2 lawsuits filed against Trump admin. as grant for Illinois schools abruptly cut

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Thousands of Illinois students and their parents, including hundreds at Chicago's Curie High School are served by after-school programs funded by the federal government, but the Trump administration abruptly ended the grants.

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Now, the Trump administration is facing two new lawsuits.

Currie High School is one of the largest in Chicago. The Southwest Side school serves students with a variety of ethnicities, many low incomes.

With the help of a $500,000 grant, the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council runs after-school programs for about 500 Currie students and over 200 parents.
"That grant is covering after-school, academic support, tutoring, mentoring, programming, groups and clubs for students, physical fitness for adults, nutrition classes, art classes for students and adults," said Patrick Bronson, the executive director of Brighton Park Neighborhood Council.

The grant comes from the non-profit ACT Now Illinois.

The organization distributes an $18.5 million annual federal grant throughout the state for after-school programming and community schools' programs, but the Trump administration is ending the grant.

"It is also serving 19,000 students throughout the state, ACT Now Illinois Executive Director Susan Stanton said. "This is a catastrophic impact."

ABC7 reached out to The U.S. Department of Education to request for a reason; we have not heard back.

ACT Now says it has nothing to do with the organization's actual mission of helping all students and their families.

"Their reasoning had to do with the fact that this was a grant that was awarded under a previous administration, and that our original grant application no longer met the priorities of the current administration," Stanton said.

Stanton says the Trump administration took issue with the Biden administration's grant application that included a question about racial equity.

ACT Now and the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council are taking legal action against the U.S Department of Education.

They argue the Dept. of Ed. violated rules by cutting off funds appropriated by Congress.

$55 million will be cut over the life of the three-year grant.

Since the lawsuits are against the U.S. Department of Education, a judge in Washington D.C. will the hear request for an emergency injunction on Wednesday.