Thomasville devastated by loss of federal dollars in apparent War on Woke

By T.S. Carter

THOMASVILLE, Thomas County, Georgia – Imagine the surprise among Thomasville’s City Fathers when they learned that nearly $20 million in federal grantsfora new health clinic, upgrades to the city’s wastewater system and other community work were deemed too “woke” to merit Washington’s  help.

Sometimes a name can do you in.

Apparently,that is what happened with funding for the clinic, sewage infrastructure and a spattering of small community projects. The grant was part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental and Climate Justice program under the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act. President Donald Trump’s administration made a policy shift that terminated 781 similar grants nationwide.

Under recent questioning from U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said Trump has his own priorities regarding environmental spending and Thomasville’s projects did mot make the cut. While he refrained from giving specifics on the grant’s rejection, Zeldin cited “policy differences” and indicated that calling something “environmental justice” was not a good enough reason to spend federal money.

The term “woke” appears central in the Thomasville rejection and possibly is central to the other grant applications the EPA tossed.

Wokeness is largely defined today by political leanings, with Republicans scorning it as excessive political correctness and Democrats hailing it as an awareness of social justice issues and factors affecting economic equality.

Zeldin assured Ossoff that the money will be spent, just not in Thomasville. “We still have to spend the appropriated funding unless something changes with Congress….,” he noted.

How deep is the loss of nearly $20 million in projects city leaders call vital?

Rewind to the awarding of the money. Mayor Todd Mobley hailed it as a “transformative opportunity to make vital health and safety improvements.”

Earl Williams, head of the Thomasville Community Development Corporation, called the money and the projects they would fund “game changers.”

The bad news on the grant came hard for Williams. “It was almost like I lost a good friend,” Williams told WTXL Tallahassee.

“We all worked so hard for this, and we won. And then, all of a sudden, one day, it’s gone. And it was just a great sense of disappointment.”

One environmental justice aspect of the grant was that it would pay for a new health clinic near childcare centers in a community that struggles with air pollution.

In his allotted time speaking as a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies at a May 14 hearing, Ossoff noted Thomasville’s struggle with pollution over the decades.

“There’s a lot of agricultural activity around there, there’s also history, a legacy, of heavy industry that has led to significant air pollution, and there remains significant concerns about air pollution, specifically Particulate Matter 2.5 and reported high levels of leukemia and pneumonia in and around Thomasville,” the Democratic senator said.

Ossoff repeatedly asked Zeldin for a direct answer on why Thomasville lost the money. The closest he came were references to environmental justice and such terms as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion which the Trump administration views negatively.

“As I imagine,” Zeldin said, “as we look through the details of the particular program, there must be some aspects of this applying the last Administration’s priorities on environmental justice, or DEI…”

Zeldin said that early in the administration, Trump put out executive orders “as it relates to environmental justice, with regards to DEI.”

The $19.8 rescinded funds were earmarked for:

• Replacing aging wastewater infrastructure serving approximately half the city
• Building a new community health clinic
• Improving homes in underserved neighborhoods

Establishing a community resilience hub to address environmental and public health challenges

Thomasville officials say the rescinding of the award had nothing to do with their city or its project proposals but was part of a scorched Earth effort by the new administration.

“This termination… does not reflect any issues with our local proposal or work but was part of the administration’s blanket terminations over the past several days, of more than 700 lawfully awarded grants across the country funded through Congressionally authorized programs,” the city said in a recent press release.

Meanwhile, Thomasville city officials and the Thomasville Community Development Corporation say they are actively seeking remedies, including appealing to federal lawmakers and considering legal action to restore the funding.

The city said it thinks that “this funding was unlawfully terminated and thus will ultimately be restored.”