Federal Funding Freeze Upends Caribbean Projects

A year ago Wednesday, the White House announced $43 million in funding for humanitarian efforts, biodiversity initiatives, and disaster preparedness projects in the Caribbean. The routine allotment of 0.00006 percent of the $6.9 trillion federal budget did not garner much fanfare in February 2024. Halting the promised funding, however, highlights its importance.

President Donald Trump’s rapacious axing of long-held federal priorities — including the U.S. Agency for International Development, established by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 — dried up funds meant to encourage private investment in projects that strengthened island economies and living conditions.

Announced Feb. 26, 2024, one endeavor now on indefinite hold was to create disaster-resilient clean water programs that would benefit an estimated one million people in Haiti, according to the U.S. State Department. Another program helped the Caribbean community combat HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 in Jamaica.

With $1.75 million in funding, USAID also supported the development of CARICOM Development Fund’s Resilience Fund and advisory services to support fundraising and investment. The State Department estimated the Resilience Fund would raise $100 million to expand investment in adaptation and climate change efforts in the Eastern and Southern Caribbean.