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Federal cuts prompt layoffs at Howard County emergency group
The nonprofit that operates Howard County‘s emergency shelter and takes crisis hotline calls will cut roughly a fifth of its staff next month, according to a mass layoff notice.
Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center notified Maryland labor officials Thursday that it expects to lay off 60 employees, effective Sept. 29. The nonprofit, which partners closely with the county and is largely funded by government grants, reported to the IRS in January that it employed just under 270 people in fiscal year 2025.
Grassroots Executive Director Dr. Mariana Izraelson said the layoffs were prompted by a “loss of funding from the federal government.” She declined to answer further questions, noting that a public statement about the layoffs was forthcoming later Monday.
“Honestly, it’s been very challenging and difficult,” she said.
The organization operates the county’s 89-bed emergency shelter for who are experiencing homelessness but provides a variety of other behavioral health and crisis intervention services. It runs an outpatient mental health clinic as well as a mobile crisis team and is a contact center for the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
It was not immediately clear which services would be impacted by the staffing cuts. The nonprofit’s mass layoff notice provides the address of its 24-hour crisis center in Columbia, which opened in 2023.
This story will be updated.
