Between 2021 and 2024, the Alaska Black Caucus went from penniless to getting more than $1.3 million in grants from the Anchorage Assembly. These were noncompetitive grants that no other group had the opportunity to participate in.
The biggest grant came from federal Covid funds, for $1, 023,648 for outreach to the black community and convince people to take the Covid vaccine. The Alaska Black Caucus didn’t have to compete for the grants. They were sole-source contracts.
The non-compete grants continued in 2022, 2023, and 2024. Earlier, the Assembly granted the group over $400,000 to buy a building for its activities.
There were also competitive grants that the Alaska Black Caucus has won over those years, including American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 funds:
The appropriations have no meaningful deliverables. The Alaska Black Caucus did create a website that contains various news items. In January, the site posted an informational article titled, “Billions of Federal Dollars Come Into Alaska – How does Black Owned Businesses get a piece of the pie?”
In 2021 the Assembly gave the group a piece of the taxpayer’s pie to buy a building and establish “The Equity Center,” which houses the Alaska Black Caucus and serves as a quasi-political headquarters. You can read about it at the group’s newsletter. The Equity Center is the kind of place that could be denied federal grants in 2025, due to the Trump Administration’s stated ban on funding discrimination.
Alaska Black Caucus, which is arguably a surrogate group for the Democrat Party, had disappeared for years, but when the federal money started flowing, the group popped back up and outperformed during the Biden Covid years. The lion’s share of the funding comes from federal taxpayers and future taxpayers who will owe these funds that the US government borrowed from bonds and took through taxes. Celeste Hodge Growden, the organization’s CEO, makes $72,500.
It appears the organization will require ongoing federal and municipal support to stay viable, however. Life support for the Alaska Black Caucus will come this year from the Anchorage Mayor’s Community Grants program; the application period for this year’s money opened Feb. 11 and closes on March 10. Mayor Suzanne LaFrance will be giving out $315,000 in taxpayer money to organizations that support her policy priorities.
Federal dollars may be harder to get, however, since the organization is discriminatory by nature, filling the “diversity, equity, inclusion” programming that is now eliminated from federal spending.
Examine Alaska Black Caucus IRS 990 filing for 2022 here.
Examine Alaska Black Caucus IRS 990 filing for 2021 here.
And of course, that money was returned to the people who gave it away. Classic organized crime right here in small-town America.
I want a discount // refund on my property taxes this year.
Most likely (I’m guessing), so do many other property taxpayers!
I’m right there with ya Rob….
Any Federal funding should be pulled from the MOA for this kind of DEI gift giving.
Another ripe area for DOGE would be to pull all federal funds away from the NGO’s like REAO, AKPIRG, and The Alaska Center. These anti reliable energy ideologists only serve to waste tax payer dollars and increase reliable energy costs. All three are perfect examples of the Green New Scam!!!
Need to audit the Anchorage Assembly like DOGE does.
I guess that why everyone’s property taxes went up so much. I’ll be demanding a refund.
Who’s pockets did these funds end up in? Names please…follow the money..
I also believe while Bronson was mayor the assembly gave them additional money after they purchased the building to “remodel,” It was from the COVID federal grant. I actually have all amounts that were given to that effort. Mostly were their friends at non-profit organizations and other liberal causes.
This kind of articles make me sick to my stomach and pisses me off. When will this city get some people with some balls and get on the assembly. We continue to allow the 4 amigos to reign their stupid power over this city. WTF is wrong with people That’s why a couple of friends list their businesses, they didn’t get any help from Covid monies
Gotta get involved in local politics, and get your friends and neighbors to get involved as well.
When election day rolls around, how many people just vote for the incumbent (if they vote at all)? Why? Because they are not aware of what the assembly is doing, and until it smacks them in the face, they do not really care.
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I talk to people about what is coming up in the assembly meetings. Homeless grants, sales tax initiatives, freebies to special interest groups, etc… Sometimes they decide to vote differently, sometimes they actually get involved. But … mostly, they change the subject.
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Local politics will screw up your day to day life much worse than DC can. MUCH worse. But, for some reason, no one realizes that, or cares. And, we get an assembly like we have as a result.
Why are race based and gender/sexuality based caucuses even still allowed? They are, by their very nature, racist and sexist.
When you understand that the USA has been targeted by Divide and Conquer propaganda tactics, you will see why there so many “protected class” groups.
Keep the people divided by race, gender, religion, class, ideology, and they will not be able to unite against the true enemy that is using these groups to keep them enslaved.
Democrats at their core are racists and seek only to have power while using “virtue” as a defense against criticism and scrutiny.