A nonprofit founded by Vice Mayor Jason Lee was tentatively awarded $12.4 million in state money to build a clinic in Stockton, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced in a press release Wednesday.
The Hollywood Cares Foundation Inc. plans to build a community mental health clinic and respite center using the money, according to a list of projects slated to receive the state funds. Lee founded the nonprofit in 2022, its website says.
The state money comes from a $6.4 billion bond California voters approved in 2024, aimed at strengthening the state’s behavioral health systems.
“After what I’ve gone through in Stockton, this is a huge win,” Lee said in a video posted to social media Wednesday upon finding out his foundation had been awarded the grant.
The vice mayor has attempted several times over the years to have his nonprofit efforts supported locally.
“A few years ago, I began the journey to bring real youth services to Stockton. I believed it would be a partnership between the City and my nonprofit, Hollywood Cares — but politics got in the way, and the effort fell apart,” Lee said in a social media post.
Wednesday’s award comes five months after the Stockton City Council voted down a proposal for the city to provide Lee’s nonprofit matching funding to support its earlier application for the same state behavioral health money.
“Even after I was elected, the politics didn’t stop. Funding to restore our youth center and support youth programming was voted down,” Lee said. “But when the door closed locally, God opened one at the state level.”
Officials in Stockton’s economic department had proposed offering the Hollywood Cares Foundation use of the vacant Teen Impact Center on North El Dorado Street to back its application, after rejecting four other nonprofits’ applications.
In the following months, Lee raised questions about whether former interim City Manager Steve Colangelo trampled City Council authority in offering a different nonprofit, Service First of Northern California, $824,000 to bolster its application for the same state health funds.
City rules say the city manager must get council approval for spending of $100,000 or more. The president of Service First denied any wrongdoing.
Colangelo’s offer to Service First was one of items Lee called upon the State Controller’s Office to investigate as part of an inquiry that’s now under way.
Dubbed the “I Am Ready Stockton Youth Center,” the Hollywood Cares Foundation’s clinic will include 40 outpatient beds and 20 respite beds, and is scheduled to be built by January 2028, according to the project list included in Newsom’s Wednesday award announcements.
The vice mayor said the center, which he described as a “safe, supportive space for Stockton’s most disadvantaged youth,” will provide respite and mental health services, afterschool programs, and workforce and life-skills training.
The facility will be based in south Stockton, which Lee represents, the vice mayor said in a Facebook video Wednesday.
“This project is proof that when the mission is genuine, the path will reveal itself,” Lee said. “And here’s the powerful part — every attempt to build this project outside of District 6 fell through. Now it will stand exactly where it belongs: in District 6, directly across from Edison High School.”
This is a developing story. Check back later with Stocktonia for more information.