Peter Franchot, the State Comptroller of Maryland, wrote in the Washington Post that many small businesses are failing and need government aid to survive. Main Street, he warns, is at risk of turning into a ghost town.
He wrote:
The scene on Main Street America is bleak.
Darkened storefronts adorned with “Closed” and “For Lease” signs have become common sights in both urban and rural areas.
Maryland is no exception. From my hometown in Takoma Park to the bucolic charm of Chestertown, many businesses have shuttered or are hanging on for dear life.
But wait! Didn’t the first and only bailout include $660 billion to rescue small businesses? It was administered by the Small Business Administration. What happened to the money?
Thanks to ProPublica, there is a link to a search engine to see where the money went. You will be surprised to see that billions went to religious organizations, private schools, and charter schools.
In the search engine, type in “religious organizations.” You will see that federal aid went to churches and synagogues representing a wide variety of sects. One of the largest grants–$5-10 million–went to Joyce Meyer Ministries. I scanned the site and noticed that her educational background consists of three honorary doctorates from religious institutions of higher education. She is a “charismatic Christian” who spreads the gospel. Is her ministry worthier and needier than hardware stores, restaurants, and other Main Street businesses? I don’t object to Mrs. Meyer, but I do object to federal aid for religious groups.
What happened to separation of church and state? Why was the Trump administration dispensing millions to religious groups while small businesses were teetering on the brink of bankruptcy? When did it become the role of the federal government to bail out churches, synagogues, religious schools, and religious organizations?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thanks for this one. I posted the WaPO link. In my comment I gave you credit for sending me there. https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Why-Did-Religious-Groups-G-in-General_News-Bailout_Bailout-Profiteers_Main-Street_Money-201011-959.html#comment776559
Dear Diane,
I regularly read and greatly appreciate your work. I own several of your books, and as a public school teacher, I cannot thank you enough for your support.
My church was one of the churches who received money through the CARES program. While I cannot speak for other churches, I would like to give you a bit of insight into why giving money to churches was a positive.
With the pandemic, churches stopped in person attendance and donations dropped. Our church has a ministry to feed the hungry in our community once a week. Had we not had that CARES money, that ministry, which was more necessary than ever during the pandemic, could not have continued. We are a small church who received about $25,000. However, that money was used to fill a very real gap. I, too, believe in separation of church and state, but I was grateful that the grant provided for those in need.
Respectfully yours,
Melissa
Melissa,
That was a reasonable grant for a worthy program. Many of the religious grants are in the range of $350,000-$1 million and up to $7 million. I don’t think they are feeding the hungry. Some elite private schools with large endowments took millions.
Philadelphia is in a dispute with the University of Pennsylvania since the city has very little money. The U of Penn is the largest private land holder in the city. It is heavily endowed, and they pay no taxes. The city is trying to reach an agreement with the U of Penn where they will donate around $45 million to the city. Apparently, several other heavily endowed schools already do this in other cities. So far no deal has been reached. The U of Penn has claimed it contributes to the city because it operates a charter school.
Melissa
How many of your church members vote Republican which means they keep in power politicians who cut taxes that pay for government
programs?
How many voted for the racist Trump, which signifies that their “charity” goes hand in hand with colonialism?
How many of them relish in the statistic, 13 GOP women in the U.S. House and 186 men, all white?
essential point: Charity going hand in hand with colonialism….
The “but we did good things with the money” argument is a bit much for me. I’ll leave venom in the vial for now. The “separation of church and state” argument, on the other hand, is an oldie but a goodie.
Greg-
The argument about not asking Amy Barrett questions about her religion, seems like it’s on shaky ground when Leonard Leo and William Barr get Catholic awards for what they have succeeded in doing to America that favors their faith’s interests.
Men are 17 times more likely to become Catholic saints than women who have borne and raised children. If Amy voids the Roe v. Wade decision, maybe she will become a saint and skew the numbers ever so slightly.
I still feel unclean and creeped out by that story about Barrett and People of Praise in the NYT yesterday. Republicans have created a babushka doll political culture: a cult within a cult within a cult within a cult…
Technically, there’s:
2 Hispanic women.,
1 Asian woman,
2 Hispanic men and
1 Black man
who are Republican. 😐
Will Hurd in Texas (announced his retirement in 2019) will be replaced by Tony Gonzales, if he defeats the Democrat in 3 weeks.
Photos can be lightened or darkened. An internet photo of Gonzales accompanying an article about the campaign, shows a person white enough to be of Icelandic descent.
