN ARBOR, MI - Jewish Family Services of Washtenaw County received an overnight notice terminating a federal grant that supported behavioral health services for children and teens, according to a release.

A day later, funding was restored.

In the Jan. 14 release, JFS officials said the organization was fully compliant and meeting all program requirements when the termination notice was sent.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration on Tuesday night had canceled some 2,000 grants representing nearly $2 billion in funding, according to Associated Press reporting.

By Wednesday, Jan. 15, those cuts were reversed nationwide, the Associated Press reported. The same was true for JFS, spokesperson Melissa Goodson said Friday.

A message left with SAMSA was not immediately returned.

The SAMSA grant totals $3 million over five years, providing $600,000 annually to support young people in Washtenaw County living with trauma, grief, anxiety, and depression, officials said. The termination during the second year of the grant would have eliminated approximately $2.4 million in anticipated services.

JFS was one of only 28 organizations nationwide selected for the competitive grant. Despite the good news of the grant’s restoration, JFS has yet to receive reimbursements for the last two months of the grant, Goodson said.

“Every time these things happen, it seems like there’s some sort of delay,” she said, adding the back-and-forth messaging has caused stress among the grant’s stakeholders.

JFS had begun the second project year on Sept. 30, 2025, following a first year in which the organization received top recognition for the quality, reach, and impact of its services, officials said.

For more information or to support youth mental health services at JFS, visit jfsannarbor.org, call 734-769-0209 or email info@jfsannarbor.org.