ACLU sues Louisville Neighborhood Initiative
ACLU claims faith-based monies not equally available to secular groups
From, The Kentucky Citizen Digest, July/August, 2002.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky (ACLU) says it champions the rights of minorities but a recent lawsuit against the Louisville Neighborhood Initiative (LNI), a nonprofit community development organization created by U.S. Rep. Anne Northup, R-3^rd District, may be more telling of their real agenda.

Modeled after President Bush’s faith-based initiative, LNI was created to infuse federal funds into struggling Louisville neighborhoods for community development projects. The ACLU’s suit charged that LNI’s restriction of first-round funds to faith-based organizations crossed the line of government involvement in religious activities. "We have a problem with governmental funding of religion…with money going to a church-owned building on church-owned property," said David Friedman, general counsel for the ACLU in Kentucky. The group objected to the exclusion of secular organizations to apply for funding. The lawsuit "challenged the application process itself rather than the grants," he said.

Terry Carmack, Northup’s chief of staff, told the Courier Journal that the restriction of first-round grants to faith-based programs was because of their long-standing record of involvement within the community. "We’ve had a history of watching the faith-based community operate, and they have a proven track record of delivering services and rectifying needs at the local level," he said. "While we disagree with [the ACLU’s] accusations, certainly if it’s a problem we will work to correct it."

The LNI was formed by Northup in the spring of 2000 and was initially awarded nearly $5 million in federal funds by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and other corporate contributors. Under the criteria that a faith-based organization be the primary recipient or a major benefactor of an award, the funds were slated for distribution to community churches and other faith-based agencies to provide needed services in poor urban Louisville neighborhoods in the third district. Northup, an LNI board member, said LNI would decide which projects to fund and distribute the monies accordingly.

HUD originally approved $2 million for LNI for use during the current fiscal year. Grants were to be made available to faith-based organizations around the middle of this year. Recipients consisted mainly of local churches but also included youth service and community centers as well as a local soup kitchen. The remaining $3 million was secured for the following fiscal year.

In order to prevent the tie-up of badly needed funds by recipients, Northup later requested the cancellation of the initial $2 million contract by both the federal and Louisville city governments. Instead, she was appropriated $5 million through a supplemental spending bill for distribution to 16 Louisville organizations, more groups than would have originally received LNI funds. The bill was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives just this past May and is expected to be signed into law by President Bush later this summer. As a result of the suit, LNI altered its criteria in order to allow secular groups to be considered for funding.

Friedman said that he believes the case involving the grant process to be "effectively at its end," but he said that the ACLU would evaluate whether the grants themselves are unconstitutional. Northup said that prior to the ACLU suit she did not know of any limitations involved in the distribution of the grants.

The grants will not be delayed by the legal proceedings according to Sherri Craig, Northup’s Louisville district director. She told the Courier Journal that the supplemental bill would actually allow the money "to get to the community more quickly than it would have" as a grant.

David Graves, president of Brooklawn Youth Services, which assists troubled youth and families remains hopeful that Brooklawn will receive LNI funds this summer. "To my knowledge, there’s been no delay or change," Graves said.

LNI board member Kelly Downard said that although the lawsuit "did stop us in our tracks for a short period of time," the funds will get to the recipients "probably more efficiently than we planned." Roughly 60 percent of the $5 million would be allotted to faith-based groups, while 40 percent would go to secular organizations, Downard said.