Department of Defense pulls $1.1 million federal grant from Winona State University
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Winona State University lost a $1.1 million federal grant that supported student learning and regional community support for civic engagement.
Last August, Winona State received the grant from the Department of Defense to form a Civic Center. It was a project intended to provide support and resources to the governments of smaller municipalities and counties.
When the grant was announced, the university said the center would be mutually beneficial for students and local governments in the region.
“This grant represented a significant investment in student learning and regional community support for civic engagement, and we are disappointed the award has been terminated,” according to the university’s email statement. “We plan to assess the progress and investments made to date in the Civic Center project and its stated goals and examine how we might continue to lead this work in this partnership with our students and others in our surrounding communities.”
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On Feb. 28, the university received a termination notice for the grant from the federal agency. The letter referenced Code of Federal Regulations language saying a federal award might be terminated if the “award no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities.”
Earlier this week, the Pentagon said The Department of Government Efficiency was cutting $80 million in funding for programs it said do not support the Department of Defense's core mission.
“This stuff is not a core function of our military. This is not what we do. This is a distraction from our core mission,” Sean Parnell, chief pentagon spokesperson said in a video on the Department of Defense’s website. “Today’s actions are just the start, more to come this week. Again, we are working hand-in-glove with DOGE. So, stay tuned in the weeks ahead as we trim the fat, preserve the muscle, make the DOD more mission-capable and more lethal.”
Work for the Civic Center started in fall 2024, and the center held an events series called “Promoting Civility Through Dialogue” and launched an internship program providing hands-on work experience for students from different majors and current and former local government administrators, employees, educators and nonprofit leaders to solve community problems.
The Civic Center planned a spring speaker series on civic engagement on different community dialogue topics like building inclusive and welcoming communities, transportation coordination, affordable housing and regional development cooperation.
Winona State University Civic Center said on its Facebook page on Wednesday that it had been waiting for its termination agreement to be finalized before publicly announcing the news.
“Although we are deeply disappointed, we are determined to keep moving forward,” the statement reads. “The purpose of the Civic Center is to bring students and the community together to solve public issues, and we will continue to do that in whatever capacity is available to us. We want to thank the community at WSU and in SE Minnesota for your support so far. Let’s move forward together."