Source: ABC News
By MURRAY WAAS and ANNA SCHECTER
June 24, 2008 -- A former top official in the White House's faith-based office was awarded a lucrative Department of Justice grant under pressure from two senior Bush administration appointees, according to current and former DOJ staff members and a review of internal DOJ documents and emails.
The $1.2 million grant was jointly awarded to a consulting firm run by Lisa Trevino Cummins who previously headed Hispanic outreach efforts for the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, and a California evangelical group, Victory Outreach.
The grant was awarded over the strong objections of career DOJ staff who did not believe that Victory Outreach was qualified for the grant and that too great an amount of the funds was going to Cummins' consulting company instead of being spent on services for children.
Cummins' company, Urban Strategies LLC, was slated to get one third of the money for helping the self-described "evangelizing" Victory Outreach use the rest of the funds.
Here is description of Victory Outreach according to Oversight Committee documents:
Mr. Flores awarded a $1.2 million grant to Urban Strategies LLC, a consulting firm based
in Arlington, Virginia, and Victory Outreach Special Services, a church-based group located in San Dimas, California. This application was ranked 42 out of 104 applicants by the peer review team and was listed as "not recommended."
By MURRAY WAAS and ANNA SCHECTER
June 24, 2008 -- A former top official in the White House's faith-based office was awarded a lucrative Department of Justice grant under pressure from two senior Bush administration appointees, according to current and former DOJ staff members and a review of internal DOJ documents and emails.
The $1.2 million grant was jointly awarded to a consulting firm run by Lisa Trevino Cummins who previously headed Hispanic outreach efforts for the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, and a California evangelical group, Victory Outreach.
The grant was awarded over the strong objections of career DOJ staff who did not believe that Victory Outreach was qualified for the grant and that too great an amount of the funds was going to Cummins' consulting company instead of being spent on services for children.
Cummins' company, Urban Strategies LLC, was slated to get one third of the money for helping the self-described "evangelizing" Victory Outreach use the rest of the funds.
Here is description of Victory Outreach according to Oversight Committee documents:
Mr. Flores awarded a $1.2 million grant to Urban Strategies LLC, a consulting firm based
in Arlington, Virginia, and Victory Outreach Special Services, a church-based group located in San Dimas, California. This application was ranked 42 out of 104 applicants by the peer review team and was listed as "not recommended."
The president of Urban Strategies is Lisa Trevino Cummins. According to the firm's website, Ms. Cummins is "a social entrepreneur who is passionate about building on the strengths of grassroots faith-based organizations to affect change.,,50 The website also states that Ms. Cummins "served in numerous capacities for the White House Office for Faith-Based Initiatives." Under "examples of our work," the firm's website highlights the Department of Health and Human Services' Compassion Capital Fund, stating that Urban Strategies "has been a key architect in the design of this Presidential initiative" and "was contracted to write the Requests for Proposals issued by the federal government.,,
According to its website mission statement, Victory Outreach is a "church-oriented Christian ministry called to the task of evangelizing and discipling the hurting people of the world, with the message of hope and plan of Jesus Christ.”.
The application submitted by Urban Strategies and Victory Outreach explained that Urban Strategies would conduct the oversight ofthe grant, while Victory Outreach would perform the services. Under the award, Urban Strategies would receive 32% of the $1.2 million, or $387,000, under this three-year grant. The application also stated that Kelly Cowles, a program manager at Urban Strategies, would be the program manager under this grant.
According to the firm's website, Ms. Cowles previously served as the program manager for the Compassion Capital Fund under Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson.
In the grant application submitted by Urban Strategies, Ms. Cowles highlighted as relevant experience her work with the Ohio Governor's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. She stated that Cowles Consulting "[h]elped to develop a comprehensive strategy to design and implement a two-year statewide $22 million initiative called the Ohio Strengthening Families Initiative on behalf of the Ohio Governor's Office.”
Here is the email exchange regarding Victory Outreach receiving grant on pages 12-13 of Oversight Committee documents.
According to its website mission statement, Victory Outreach is a "church-oriented Christian ministry called to the task of evangelizing and discipling the hurting people of the world, with the message of hope and plan of Jesus Christ.”.
The application submitted by Urban Strategies and Victory Outreach explained that Urban Strategies would conduct the oversight ofthe grant, while Victory Outreach would perform the services. Under the award, Urban Strategies would receive 32% of the $1.2 million, or $387,000, under this three-year grant. The application also stated that Kelly Cowles, a program manager at Urban Strategies, would be the program manager under this grant.
According to the firm's website, Ms. Cowles previously served as the program manager for the Compassion Capital Fund under Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson.
In the grant application submitted by Urban Strategies, Ms. Cowles highlighted as relevant experience her work with the Ohio Governor's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. She stated that Cowles Consulting "[h]elped to develop a comprehensive strategy to design and implement a two-year statewide $22 million initiative called the Ohio Strengthening Families Initiative on behalf of the Ohio Governor's Office.”
Here is the email exchange regarding Victory Outreach receiving grant on pages 12-13 of Oversight Committee documents.
2 comments:
The award was NOT funded. No tax $, repeat, $0 tax dollars were spent on this "$1.2M award".
Interesting comments, Anon. Are you saying that Victory Outreach was not funded from the $1.2 grant and that Lisa Trevino Cummins' consulting firm, Urban Strategies LLC kept the money. I am not sure what you meent from your comments.
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