Across the country, local governments are facing budget season with an impossible math problem. As federal funding shrinks and safety-net programs face sweeping cuts from the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (H.R. 1) passed by Republicans in Congress last summer, local officials are being forced to make painful choices about schools, healthcare, and other essential services. For many rural communities already operating on tight margins, these cuts will mean scaling back services people rely on, from after-school programs to emergency response services.
While many communities are bracing for the fallout or simply ignoring the impending crisis, grassroots organizers in North Carolina are showing a different path forward. Down Home NC’s rural members are turning local budget shortfalls into opportunities to build power, move elected officials to speak out, and fight for the public investments their communities need.
Impending Budget Cuts
H.R. 1 made drastic cuts to programs like SNAP and Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy. Nationally, analysts estimate that these changes could shift nearly $1 trillion in costs to state and local governments over the next decade.
Counties will feel that shift in several ways. They will be required to cover a larger share of safety-net program costs (North Carolina is projected to pay $420 million in annual SNAP administrative costs for the first time in the program’s history, for instance). New work requirements and eligibility checks will also increase administrative burdens for counties that process applications and renewals. And as coverage shrinks, counties will face growing demand for services like public hospitals and food assistance as more Americans lose benefits.
Rural counties will be hit especially hard. Federal Medicaid cuts alone are estimated to reduce investment in healthcare in rural areas by $137 billion, far more than the $50 billion appropriated for a newly-created Rural Health Transformation Program. With smaller tax bases, limited staffing capacity, and higher reliance on programs like Medicaid and SNAP, many rural counties are on the brink of major budget shortfalls.
Franklin County member of Down Home NC, Tykayla Livingston, describes how her family uses Medicaid and SNAP benefits to stay healthy, keep food on the table, and make it possible for her to keep working and parenting. (Photo courtesy of Down Home NC)
Lessons from Years of County Budget Campaigns
Down Home NC organizes multiracial working-class communities across rural North Carolina and their member-led chapters have a track record of winning local budget fights and influencing how federal and state funds are spent.
In recent years, members have helped secure major wins including $10 million in additional funding for Alamance County public schools, $1.8 million for affordable housing in Cabarrus County, and statewide Medicaid expansion.
Down Home has learned some key lessons through years of organizing around county budgets:
County budgets make federal policy tangible in people’s lives. When organizers help residents connect decisions in Congress to local impacts like reduced library hours, understaffed schools, or long wait times for health services, it creates urgency that local officials cannot easily ignore.
Elected officials can be moved to speak out when the issue is framed around local impacts. In rural places, elected officials often know many constituents personally and rely on the same grocery store or hospital. Sustained community pressure can push electeds to publicly defend those institutions, even when it means breaking with their party.
Local budget campaigns are opportunities to build power. Down Home has brought in lots of everyday people and helped them organize for the first time, developing new leaders through these fights.
Community members don’t need to be budget experts, but should find allies who are. Partnerships with groups like the NC Budget and Tax Center have helped build relationships with legislators by providing them with valuable information, without drawing capacity away from organizing. For instance, last summer the organizations hosted a joint briefing on the local budget impacts of H.R. 1 for 25 rural county commissioners and board of education members that laid the groundwork for much of Down Home’s organizing this year.
Elected officials speaking out on budget cuts can shift the political terrain. When local leaders speak about the harms of federal policy or budget cuts, what’s politically possible can shift.
These lessons were on full display last year in Alamance County. When county commissioners proposed a 19% cut to funding for emergency medical services (EMS), public libraries, and the school system, Down Home members mobilized more than 300 residents to show up at public meetings, contact their county commissioners, and share stories about how these cuts would impact their lives. Cuts to EMS in particular would have had profound consequences for rural residents of the county, compounding a trend of rural health inequity where rural EMS systems face financial strains that limit their ability to provide essential, lifesaving services. A former Emergency Medical Technician made it plain, saying “they’re trying to cut the budget on rescue…I was an EMT, I rode rescues for 5 years, they can’t cut it out. They need it. The fire department can’t cover it all… there’s no way.”
Down Home NC members in Alamance County gather to push the County Commission to defend key public funding and services. (Photo courtesy of Down Home NC)
As the pressure grew, conservative elected officials who might otherwise have stayed quiet were forced to respond to the concerns of their constituents. Some broke ranks with their party and spoke out publicly opposing the cuts. In one striking moment, the Republican chair of the Alamance-Burlington Board of Education appeared at a press conference alongside state leaders challenging federal actions affecting public schools. The county commission ultimately backed down and passed a budget that preserved funding for these critical services.
A Model for Rural Organizing that Meets the Moment
With drastic cuts to public funding and services around the corner in many counties, rural community members are raising the alarm. Concretely, that looks like calling on local electeds – from school board members to county commissioners – to hold public hearings and publish reports documenting how federal cuts will affect local services, and to make clear, public statements opposing policies that harm their communities. While these steps may seem procedural or symbolic, each offers an opportunity to draw attention to the harms caused by federal cuts, name who’s responsible, and build a broader coalition ready to fight for the investment that rural communities deserve.
Down Home members are already seeing early signs of this dynamic. In Cabarrus County, for instance, members pushed for and passed a budget transparency resolution through their local Board of County Commissioners, opening a public discussion regarding the “uncertainty about the continuation of critical programs” due to the impacts of federal and state budget cuts on schools and other core county services working families depend on. In Johnston County, local community members recently gathered to share stories about the impacts of these cuts at a rally ahead of a Board of Commissioners meeting.
Local organizer, Arquette Turnage, shared how “Food bank lines are getting longer and the need for bill assistance is higher. With [H.R. 1] cutting programs, things are going to get worse. We’re urging Johnston County Commissioners to make sure all of their constituents are fully informed about this funding crisis and to stand up for us.”
Many rural jurisdictions will not be able to replace lost federal funding from cuts in H.R. 1, but they are not powerless. Organizing around the local impacts from these cuts can bring residents and local leaders into alignment and generate pressure that reaches the state legislature, Congress, and the Trump administration.
This is not just a strategy for defending against cuts. It is a way to build power, shift political incentives, and create the conditions for sustained public investment in rural communities. We encourage other rural communities across the country to join us.
Emma Bouton is a community organizer from rural New Hampshire. She is the Advocacy and Organizing Director at Resource Rural, a pooled fund working to unlock public and private investment for inclusive, thriving rural communities. She also serves as an advisor to Down Home NC as part of the Marguerite Casey Foundation’s Public Dollars for Public Good program.
Todd Warren is a parent, former teacher, and a past president of the Guilford County Association of Educators (GCAE). He currently leads Down Home NC’s Statewide Campaigns Team working to explore what’s possible in uniting the wants and needs of rural and urban communities across multiple issues including public education, healthcare, climate justice, and disaster recovery.
The post Rural Organizers Are Building Power by Fighting Cuts to Federal Funding appeared first on The Daily Yonder.
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