Boston organization returns queer migrant wellness grant funding to city after backlash

Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald on Apr 20, 2026

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BOSTON — An organization is returning all grant funding to the City of Boston after backlash over its decision to use the money to provide “wellness allowance” vouchers for queer migrants, spending the mayor’s office said was improper.

The so-called LGBTQ+ migrant justice organization, Outnewcomers, blamed “safety threats” for its decision to return funding and suspend programming that was distributing the wellness vouchers. The group did not cop to inappropriately spending city grant funding, as mentioned by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s office.

“This is an incredibly difficult decision,” Sal Khan, founder of Outnewcomers, said in a statement Friday. “Our work has always been rooted in care, dignity, and community support. However, the severity of the threats we have received has made it impossible to continue this program safely. The safety of our team and community members must come first.”

The organization described threats received after its wellness allowance program for queer migrants became public as “escalating and credible to the safety of its founder, team, and the vulnerable community it serves.”

Outnewcomers and its founder, Khan, received multiple death threats and threats of being reported to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) following the project’s public launch, the organization said.

“In light of these circumstances, Outnewcomers will be ceasing all related programming and will return any funds received for this initiative,” Outnewcomers said. “The organization emphasized that this decision was made out of an abundance of caution and a commitment to responsible stewardship.”

The program was advertised by the organization as distributing wellness allowance vouchers of $250 to $500 to queer and transgender migrants that could be used for gym memberships, yoga, massages, meditation, breathwork, transportation, childcare support, even storytelling among other uses.

Priority was given to “low-income, trans and isolated LGBTQ+ migrants residing in the City of Boston,” the organization said.

“The program, designed to provide non-clinical wellness support to LGBTQ+ migrants, aimed to address the profound mental health challenges, isolation, and trauma experienced by individuals fleeing persecution and violence in their countries of origin,” the organization said.

The problem, per Mayor Michelle Wu’s office, was that the organization was not spending the grant funding allocated by the city as intended.

Wu’s office issued a statement to the Herald last week that sought to distance the mayor from the wellness grant spending, after days of backlash directed at Wu after the taxpayer-funded program became public.

The mayor’s office confirmed the program was funded by the city, but said the nonprofit was using the funds inappropriately.

Wu’s office said grant funding does not allow for cash assistance. The city awarded the nonprofit a $7,500 grant, but the funds were not designated for and may not be used for the voucher program referenced in the organization’s recent online posts and materials, her office said.

“No funds have been distributed or directed for these purposes,” the mayor’s office said. “The organization received a $7,500 grant through a city program to support mental health services. These funds were not designated for and may not be used for the voucher program referenced.”

The mayor’s office said the $7,500 grant award to the Outnewcomers nonprofit was allocated from the fiscal year 2026 budget, and has been cut from the upcoming fiscal year 2027 budget.

The controversy comes at a time when the city and Boston Public Schools are facing a combined $100 million budget shortfall for FY26, and cutting other discretionary grant funding programs that support small businesses and nonprofits, fill vacant storefronts and expand cultural programming for the FY27 budget.

The mayor has proposed a $4.9 billion budget for FY27 with a 2.1% spending increase, the lowest rate of growth since the Great Recession in FY10, as the city continues to cut back amid a financial crunch.

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