Listening
Unlocking Word Meanings
Read the following words/expressions found in today’s article.
- ingrained / ɪnˈgreɪnd / (adj.) – established or existing for a long time and difficult to change or remove
Example:Respect for elders is deeply ingrained in many cultures, so children are taught to be polite from a young age.
- vibrancy / ˈvaɪ brən si / (n.) – the quality of being bright, full of energy, or exciting
Example:The festival brought a sense of vibrancy to the town, filling it with cheerful decorations and lively performances.
- indefinitely / ɪnˈdɛf ə nɪt li / (adv.) – for a period of time with no sure end or limit
Example:The store will be closed indefinitely because of the fire, and no one knows when it will reopen.
- award / əˈwɔrd / (n.) – an amount of money given to a company or organization for a special reason
Example:Several charities received awards from the government to support their work in environmental protection.
- tariff / ˈtær ɪf / (n.) – a tax that a country puts on products coming from other countries
Example:The government increased tariffs on imported steel to protect local businesses from foreign competition.
Article
Read the text below.
West Virginia’s reliance on federal funds to help address deeply ingrained issues makes it particularly vulnerable to President Donald Trump’s freeze on spending on federal loans and grants.
Federally funded programs provide social safety nets and employment in one of the nation’s poorest, most rural states, where nonprofits play a vital role in providing basic services like healthcare, education and economic development.
Coalfield Development helped leverage almost $700 million for projects tied to Biden administration spending packages—funding 1,000 jobs in West Virginia alone.
Part of the nonprofit’s role is to recruit and train the local workforce for the projects—something personal for CEO Jacob Hannah, who comes from three generations of coal miners and saw his father laid off from the mines.
Hannah toured a former coal train refurbishment factory slated to become a manufacturing hub and business incubation space where workers should have been busy with rewiring, brick and roof repair.
“So we took it on as a nonprofit to revitalize it for the community around us,” said Hannah. “We’ll use workforce development to do that. We train folks to have careers in construction so we want the space to have a new vibrancy inside it.”
Hannah’s projects are now on pause indefinitely. Hannah said his organization received communications that their awards are “under review” with limited details.
Alecia Allen runs a therapy practice and grocery store in a low-income neighborhood in West Virginia’s capital called Keep Your Faith Corporation.
She wasn’t getting answers from federal agencies about the grants that help her work with farmers to provide local, healthy food to her community at a lower cost. Then a vendor she buys from to stock store shelves told her that her weekly bill was going up from $500 to $850 because of tariffs.
“Our scope of work is not political,” said Allen. “We just want to move the health of the state forward and we don’t want that to be impacted by what’s happening at the political level.”
This article was provided by The Associated Press.
Viewpoint Discussion
Enjoy a discussion with your tutor.
Discussion A
- Nonprofits play a vital role in providing healthcare, education, and economic development in the poorest rural states in the U.S. Do you think nonprofits are more effective than the government in solving local problems in your country? Why or why not? What do you think are the benefits and challenges of relying on nonprofits for essential services? Discuss.
- Many nonprofits struggle with funding and resources. What do you think could be done to help them continue their work? How do you think governments or businesses could support them more (ex. send volunteers, provide funding)? Discuss.
Discussion B
- West Virginia relies heavily on federal funds to solve its biggest problems. What do you think are the risks of this reliance? If government funding suddenly stops, how do you think it would affect people’s daily lives in West Virginia? Discuss.
- If you had the power to distribute government funding, what projects or services would you prioritize? Why? In your opinion, should governments provide financial support only to essential services like healthcare and food programs, or should they also fund arts, culture, and entertainment? Why do you think so? Discuss.
