Social services entity backed by Dem Rep. Bobby Rush received millions in gov’t grants last year

The more entrenched Democratic lawmakers are in the D.C. swamp, the more you can be assured they bill themselves as champions of the poor and downtrodden.

Rep. Bobby Rush, the 72-year-old democratic congressman from Illinois who has been in office for nearly three decades, is raising eyebrows after an entity linked to a church he founded received $3 million in taxpayer-backed government grants last year, The Washington Free Beacon reported.

Rush founded the Chicago-based non-denominational Beloved Community Christian Church in 2002, paying $800,000 for the site, with the backing of a $500,000 secure loan from the New City Bank, according to the online news outlet — he would later go delinquent on that loan.

“I founded a church in Englewood, one of Chicago’s poorest and most fragile neighborhoods, and named it Beloved Community Christian Church,” Rush wrote in 2011. “The church, once the site of a Black Panther breakfast program for children, now stands in tribute to Dr. King’s vision of the power of community. A social service center, a health center and an after school robotics program are also part of the church’s mission to care for people.”

More on the entity linked to the church from The Free Beacon:

A social services arm was created as part of Rush’s church called the Beloved Community Family Wellness Center, a not-for-profit federally qualified health center that carries a mission of providing “holistic, comprehensive, accessible, and quality primary health care and social services programs to individuals and the community with a particular focus on the health care needs of the medically underserved population.”

The wellness center has collected millions in taxpayer-backed government grants.

A total of $3 million in grants was disbursed in 2018 from the Department of Health and Human Services, records show. Prior to the millions provided last year, the wellness center had taken in more than $15 million over the past 10 years.

 

As is often the case in the swamp, a family member, Rush’s daughter, Kacy, runs the center, according to a 2016 tax form. She does not appear to collect a salary.

Of a total of $4.6 million in revenue reported that fiscal year, $2.8 million came from government grants.

Back when earmarks were still a thing, Rush put in a $100,000 request for another nonprofit, Beloved Community Family Services Inc., which was part of the center’s overall operations.

The Pelosi-run House awarded him $305,500 in 2008, well above the original request.

Rush has also directed more than $200,000 in campaign money to the church over the years.

On the delinquent loan, the Free Beacon reported that Rush started a community development group, Rebirth of Englewood, which was designed to provide affordable housing, a technology center, and other programs, though few of the goals were ever realized.

Rush was hit with a $1.1 million judgment in 2017 for $542,000 in unpaid principal, $441,000 in interest, and almost $50,000 in attorney fees.

Yet, the hypocrite talks about cleaning up the culture of corruption in Washington as he pushes the Democrats anti-corruption proposal to get money out of politics.

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