Organizations throughout the Ohio Valley dependent on federal grants and loans to operate breathed a sigh of relief Wednesday afternoon after the Trump administration rescinded a memo sent out Monday night that would have frozen all federal grants and loans temporarily.

That memo left those organizations concerned, or even panicked, that a large chunk of their funding would be unavailable.

The federal government clarified several times Tuesday what would and wouldn’t be affected, and ultimately the Office of Management and Budget rescinded the memo altogether.

While there was some relief, some groups remained wary of what could come down the line later.

On the public education side, where programs like Title I and free school breakfasts and lunches are funded by federal money, Union Local School District Superintendent Zac Shutler said his school district was taking things “day by day” in response to the news that the order was being rescinded.

“My philosophy is that I can only control what’s in my sphere of influence, and I have no control of what’s happening at the federal level,” Shutler said on Wednesday. “We have a job to do here to educate 1,400 students and work together with 300 staff. It (the federal funding freeze) was not something that I could dedicate an immense amount of time to yesterday.”

Shutler said that the district did not receive “any kind of direct information” from the federal government on Tuesday that federal funding such as the school district’s Title I funding would be frozen.

Shutler added that he contacted the school district’s legal team, Pepple & Waggoner, on Tuesday regarding the federal funding freeze. He said the law firm did not offer any advice because the executive order was “so broad” that it did not specify where the funds would be frozen.

“As a district, we tried not to overreact to the situation until we knew all the facts, and we were never presented with the fact that any of our funding would be specifically frozen,” Shutler said.

Ohio County Schools Business Manager Steven Bieniek said his office was not sure how the federal grant freeze would have impacted them after the initial announcement Tuesday.

“We were all in a wait and see mode,” he said. “We were not sure how it was going to affect us.”

Federal grants can cover a variety of aspects of public schooling, from afterschool programming to career development and training for teachers.

Because the executive order was so general, there hadn’t yet been any in-depth conversations about how to handle the repeal of these federal grants.

“We’re all on guard now at this point,” Bieniek said.

Wheeling Housing Authority Executive Director Joyce Wolen said her staff is relieved to hear about the rescinding of the executive order but waiting for more guidance and information.

“We will hold on making any plans until we hear a definite direction,” she said.

Knowing that no actions to repeal federal grants are being immediately taken helps provide some relief because of the lack of information that came with the announcement of the executive order on Tuesday, Wolen said.

However she noted that federally-funded programs might still take hits as the topic continues to be discussed and fleshed out.

“We’re relieved, obviously,” she said. “We still don’t have clear guidance on what it means for programs that are going to be looked at.”

There is no way to plan around these potential repeals until they have further guidance, Wolen said, but they will continue to advocate for those in need of housing.

“Housing of course is critical to the infrastructure everywhere. Housing for the poorest is critical. We will continue to push that message out there,” she said.

Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron did not offer an opinion on the rescinding of the memo, but did say that the remediation of the old Clay School – which would have been on hold if those federal funds were frozen – should be a go once again.

“It is my understanding that the hold has been rescinded,” Herron said. “I haven’t seen the memo yet. I assume that it is unconditional. As such we will continue on with Clay School forthwith.”

Niamh Coomey, Eric Ayres and Emma Delk contributed to this report.