Thomasville, Georgia—Earl Williams drove through Dewey City, a historic Black neighborhood he once called home, and barely recognized it. Mold crept up the siding of houses where friends and family used to live. Some homes were boarded up. Others had holes in their roofs. The creek where churches once baptized congregants now carried fecal bacteria, its water unsafe after decades of neglect.
Williams returned to Thomasville four years ago after three decades in Washington, D.C., determined to improve communities like this one. “Sometimes you get the feeling like you’re in a Third World country,” he said. “But it’s part of what makes Thomasville, Thomasville.”
Federal Funding Pulled After Policy Shift
A $19.8 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency was intended to address these issues. The city and the Thomasville Community Development Corp., where Williams previously worked, secured the funding in 2024 as part of a $2 billion Biden administration program targeting environmental health risks in disadvantaged areas. The money would have repaired an 82-year-old wastewater system, removed toxic mold and lead paint from homes, and converted part of a shuttered high school into a health clinic.
Three months after winning the grant, Thomasville became one of 80 communities nationwide to lose funding after Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day back in office. The order directed federal agencies to halt programs considered discriminatory. In an emailed statement, EPA spokesperson Mike Bastasch said the administration is “fully committed to being a great steward of taxpayer dollars” and that environmental justice initiatives fell outside its primary mission.
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Health Risks and Historical Neglect
Dewey City, established after the Civil War as the first neighborhood in Thomasville where Black residents could own homes, has faced long-term disinvestment. The area includes Douglass High School, the city’s first public school for Black students, founded in 1902. Many of its buildings now stand vacant, reflecting what Williams describes as a legacy of neglect.
Jeremy Rich, a Thomas County commissioner and pastor at First Missionary Baptist Church, called the grant’s reversal a setback. “This was a long and storied attempt to bend the arc of justice closer,” he said.
The decision has drawn criticism from public health advocates, who argue environmental justice is based on science. “I unfortunately believe we’re going to see a reversal in the health profile of this country,” said Jalonne White-Newsome, an associate professor at the University of Michigan who served in the Biden administration as the first federal chief environmental justice officer. “This current federal regime has decided that humanity and public health and justice don’t mean anything,” she said.
In March, the EPA’s deputy inspector general released a report concluding the grant selection process had been fair. For small municipalities, federal funding is often the only way to tackle large projects without high-interest loans.
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Thomasville has made some progress without the EPA money. A $3 million federal Community Development Block Grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development funded repairs to Dewey City’s sewer, water, and drainage systems. The Thomasville Community Development Corp. is also building affordable housing in the neighborhood and plans to convert part of Douglass High School into senior apartments.
The organization applied for an additional $764,000 in congressional funds through Sen. Jon Ossoff’s office to construct a community health clinic. Decisions on those requests are expected this fall.
Williams, whose father was Thomasville’s first Black mayor, remains determined. A plaque honoring his father stands in The Bottom, a downtown area where Black-owned businesses once thrived. “There’s more work to be done, and I’m able,” he said. But he doubts the original grant will return. “That was our chance. We didn’t miss it. We just got it at the wrong time.” The matter remains unresolved.
