Twentynine Palms Selects Religious Nonprofit for "Resilience Center" Partner
Staff report drops "climate" and "emergency" from name and focus for potential new building
Has the City of Twentynine Palms finally gone overboard in favoring religious organizations to carry out secular functions?
On Tuesday, the Twentynine Palms City Council voted 5-0 to approve the Community Learning Equipping Project Inc. (CLEP) as the new partner on the EPA Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change grant, which can be written for as much as $20 million. The 501c3 was described in the staff report as “the non-profit arm of the Sanctuary Church.”
It has been several months since a proposal first appeared in the April 24 City Council meeting, presented by the Women of Color Global 29, which proposed a Climate Emergency Resiliency Center. The November 12 staff report appears to change the name and focus of the proposed building and the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) describes the building as an “expansion project” for “disadvantaged persons” and never uses the word “climate.” The only time ”climate” appears in the staff report is in the grant title, “Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grants Program.”
Yet, the MOU with CLEP was buried in the Consent Calendar as though no significant changes to the building concept had occurred.
Two emails from the public recommended the MOU be discussed by Council prior to a vote. Neither letter was read at the meeting. Desert Trumpet has copies of the letters, one of which was written by the author. The other letter was submitted by District 4 resident Elliot Balsley. Both questioned the choice of CLEP as the partner on the proposal. Was there time prior to the November 21 deadline to locate a more appropriate nonprofit? Several local environmentally focused 501c3s were mentioned in both letters.
In his letter, Balsley quoted from the EPA’s grant, which seeks “projects that reduce pollution, increase community climate resilience, and build community capacity to address environmental and climate justice challenges,” then went on to discuss the choice of CLEP:
The proposal from CLEP does little to address any of these issues. Instead, it would provide computers, office supplies, and classroom space for job training, financial literacy classes, parental training, and distribution of food and school supplies to children. While these efforts may be worthwhile, they have nothing to do with climate resilience, so I don’t think it’s a good match for this particular grant program.
Furthermore, CLEP is a religious organization which only hires Christian staff, so it’s not appropriate to spend public funds supporting their outreach. Taxpayers must not be forced to support religious activity.
The 5-0 City Council vote followed a brief introduction by City Manager Stone James. While James referred to the grant’s purpose as determined by the EPA and to its focus on disadvantaged cities like Twentynine Palms, he never indicated that the City buys into the concept of climate justice. Some of his comments responded to concerns in the public comment letters, stating in reference to CLEP:
This was a 501c3, that is a separate 501c3. It is not a religiously affiliated 501c3 and so as a consequence, we thought it would be best to move forward with this memorandum of understanding.
And in reference to the deadline James said:
We found out last week that due to system maintenance on the EPA grant intake system, that they are moving up the grant application deadline from, was it the 21st, to the 15th?
Desert Trumpet has learned that both of the statements made by James are apparently false.
With regards to religious affiliation, in addition to the staff report clearly stating CLEP’s relationship with the Sanctuary Church, the officers of the nonprofit are all Sanctuary Church pastors and church officers: CLEP CEO Perry Ford is founder of the Sanctuary Church; CLEP CFO Denise Cullum is also CFO of the Sanctuary Church; and CLEP Secretary Jauron James is a Sanctuary Church pastor.
As was discussed in our agenda preview, while CLEP hosts a weekly food giveaway, its primary activities appear to be Christian counseling and Bible studies under the “Bread of Life Christian University.”
Despite both programs quoting fees for participation, CLEP has yet to complete the required filing with the California Department of Justice State Registry of Charities and Fundraisers.
After visiting the EPA Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change website and confirming the November 21 deadline had not moved, we emailed James about the source of the information he stated to Council. He replied that he’d received the following (emphasis as received):
For those of you who are still working on your EPA CCG applications, please be aware that Grants.gov (the platform you will use to submit) will be down for scheduled maintenance Nov 16-18.
The final day to submit your applications is November 21.
The statement received by Stone simply states the submission site is unavailable for three days but that applications can be submitted after the maintenance is completed — this is not what the City Manager told Council. Desert Trumpet contacted James for comment but has not received a reply.
The grant was first proposed in April 2024 by Women of Color Global 29, a local nonprofit lead by former City Council Candidate Carrie Williams. Applying for the grant was supported by District 4 Councilmember Octavious Scott, who requested it be added to the Council Future Agenda items in February. Their concept was to construct a new, solar-powered Climate Emergency Resiliency Center on a City-owned vacant parcel at Freedom Plaza.
The forward-looking project was similar to a successful initiative launched by Coachella last spring that yielded $10 million in funding from the EPA. The building was to include a new cooling/heating center to help disadvantaged residents escape extreme weather events, an emergency kitchen, and classroom space where instruction on healthy foods and nutrition would be offered. The proposal also included a community garden and climate emergency vehicles.
Despite considerable skepticism about the Climate Emergency Resiliency Center proposal on the part of Councilmember Daniel Mintz and Mayor Steven Bilderain at the May 28 meeting, Council voted to examine the feasibility of going after the EPA grant, but did not commit to working with Women of Color Global 29. Women of Color Global 29 later withdrew from the project after questions were raised by members of Council about their state nonprofit filings.
The grant requires governments to partner with a nonprofit on their proposal. For instance the Coachella project lists a coalition of nonprofits and agencies as partners including GRID Alternatives Inland Empire, Hidden Harvest, the LEAP Institute, University of California, Berkeley, and the County of Riverside Emergency Management Department and views the proposal as part of a larger City initiative to create a climate resilient community. But after the withdrawal of Women of Color Global 29, the City went dark on information on the grant and potential nonprofit partner, failing to issue a request for proposals or other form of public search.
The Sanctuary Church is a member of the Ministerial Association that founded Reach Out Morongo Basin. The Association has a long-standing affiliation with City Council that includes supplying pastors for Council invocations. In March, Council voted to excuse rental fees at Freedom Plaza for the Sanctuary Church’s 20th Anniversary Celebration. The current President of the Ministerial Association is Councilmember McArthur Wright.
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As an atheist I object to any money going from the City to any religious organizations or churches. And they should all be paying taxes just like any other business as that is what they are. I also really object to the invocation at the start of city council meetings. The meaning of invocation is the following:
The invocation is the opening prayer in the worship service and is a prayer which humbly, yet confidently (Hebrews 4:16) “invokes” the presence of God in worship. It is the congregation's faith-filled response to the call to worship and is done on behalf of the congregation by the minister.
Firstly, there should be a separation of church and state. Next, a city council is no place to have and invocation. There is an assumption that everyone is a Christian. That is very far from the truth. There are many other religions with different beliefs, plus the Atheists and Agnostics.
And from my point of view, the invocation is insulting. I will continue to sit down and browse emails on my phone during the invocation and I suggest that everyone who agrees with me, is ahtheist, agnostic or is of a different religion, also sits down during the invocation.
Cronyism, I assume?