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Yucaipa council approves community grants after debate over awards to faith-based groups
Summary
Council approved the ad-hoc committee's community activity grant recommendations but rejected a substitute proposal to reallocate church awards to a girls' softball program. A council member recused on related items and the debate prompted a direction to staff to provide attorney guidance on church-state grant issues.
The Yucaipa City Council on June 8 approved the Community Activity Grant (CAG) awards recommended by an ad-hoc committee after a protracted debate over whether faith-based applicants should receive city grant funding.
Staff said the city budgeted $20,000 for financial awards and $40,000 for in-kind support for FY 2026'27 and received 24 applications. Several applicants and community representatives addressed the council during the public comment period, including Garden Works for Kids, Yucaipa Valley Art Association, the Yucaipa Calimesa Veterans Committee and Love Yucaipa volunteers, outlining service levels and requests.
Council Member Wolsey presented an alternative distribution that sought to prioritize youth and community programs, while Council Member Benson offered a substitute motion to eliminate grants to certain faith-based organizations and reallocate those funds to the girls' softball association. Benson said he could not vote on the committee's recommendation because of a conflict relating to sheriff contract items earlier in the agenda and argued churches should not receive city funds without a clear policy.
The substitute motion to strip funding from faith-based applicants failed on a recorded roll call (Miller: no; Thorp: no; Wolsey: yes; Baieber: no; Venibal: yes). After further discussion the council approved the ad-hoc committee's recommendations; one council member recorded an abstention during the final voice vote.
The council asked the city attorney to prepare a client-privileged memo explaining legal standards and potential exposures when awarding public grants to faith-based organizations and asked staff to bring the matter back for broader policy consideration.
Action: Council approved the ad-hoc committee's recommended CAG awards for FY 2026'27 (financial and in-kind), declined the substitute motion to reallocate certain awards, and requested legal guidance on faith-based grant rules and potential municipal-code changes.
