A group of black community advocates slammed a recent Inquirer investigation as racist and harmful

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A group of prominent black community advocates gathered on Monday to slam a recent Inquirer investigation into how the city awarded millions in anti-violence grants as racist and harmful, calling it an unfair portrayal of the hard work that defenders have been doing for a long time in communities suffering from high rates of fire.

Speaking at a news conference in North Philadelphia, Reuben Jones, executive director of the nonprofit organization Frontline Dads, said the story that revealed a city-run grant program had invested in some community-based nonprofits without budgets, employees, or directors perpetuated racist stereotypes, including the notion that black people in poor neighborhoods cannot be trusted to handle taxpayer dollars responsibly.

In front of a group of about two dozen other advocates, Jones said: These are the community members who represent the healing in the community that you don’t respect, that you don’t appreciate, that you don’t trust.

The Reverend Gregory Holston, a senior adviser in the district attorneys office who also works with an advocacy group called 57+ Blocks Coalition, said black communities have suffered for decades from a deliberate lack of investment and services, and now we have a program coming forward to actually help these organizations get the resources they need, and now that program is under attack as well.

Several speakers said The Inquirer should retract the article and apologize. Rickey Duncan, the CEO of the NoMo Foundation, which received a $1 million grant, called the story an injustice and said: They owe us and everyone in our community we serve , a public apology.

Gabriel Escobar, editor and senior vice president of The Inquirers, said in a statement: I understand why community members who do their best to deal with a crisis are angry and upset. But the goal here was to highlight a serious issue, and the story did that.

He added: Our story, based on interviews and public records, examined how taxpayers’ money is being spent to combat an epidemic of gun violence plaguing Philadelphia. He identified serious problems with the way grants were awarded and monitored by the city, although he noted that some of the community organizations were not only doing well with the money, but also making a difference.

The story, posted online last week, examined how the city’s Community Expansion Grant (CEG) program, launched in 2021, distributed $13.5 million to 31 organizations in an effort to combat record levels of gun violence. He quoted city officials highlighting the grant’s impact on more than 4,500 teens and youth, and provided several examples of groups that have used the funding to build capacity and impact.

But the story citing financial records, interviews and internal communications involving city administrators also revealed a politicized selection process that left millions of dollars unspent and tens of thousands unaccounted for. He cited experts criticizing the way the city set up the program and found that some groups that received funding later dropped major elements of their proposed programs.

(The Inquirer began looking into the CEG program as a whole after reporters discovered that $80,000 from a youth boxing program had been improperly paid to police officers or their children. The city suspended its funding .)

Speakers at Monday’s press conference defended the work many grassroots organizations are doing, saying many have provided services for years without any funding or outside recognition. They said advocates often have to adjust their tactics or spending to meet the needs of participants, many of whom are hard to reach, and their groups shouldn’t be criticized for having to change course.

Holston was among speakers who said the city needs to distribute more funds to local organizations led by black men and women. He added that critical reports could make this more difficult to achieve.

Don’t blame the city for doing what we asked of them: be creative and take a risk in the midst of an emergency. That’s what they’re supposed to do, says Holston. When you hit them like that, we can’t make them do it again.

The city plans to move forward with a new round of grants this year. Escobar, editor of The Inquirers, said: More money will be doled out in the near future, and ensuring it is spent effectively and efficiently is in the public interest given the ongoing violence.

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