The Collapse of Care: Layoffs, Government Shutdowns & the War on Service
What happens when federal funding disappears, but community need doesn’t?
In the wake of massive SNAP cuts and widespread nonprofit layoffs, the staff who remain are drowning—not just in extra work, but in the moral weight of knowing that every task they can’t complete means someone doesn’t eat, someone doesn’t get housed, someone doesn’t get help. This episode explores the particular kind of burnout that comes from being the last one standing in an understaffed organization serving increasingly desperate communities. It’s about surviving uncertainty, redefining leadership amid collapse, and finding small acts of care that still hold the web together.
Key Talking Points:
- The 2025 government shutdown and its cascading impact on nonprofits, social services, and care programs.
- How systemic defunding and layoffs create a moral injury for those who remain.
- The emotional and ethical toll of “absorbing the work” after staff cuts.
- Why traditional models of leadership fail in times of institutional collapse.
- Reframing leadership as connection: micro-acts of care, trust, and mutual support.
- Recognizing burnout as both a symptom and a protest against unjust systems.
- How creative reflection, collective imagination, and solidarity can turn survival into a form of quiet resistance.
Full list of references and resources from this episode → Show Notes
Read the full blog post that pairs with this episode → The Collapse of Care: When Services Become Weaponized
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