Humanities councils in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands are reeling from the sudden cancellation of all National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grants, following a controversial directive by the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The move affects every U.S. state and territory – but is hitting island communities with a particular force.
On April 2, NEH Acting Chair Michael McDonald formally notified Humanities Guåhan and the Northern Marianas Humanities Council (NMHC) that their funding had been terminated retroactively to April 1. The affected grants include general operating support and project-based funding, which make up the bulk of both councils’ budgets.
The loss of funding for Humanities Guåhan means eliminating resources that sustain programs preserving CHamoru language and culture, supporting youth and family literacy and training local educators.
“We are now in red alert mode,” said Humanities Guåhan executive director, CJ Ochoco. “Of course this is a devastating loss for our council. We’ve been around for 33 years, and this may mean the closure of our council.”
In the CNMI, the NMHC is facing similar uncertainty. “We have awarded a total of $1,412,493 in the form of subgrants to individuals and groups, providing critical funding support for 222 humanities projects in the CNMI,” said Leo Pangelinan, executive director of NMHC, in a statement to the community. “NEH grants awarded to our Council account for approximately 93% of our annual operations and programmatic expenses.”
Both councils emphasize they receive little to no funding from their respective local governments. In the CNMI, community donations account for just 5% of the Council’s total revenue.
Programs at risk in the CNMI include:
- The Sengebau Poetry Competition supporting local authorship and scholarship
- Adult Chamorro and Carolinian language courses for parents of public school students
- Cultural heritage preservation projects housed in the Council’s Digital Archive
- Weekly media programs like Your Humanities Half-hour Show
- The Marianas Values research project promoting civic dialogue
While Humanities Guåhan’s Ochoco said her organization has been preparing for the worst, she did not expect the magnitude of this blow coming.
“For now, we are assessing where we can stand, how long we can stand, and what we can continue to do for the community, and just continue to ask the community to stand with us as well,” she said.
DOGE, created under the Trump administration’s second term, is tasked with slashing what it calls “duplicative and non-essential federal expenditures.” The agency has targeted NEH and other cultural institutions as part of its mission.
