Salt River Pima award $1.4M in grants to Mesa nonprofits

Mesa has accepted $1.4 million from the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community that will be distributed to city programs and nonprofits.

At its Monday meeting, the Mesa City Council unanimously approved entering into an intergovernmental agreement with the tribe to accept the grant money. The agreement was on the council’s consent agenda in which all items are handled through one motion and vote.

The money comes from the 2002 Gaming Compact in Arizona, which directs tribal governments who are part of the compact to share 12% of their gaming revenues with surrounding municipal governments.

Nonprofit organizations can only receive the gaming money if a local government agrees to serve as a pass-through agent, according to a council staff report.

“Overall (city) operations and maintenance expenses will not increase due to this grant,” the report continued. “The other pass-through grants will have a negligible fiscal impact in the form of administration costs to accept payment and cut checks for fund disbursement.”

Of the $1.4 million, $300,000 is going to the following city programs:

• Fire and medical department’s community health immunization program — $100,000
• Downtown transformation, Heritage Corridor — $25,850
• Mesa police forensics training — $24,150
• Transportation, South Canal and Lehi Path design — $150,000

The following nonprofits receiving funds include:

• 200,000 — A New Leaf for emergency homeless and domestic violence shelter service programs
• $50,000- U.S. Vets – Phoenix to support Phoenix meals for homeless and at-risk veterans
• $100,000 — Child Crisis Center for its parenting education and support program
• $50,000 — Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock Teen Center for the Safe Havens & Creative Sanctuaries to support youth through accessible arts
• $20,000 — Visit Mesa for costs associated with the organization’s podcast
• $175,000. — United Food Bank for its emergency food assistance produce box program
• $175,000 — Paz De Cristo for relief services such as food and clothing
• $40,000 — First Tee Phoenix for its Youth Development Through Golf program
• $300,000 — Mesa Public Schools for its 2027 Pathway to Success initiative to strengthen community partnerships
• $40,000 — Strong Enough Boxing Club for its Strong Enough to Lead: Youth Boxing and Character program

At the council’s Oct. 22 study session, Councilmember Rich Adams asked how the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community chooses the nonprofits that will receive funds.

“The only reason I asked the question (is) there are some recipients — proposed recipients here that have very healthy balance sheets, and there are some that probably struggle for funding more than others,” Adams said. “I don’t know if we have any feedback that we provide during that time — not questioning their judgment by any means.”

Grants Coordinator Sharon Skinner told the council that the tribe makes the ultimate determination as to which nonprofits receive funding, with the city acting only as a channel for the money.

“Every tribe has a different process,” Skinner said. “This particular tribe does applications by invitation only, so only the people they invite to apply can apply. And then they select the awardees.”

Janet Perez can be reached at jperez@iniusa.org. Please send your comments about this article to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.