Georgia nonprofit balancing federal funding cuts while supporting South Asian American abuse, assault survivors

It’s been exactly a year since Aparna Bhattacharyya opened her email and found a notice: “The department has changed its priorities with respect to discretionary grant funding.”

That was when she learned her nonprofit, Raksha, was among hundreds of organizations that lost funding after the U.S. Department of Justice cut an estimated $500 million in public safety grants. Raksha is the only nonprofit in Georgia dedicated to social issues within the state’s South Asian American communities, including support for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Bhattacharyya, Raksha’s executive director, says she appealed the department’s decision within a month but still hasn’t heard a response.