PRESS RELEASE:

For Immediate Release: May 1, 2025

DISABILITY RIGHTS MISSISSIPPI FORCED TO STOP ACCEPTING CASES, CONCERNED FOR FUTURE AMID FUNDING CRISIS

JACKSON, Mississippi — Disability Rights Mississippi (DRMS) announced that it would have to stop taking new cases as of May 1, 2025, due to promised federal funding for the 2025 fiscal year having yet to be delivered. DRMS is the federally mandated protection and advocacy agency for people with disabilities in the state of Mississippi. The agency, which is a private, nonprofit corporation, provides free legal and advocacy services to individuals with disabilities whose rights have been violated and investigates instances of abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation.

As of May 1, DRMS has yet to receive the anticipated 2025 funding for five of its largest programs, which led the agency to make the difficult decision to pause accepting new cases. As the protection and advocacy agency, DRMS receives several continuous, non-competitive grants from federal agencies to support its work, which includes assisting students with disabilities who have been denied accommodations at school, helping adults with disabilities get back to work, and investigating instances of abuse and neglect in state-run and private facilities serving children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

The five programs with delayed funding come from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) and the Administration on Community Living (ACL) both of which are housed under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). HHS, SAMHSA, and ACL have been included in the Administration’s plans for program eliminations, office closures, staff reductions, and dramatic restructuring. A recent draft of the President’s proposed 2026 budget saw a complete elimination or significant funding reductions of many of DRMS programs. 

“While we are deeply concerned about the cuts and reductions of our programs in 2026, we are also dealing with the immediate crisis of the delay of receiving our current year funding,” said Polly Tribble, DRMS Executive Director. “Our agency has been serving individuals with disabilities since the early 1980s, and this is the first time that we have had to cease taking new cases agency-wide. Congress has already approved allotted these monies for our agency—we just are waiting to receive it. Our federal mandate is to protect and advocate for vulnerable people in Mississippi and to root out abuse, neglect, and exploitation, but without our promised funding, if someone calls tomorrow and needs assistance, we can only refer them to another agency, which is so troubling and antithetical to the mission-driven work that we do.”

DRMS’s parent group, the National Disability Rights Network, is looking into all available challenges to the delay and the potential elimination of federal funding that supports Americans with disabilities. 

DRMS has also had to implement a hiring freeze amid the funding delay. Current DRMS clients will continue to be served as funding allows. 

“It seems all of these changes, eliminations, and delays are in the name of efficiency and to save money, but our work enables Mississippians to get back to work, to be self-reliant, and to avoid institutionalization in the expensive facilities that rely on taxpayer dollars. So not only does our agency’s operations make financial sense, but also, the work we do literally saves lives. We are at a loss at the thought of no longer being able to serve the community we so deeply value.” 

DRMS is the federally mandated protection and advocacy (P&A) agency for the state of Mississippi. DRMS’ mission is to promote, protect and advocate for the legal and human rights of all people with disabilities, and to assist them with full inclusion in home, community, education, and employment.

###