Tom Neeley, a communications consultant working with federal government agencies as clients, found himself in a situation he had never experienced before earlier this year.
As a result of the Trump administration’s DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) wave of federal job and spending cuts, the contracts that his firm had been part of were canceled, and Neeley was furloughed at the end of February and laid off in April.
“For the first time, I found myself in need,” Neeley said. “It was a hard transition to make, a hard reality, (and) something very humbling. It was a difficult role to be in, to realize I needed help.”
Since moving to Washington, D.C., 16 years ago, the California native had been a member of Holy Trinity Parish in Georgetown. He learned that the parish, in response to the federal job cuts, was starting a job loss support group this spring. The program, titled “Strategies for Survival and Finding Work after Job Loss,” is being led by Dr. Marie Raber, a Holy Trinity parishioner who is the former dean of the National Catholic School of Social Service at The Catholic University of America.
“I’ve always been going there (to Holy Trinity). I felt the need to do this,” Neeley said, adding that the new outreach reflected the Catholic Churches’ ministry of serving those in need.
He joined the first cohort that met for six weekly sessions in May and June and included 10 recently unemployed workers from the parish and community.
In the first session, participants shared stories of how they had lost their jobs.
“There was so much anger, bitterness and sorrow in the first session,” Neeley said, adding that “for most of us, losing our jobs was a product of fate… How we respond to it is up to us.”
The group dynamic, he said, changed in subsequent sessions, where participants were encouraged to recognize their key strengths, review their accomplishments and identify their career objectives.
Neeley said that by the fourth or fifth week, “I noticed a big change across the group and in myself. I don’t think I would have experienced that on my own.”
The people taking part in the job loss support group were encouraged by Raber to take ownership of their situations, to recognize this might be a time to pivot and try something new, and to rely on networking in their job search, Neeley said.
“The group helped me walk away with hope… (we were) starting to talk about opportunities and what’s next with hope. It was infectious to hear others feel hopeful, that lifted our spirits,” he said.
Neeley said he appreciated the spiritual nature of the program, in addition to the coaching aspects for people who had lost their jobs, noting how he realized “the importance of humility and acting on the free will God has given us.”
Toward the end of the session, he had a good lead for a job, which he started in early August, doing communications work for a hospital in New Hampshire.
“We were given the tools to make that happen,” said Neeley, noting that after the cohort ended, participants continued to keep in touch with and support each other.
“My situation worked out,” he said, adding that he is praying for the other members of that group as they seek new jobs.
‘It came at a critical time for me’
After earning a bachelor’s degree in International Studies and in Arabic and Middle East Studies at Baylor University in her native Texas, Hannah Byrd worked in program management for humanitarian and development projects, including a program helping refugees who fled the civil war in Syria to start food businesses in Turkey, and projects supporting women’s economic empowerment in countries around the world, including in Afghanistan. Another program where she worked supported refugees and people seeking asylum, providing them with training to help them get jobs in the culinary field.
In 2023, Byrd began working for Democracy International in programs funded by the United States Agency for International Development, including one supporting women agricultural workers in Tunisia in North Africa, and another strengthening electoral integrity in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
After President Trump was inaugurated in January 2025, the executive orders he signed included a freeze on foreign aid, and his administration began dismantling USAID.
“It was really a dramatic couple of weeks… What ended up happening was beyond my expectation,” Byrd said.
She and colleagues were furloughed after USAID funding was cut off.
“I loved my job,” Byrd said. “There were so many things I enjoyed. It was great to work on projects I believed in that were making a positive difference in the world.”
She began searching for a new job in February. While participating in a support group for women humanitarian and development workers, Byrd – who is not Catholic – heard about the job loss support group at Holy Trinity Parish, and she joined the cohort that met for six weekly sessions in June and July.
“It came at a really critical time for me in the job search process,” said Byrd, who had begun feeling hopeless about finding new work.
Byrd said she appreciated the job search strategies and emphasis on networking that she learned through the program, and the solidarity and accountability that the group provided. It was meaningful for her, she said, to be “in a group with people who had been through the same thing.”
The support group, she said, helped participants “feel proud of our accomplishments, and be hopeful there are good opportunities out there for us.”
In early August, Byrd said she was in the process of interviewing for a couple of roles. “I don’t have a final landing place yet,” she said.
As she navigates a crowded job market, Byrd said the Holy Trinity support group “has been so helpful keeping hope alive. That’s the key to persevering through this.”
‘You don’t think it will be you’
For the past 21 years, Gene C. Lin had worked with the MITRE Corporation, which runs federally funded research. As an aviation policy engineer, his work in air traffic safety and airfield design and efficiency was supported by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Lin, who is of Chinese ancestry, was born in the Philadelphia area and grew up in New Jersey and Delaware. He earned a doctorate in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley.
When government funding was cut on the contracts involving his work, he was placed on administrative leave before being laid off in June.
“It was a bit of a shock at the beginning… You don’t think it will be you,” said Lin, who added that he was grateful for his experience working for MITRE.
Lin said that over the years, he and his wife had been able to save for their future needs and for the college education of their three children who are now young adults. His extended family and friends, including at his parish, Holy Trinity in Georgetown, have been very supportive and helpful, he said.
“I’m very blessed,” he said. “We’re empty nesters. I’m looking at this as an opportunity to consider a change of direction.”
Lin has been a member of Holy Trinity Parish for about two decades and has participated in programs there over the years. When he heard that the parish was offering a job loss support group, he joined the first cohort that began meeting in May.
“I was a little bit skeptical going into it,” he said. “I felt at the very least it was a way to provide emotional and spiritual support and to build community.”
Lin said the program turned out to be “well thought-out,” offering practical steps to prepare for a job transition.
“The program helped me to think through the different kinds of alternatives I have in front of me… I can look for a couple of different kinds of jobs,” he said, adding that he has had several discussions with two universities.
He noted that people are in job transitions all the time, and while a job loss support group might not be a traditional parish ministry or one of the Corporal Works of Mercy, “in this day and age, it’s something we need.”
“It’s important for Holy Trinity to meet people where they’re hurting… That accompaniment is a way we really want to build our community,” Lin said.
The members of that first cohort have continued to talk together, and recently four of them met at a café in Dupont Circle.
“We don’t feel so isolated. We understand the difficulties in finding a job are not personal, but part of the process,” Lin said. That ongoing support has been helpful, he added. “We’re walking together, having our ups and downs together.”
The job search support group sessions began with a prayer, and participants had the opportunity to attend Mass together afterward at the parish’s Chapel of St Ignatius.
Lin said he appreciated the spiritual consolation he gained from the program.
“Even though this is difficult – it’s not a transition I would have chosen at this time – this program has given me a sense that God accompanies me through this transition… When I reflect on the different ways God accompanies me, I have a real sense of His presence,” he said.
Related story:
In wake of mass firings of federal government workers, Holy Trinity Parish offers job loss support group
