On Tuesday, for the second year in a row, elected officials handed a Stockton nonprofit $150,000 to support its work.

The City Council voted 7-0 Tuesday night to award Gospel Center Rescue Mission — a Christian nonprofit focused on homelessness and addiction help — $150,000 from discretionary money left over from last financial year.

“I think they’re going to do a lot of great things,” District 5 councilmember Brando Villapudua said before the vote.

But it’s not clear whether Stockton’s numerous other nonprofits — dedicated to diverse and critical missions such as fighting homelessness, uplifting disenfranchised neighborhoods, supporting incarcerated people and more — received the same chance Gospel Center did to request discretionary funds.

The City Council’s budget committee recommended Gospel Center for $150,000 of its $1 million of remaining discretionary money on Feb. 19, according to council documents.

Described as a ministry supporting unhoused residents and those struggling with substance abuse, Gospel Center offers shelter beds, life skills courses and other services. 

Mayor Christina Fugazi, who leads the budget committee, invited the nonprofit to attend the February meeting, she said.

“I just want to, in full transparency, let people know (…) I asked for that organization to come, and I wanted to make sure that we’re not missing anything,” Fugazi said.

David Midura, Gospel Center’s CEO, discussed the nonprofit’s accomplishments during the meeting’s public comment period. 

“I can’t say thank you enough to you guys taking a personal interest,” he said.

But at least one nonprofit that often seeks funding through the city wasn’t notified there was discretionary money available, its founder told Stocktonia Wednesday. 

“I was not notified of any discretionary funds,” said Gina Valadez-Bracamonte, founder of the nonprofit Bread of Life.

“I didn’t get any emails, and I didn’t receive anything in the mail,” Valadez-Bracamonte said. She added the caveat that she could have missed a notification made solely on social media.

Stocktonia reached out to several other local nonprofits and received no response. A spokesman for Community Medical Centers said the organization wouldn’t comment.

Though the Budget Committee — which in addition to Fugazi includes District 2 Councilmember Mariela Ponce and District 6 Councilmember Jason Lee — discussed few details of Gospel Center’s plans for the money in February, the committee recommended the full City Council approve the $150,000, council documents show.

With the approval, Tuesday marked the second time since spring 2024 that members of the budget committee have pushed for Gospel Center to receive discretionary funds from local officials.

Last year, the nonprofit was at risk of having to close, Midura told Stocktonia Wednesday. In April 2024, Gospel Center was one of several organizations whose application for U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development funding, administered through the city, was denied. 

“We weren’t getting any help from the city we serve, and it was sad, and we were going to have to close,” he told Stocktonia by phone Wednesday.

Councilmember Lee, then a candidate, criticized the City Council for not offering Gospel Center funding, and campaigned in part on finding the group financial support.

Lee and then-candidate Fugazi “(called) up the county to get a bridge funding” at the the time, Lee said at the February Budget Committee meeting, the recording shows.

District 2 County Supervisor Paul Canepa then gave Gospel Center the $150,000 they’d asked for from county discretionary money.

Typically, community groups across Stockton must compete for limited public funds, often through complicated state and federal grants like the HUD funding Gospel Center was rejected for last year.

The requirements are stringent, often requiring a detailed budget and ongoing dialogue between the city and nonprofit about the specifics of the group’s proposal. Often, the proposal must meet complex legal requirements. Then, proposals may be scored on various attributes to determine those that made the best case to receive the funds.

In April 2024, fourteen nonprofits — including Bread of Life, the Kelly’s Angels Foundation, the Emergency Food Bank and more — applied for the HUD money, council documents show. Nine were rejected, records show.

“Organizations that were not funded (…) did not meet the threshold for a recommendation of funding,” city spokesperson Connie Cochran said in an email.

Again this year, multiple community groups, including Red Rabbit Advocacy, Reinvent South Stockton Coalition, the Child Abuse Prevention Council, Community Medical Centers and more, asked for HUD money. 

City staff found that seven met the threshold, council documents show. A City Council vote on the matter is set for April 29.

Gospel Center — which requested a total of $250,000 — isn’t being recommended for HUD money, the records show. 

But at some point, Midura met with city staff and proposed a budget for how he’d spend the $150,000 discretionary funds his organization received Tuesday, he said. 

“I couldn’t tell you the exact dates or anything like that,” Midura said. “I just know that I had sent in to the city of Stockton a proposal. And I presented at a meeting, and just asked if we could get some funding.”

Midura expressed frustration at the city’s past rejection of Gospel Center’s proposals. 

“We would get funding from other places for other things using the same info, and the city would reject our information,” he said. “And quite frankly, they never gave you a real good reason. It was kind of like being stonewalled.”

The city spokesperson sent no response to this claim by deadline.

Gospel Center plans to put the $150,000 toward residents’ fees for the center’s New Life Program, and security cameras for its shelter, Midura said.

In a statement Wednesday, Mayor Fugazi said, “A longstanding pillar in Stockton’s efforts to address homelessness and addiction, Gospel Center Rescue Mission helps more than 64 individuals graduate from its recovery programs each year, saving taxpayers an estimated $70,000 per person annually.”

In the statement, Fugazi included no answer to Stocktonia’s question about whether other community groups were notified that discretionary funding was available. 

In response to emailed questions about why Gospel Center was chosen, or whether other nonprofits were notified, Councilmember Lee said, “no comment.” At Tuesday’s meeting, Lee said he was unaware there was a process to review and rate community groups’ applications for HUD funding.

No other councilmember responded to calls and emails for comment by deadline.

“It’s 100% fair,” Midura said. “Because anyone else had the same opportunity to present at any time. Because these are open meetings,” he said of February’s budget committee meeting.  “If they don’t go to those, that’s their choice.”

Valadez-Bracamonte told Stocktonia she wanted to be careful not say that the process which led to Gospel Center receiving the discretionary funding was unfair or biased.

“Because maybe I’m not in the know (…) but I would hope it wasn’t a pick and choose process,” Valadez-Bracamonte told Stocktonia. “And when you do figure it out, I would like to know.”