Mecklenburg HIV prevention staff could face layoffs amid federal funding delay

A federal funding delay could force six layoffs within the Mecklenburg County public health department if money is not received Friday, the department’s director told The Charlotte Observer.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has yet to award the state of North Carolina its share of HIV prevention funds. Last year’s funding expired on May 31.

Mecklenburg County Public Health Director Raynard Washington told the Observer Thursday if the $1.6 million the county is owed is not released by Friday he will have to lay off six members of the county’s HIV/STD Prevention staff. That staff has 11 positions, eight of which are filled. Two positions that were only partially funded by HIV prevention grant were able to be moved to a different grant fund, Washington said.

The majority of these employees conduct disease investigations, Washington said. Team members go into the community to notify people that they may have been exposed to HIV, trace partners and ensure people who have been diagnosed are connected with care.

“We’re just kind of waiting,” Washington said. “We’ve done outreach to federal partners, and so I’m still hopeful that we won’t have to do that, but we will see,” he said of the potential layoffs.

The Mecklenburg County Heath Department had to lay off staff earlier this year due to federal government cuts.

In March, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pulled back more than $11 billion in funding for grants allocated to state and local health officials during the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding was largely used to fund the study of infection diseases, the AP reported. Much of the rest went toward immunizations.

The Trump administration defended the cuts, saying the pandemic was over and “HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago,” the U.S. Health Department said in a statement to CNN.

The cuts initially affected a $1 million health disparities grant from the CDC which largely funded 11 Mecklenburg County community health workers dedicated to Latino communities. But Washington said a joint lawsuit between North Carolina and other states against the federal government was able to save that program.

An additional $700,000 in federal and state grants that were cut largely funded the county’s mobile vaccination program. As a result, the program’s eight dedicated employees were laid off.

Washington said the program is still up and running, using volunteers from other departments to continue travel to community centers, events and schools to provide a wide variety of vaccinations. But the impact is still felt.

“We lose capacity,” Washington said. “Our ability to be able to do more, to meet our residents where they are, to serve them, to address things like immunizations and provide education during respiratory viral season. We lose that capacity with most of the COVID 19 funds being either terminated or already recycled or taken back by the government.”

This story was originally published June 5, 2025 at 6:11 PM.