Right now, we are being flooded with executive orders, policy changes, and funding cuts designed to overwhelm and fatigue us. The most troubling aspect is that these cuts disproportionately target our most vulnerable populations who already have the least access to opportunities.

People with disabilities, mental health disorders, histories of incarceration, or economic hardships are often the first to lose critical support when budgets tighten. This is because they lack a strong voice in the political process. Many aren’t able to vote due to systemic barriers like lack of transportation, technology, child care, stable housing, or the inability to take off work.

Don’t get me wrong, I firmly believe in fiscal responsibility. We should all be good stewards of funds, whether at the federal, state, or even personal level, but budget cuts shouldn’t fall on those most in need. When deficits arise, funding for social services, workforce training, housing assistance and mental health programs is slashed. These services keep people off the streets, out of emergency rooms, and break the cycle of poverty, incarceration and marginalization.

These actions have clear consequences. Cutting workforce training means fewer people gain skills to find stable jobs. Reducing housing support increases homelessness. Stripping away mental health resources leads to more crises, not fewer. As desperation grows, so does crime. These decisions don’t save money in the long run; they create deeper, more expensive problems for our communities.

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This is not just a government issue, it’s a community responsibility. If policies won’t protect vulnerable populations, then business leaders, community organizations, and individuals must step up. Support the nonprofits filling in these gaps. Hire individuals who need a second chance. If nothing else, help a neighbor by sharing food, offering a ride or putting away their trash cans.

And to our leaders, cutting budgets without considering human impact is not responsible governance.

Now is the time to act because, as the saying goes, a society is not judged by how it treats the strongest but by how it protects its weakest.

Carole Argo is president and CEO of NCIA, a Baltimore-based nonprofit that provides social services to people with disabilities or societal disadvantages.