Stop-work orders this week at the U.S. Agency for International Development are having an outsized effect on the Baltimore region, home to a cluster of global organizations and contracting companies funded in large part by the federal agency targeted for elimination by the Trump administration.

Some of the names are well known, such as Catholic Relief Services, the biggest recipient of funding from USAID, with hundreds of millions in grants a year. But more than 100 others in the state have received funds.

They include accountants, cybersecurity experts as well as logistics and consulting firms, and even the nonprofit Journalism Development Network, which focuses on investigative reporting around the world.

Millions of people around the globe rely on U.S.-backed humanitarian and developmental aid. But those efforts, and the nearly 10,000 agency workers who help oversee them, are now on the chopping block of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. (A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from placing 2,200 employees of the USAID on paid leave, the Associated Press reported late Friday.)

A review by The Baltimore Banner of a federal government database of grants and agreements shows there were approximately 28 firms in the Baltimore region that received contracts from USAID in fiscal 2024 and 2025, and another six dozen across Maryland, primarily in the Washington, D.C., suburbs, but as far away as Ocean City, the data shows.

Other Baltimore-based nonprofits face other restrictions on their operations because of new Trump policies seeking to reduce aid for refugees.

In Maryland, there are about 400 USAID foreign service officers who will be put on paid leave and 400 contractors returning to the state from overseas who will be fired, according to state Senate President Bill Ferguson. He released the information in consultation with U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who has been protesting the cuts with Democratic colleagues.

The largest groups in Baltimore impacted by USAID cuts are global humanitarian aid and international development organizations that receive hundreds of millions in USAID funding and employ thousands of workers:

• Catholic Relief Services: This humanitarian group may be among the most heavily affected USAID-funded organizations in Baltimore. It has 7,000 workers around the world and more than 420 in the U.S., many at its Lexington Street location in downtown Baltimore. The nonprofit’s revenue was $1.5 billion in 2023, with more than $521 million in U.S. grants and agreements, according to its financial statement posted online.
• Jhpiego: The affiliate of Johns Hopkins University had revenue of about $400 million in 2023, its latest financial statement shows. A majority comes from USAID, but also from other federal agencies and philanthropy. It employs about 3,600 people globally and about 100 people in the Fells Point headquarters. Programs focus on the health and well-being of women and children in about 40 developing countries.
• Center for Communication Programs: This office is part of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and employs about 700, with more than 100 in downtown Baltimore, and manages around $100 million in programming funds, most of which comes from USAID. The organization works in about 40 developing nations to help people get preventive care and treatments.
• Lutheran World Relief: The group based in downtown Baltimore is focused on poverty, both assisting in emergencies and helping people become self-sufficient. It employs more than 110 people and had revenue of close to $70 million, according to 2023 financial records.
• World Relief Group: This Baltimore Christian nonprofit partners with churches in more than 100 countries to address poverty, disasters, displacement and violence. It has more than 1,000 workers and a budget of more than $163 million, according to its 2023 financial report.
• International Youth Foundation: The Baltimore group helps to boost life skills, including job readiness. It works around the world, including in the United States. It employs about 250 people and has a budget of about $19 million, according to its 2023 financial report.
• Global Refuge: The Baltimore faith-based nonprofit, formerly known as Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, helps immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers. It has about 500 employees and a budget of about $230 million, its 2023 financial report shows. It does not get USAID funding, but it was told this year to stop its work due to a freeze on foreign aid.

Baltimore Banner reporter Pamela Wood contributed to this report.