Both religious institutions and private charter schools have other sources of income, and neither of them pays taxes. If the government considers religious institutions and charter schools businesses, they should have to pay taxes as other small businesses do. They shouldn’t be allowed to tap into a small business bailout when they have contributed nothing in tax dollars. They should not enjoy tax exempt status when they are both politically active. Private schools and religious groups are public when it comes to tax avoidance, and private when it comes to profit.
I agree. 😐
Yes, yes, YES!
Diane, your new message (Sunday) ….won’t stand still… it keeps jumping. I hate to miss your messages …even when I know what you will write… J. Ellingston
On Sun, Oct 11, 2020 at 9:04 AM Diane Ravitch’s blog wrote:
> dianeravitch posted: ” Peter Franchot, the State Comptroller of Maryland, > wrote in the Washington Post that many small businesses are failing and > need government aid to survive. Main Street, he warns, is at risk of > turning into a ghost town. He wrote: The scene on Main S” >
It’s a very important post. I hope you are able to read it.
Joyce Meyer??!! Joyce is one of many crooked television preachers. She makes millions off her products and other donations. She lives a very lavish lifestyle. She doesn’t government money. ☹️😮
cx: She doesn’t deserve government money.
Eddie, thanks for the information about Joyce Meyer. Her website suggests that she is a televangelist. Why she got such a large grant is puzzling.
You’re welcome, Diane. 🙂
Detailed lifestyle information is available in Joyce Meyer’s Wikipedia page, under Salaries and Finance. 😐
I used the ProPublica search engine in two ways. The first was a search for grants to groups that included a religious name or affiliations. In this database, the categories for religious groups are certain to overlap because some are more fine-grained others (e.g. Christian, Methodist). In any case over 500 grants were awarded to each of the following key words: Christian, or Presbyterian, or Methodist, or Catholic.
For groups identified as Hebrew or Jewish, 537 grants; as Ministries, 470 grants, as Evangelical, 367 grants; and Assembly of God, 143 grants.
Other religious groups received fewer grants: Apostolic Faith, 35 grants; Pentecostal and Muslim each at grants; Unitarian, 17; Lutheran, 14; Amish, 11; Jehovah’s Witness, 10; Hindu and Buddhist, each received 7 grants. I did not track the amount of all of these grants.
Second, I searched for some of the grants for $5-10 million. One of the first of these went to Drew Charter School. Drew receives grants from 25 foundations and agencies in the Atlanta area in addition to the Atlanta Public Schools. It has long waiting lists for students, and participates in a lottery system for enrollments. With the exception of Pre-K and Kindergarten, not more than 15 students are added to any grade by the lottery system for enrollment. It has well-documented and long waiting lists for students. Drew is one of the highest performing charter schools in the state. https://www.drewcharterschool.org/who-we-are/school-achievements
This charter school, the first in Atlanta, is part of an investor-driven real estate “Opportunity Zone” in the East Lake community. The whole development, including a golf course ant the charter school was led by one investor.
“Although Drew Charter School is lauded for its consistently strong performance, it is more like a remarkably well-resourced anomaly. As the area has gentrified—anchored by the mixed-income residential housing that …developed to replace low- income housing—the main Drew campus serves a whiter student body than the Atlanta Public Schools as a whole.”
A report from 2014, indicated that the school had raised $75 million for its campus expansion, including multiple donations over the million dollar mark from The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, the Cousins Family Foundation, Chick-Fil-A Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Georgia Power Foundation, the Kendeda Fund, the Marcus Foundation, the Robertson Foundation, the O. Wayne Rollins Foundation and the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation.
A 2015 report said “The school controlled over $19 million in assets and raises millions of dollars for both operational and capital expenses.
The 2018 IRS form 990 I just looked at upped those assets-minus expense numbers to to about $26 million.
The school remains part of an investor-driven community development model present in about 20 communities. The East Lake community hosts PGA golf tournaments.
This is to say that the federal CARES grant for $5-10 million to a single charter school should not be looked upon as anything other than NOT necessary, certainly not when you consider that public schools were not eligible for these funds. https://actionnetwork.org/user_files/user_files/000/005/221/original/Whose_Opportunity_WEB-FINAL_2.pdf
But not criminal and won’t be judged as such as long as William Barr is Atty General, and Georgia courts and SCOTUS are dominated by Federalist Society judges.
Did Pelosi or Schumer attempt to close the loophole?
Some of the most elite and expensive private schools in the nation got multimillion dollar grants.
Jimmy Swaggart received $2-$5 million. ☹️
You can’t make up this sh*t.