MADD Laying Off Staff Due to Reduced Funding | Dallas, Texas Personal Injury Attorney Blog

Notifications to 23 employees in Arkansas, California, Delaware, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Oregon, Oklahoma, Virginia and Washington as well as at MADD’s national headquarters in Irving are expected this week. MADD started the year with 397 employees nationwide. Since then it has eliminated 55 staff positions, or nearly 14 percent of its work force.

Private donations, government grants and corporate sponsorships to MADD National dropped between 15 percent and 20 percent to $43 million last year, said MADD National Chief Operating Officer Debbie Weir. Weir said the current economy has made it especially difficult to raise money for MADD, especially in states with high unemployment rates. “Donors really have to look at their disposable income and as a result, giving is less.”

Weir said that MADD will continue to serve people in all 50 states regardless of whether states have paid employees. Volunteers will pick up the slack in the affected states, helping to push an agenda that includes targeting underage drinking and stronger seat belt laws, she said.

MADD celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2005. Last year, MADD provided grief counseling, court counseling and financial counseling to more than 55,000 people and their families. With advocates in more than 300 communities, MADD lobbies against drinking and driving to save lives. It helped persuade Congress to raise the drinking age to 21 and helped reduce the number of traffic fatalities attributed to drunken driving. It also claims to have helped save more than 300,000 lives.

We would like to encourage people to donate to MADD as there is no doubt that MADD has helped to save lives and to bring attention to the problem of drinking and driving all across America.