There’s a particular kind of magic growing up in Georgia. Some of my most vivid memories include walking home with a pile of library books in my arms, kayaking and tubing down the Chattahoochee River, and cheering on the Georgia Bulldogs every gameday Saturday.
Where I’m from in Georgia, everyone knows everyone. My parents have had the same two neighbors for nearly 40 years. You can’t walk into the grocery store without running into someone you know.
While I don’t live there anymore, that community is still mine, and it’s still home each time I visit my family. So, in the work I do at the Partnership for Public Service to raise awareness about the need for effective government, I’m often thinking about how the recent and ongoing dismantling of federal programs, personnel and funding is affecting the people I care about.
Here’s what I found about federal cuts in Georgia, using the Partnership’s Cost to Your Community map, which tracks the federal government’s changing footprint across the country.
Georgia public health programs cut
In March 2025, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention abruptly canceled over $334 million in funding in Georgia.
For public health organizations across the state, that meant no warning and no path forward. Groups like the Community Organized Relief Effort, BLKHLTH and the Center for Black Women’s Wellness were forced to cease community-based vaccine clinics, vaccine sessions at women’s shelters, community hygiene events, and COVID vaccine equity events built to reach Black Georgians and other underserved communities.
This one is personal to me. My parents came to the U.S. without a built-in understanding of preventative health care, such as vaccinations and health screenings. It was through community-based events and our local public health center that my family was able to access the care and resources that we would have otherwise forgone because of cost. Investing in health prevention initiatives helps communities stay ahead of an outbreak instead of trying to respond to one.
The Georgia park that’s already stretched thin
If you’ve ever spent a Saturday on the Chattahoochee River, you know it doesn’t run itself. The Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area is 7,000 acres of public land that winds through nine cities and four counties in Georgia. It’s a park that has been chronically underfunded and understaffed for years.
Now, federal cuts and a partial hiring freeze at the National Park Service have made it harder to maintain the area. NPS doesn’t have the rangers or funding to help the recreation area work through its backlog of trail maintenance or fill existing vacancies.
It’s devastating to see a place that shaped fun memories for me deal with this lack of support. When the small staff that the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area has gets stretched even thinner, it’s a real question of whether someone can be there when a visitor needs help.
Georgia research that stopped mid-stream
Georgia universities have seen millions of dollars in federal research grants terminated or interrupted over the past year as cuts hit agencies like the National Institutes of Health, stopping innovative work before it has the chance to bloom into a lifesaving discovery.
In February 2025, an Emory University professor was forced to cancel appointments for people at risk for Alzheimer’s disease who were contributing to her study after her NIH grant was terminated without warning.
In March 2025, a pipeline program for health researchers at the University of Georgia, my alma mater, was canceled midyear, leaving professors scrambling to find funding so their students could finish the semester. And in April 2025, a Georgia State University project where researchers were developing a drug to treat Type 2 diabetes and obesity was shut down.
Research cuts like these slow down cures already in motion and encourage researchers and students to take their work outside the U.S., in countries that offer better scientific support and stable funding.
Why this is everyone’s story
American prosperity was built on science. Our quality of life is the direct result of decades of federal investment in public health, biomedical research, the environment and public lands.
When that investment gets mismanaged or gutted, it results in a person losing access to the annual flu shot and other vaccines, parks losing support, or promising research losing the chance to see the light of day. These kinds of stories are happening all across the country, impacting people you probably know.
For me, Georgia is magical because of its people, places and innovations. If you’re also from Georgia, I hope these stories resonate with you and remind you that the public investments in our state are worth preserving.
To learn more about how federal funding cuts are impacting your community and how you can take action, visit The Cost to Your Community and The Cost of Cutting American Science, part of the Partnership’s Federal Harms Tracker series.