An Official Response To The Chicago Tribune From Jesus People USA

Anti-religious bias and cultural intolerance come in many forms. The two-part Chicago Tribune article about the intentional religious community, Jesus People USA (JPUSA), is a good example. This mosaic of half-truths portrays JPUSA as a secretive sectarian group with no accountability and (to quote the article's title) an "Iron Grip."

JPUSA is a member of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC), a respected denomination with over 90,000 members. The Covenant Church's near-exclusion from the article leaves the reader with the feeling JPUSA exists in an accountability vacuum. The ECC's international headquarters and their North Park University are approximately three miles from the JPUSA address. The ties go back to 1989 when JPUSA was officially accepted as a member church. Since then JPUSA has interacted with the ECC in their regional and national annual meetings, participated in various denominational boards, and has regularly had various Covenant pastors, leaders, and seminary professors speak and teach at JPUSA. Approximately seventy-five church youth groups both from the Covenant Church and other denominations visit JPUSA each year. These groups spend anywhere from a day to a week participating in the community's life and inner-city ministries.

The Chicago Tribune article paints a distorted picture of life at JPUSA. The factual errors and distortions in the article seem to imply that JPUSA is a sinister group involved in unethical activities.

The article makes a blanket statement without explanation that JPUSA businesses are tax-exempt. Rather, the tax status of JPUSA businesses is regulated by section 501 (d) of the Internal Revenue code, which while exempting the businesses from Federal Corporate income tax treats the organization as a partnership requiring that the net income of the corporation be apportioned equally among the members. Each member is required to pay the appropriate Federal and State income tax on his or her apportioned share. In addition, JPUSA businesses pay Illinois retail sales tax and pay property taxes on the buildings that house these enterprises.

The Tribune states, "Dozens of elderly people shuffle through the hallways with walkers and stocking feet. Most of them were living without plumbing or electricity in the dilapidated Friendly Towers until Jesus People bought it in 1990, and - with hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars - turned the building's top three floors into an assisted-living center for them."

This characterization is false and misleading. The funds used to rehab Friendly Towers came almost entirely from two sources. First, mortgage loans were made to JPUSA by National Covenant Properties (NCP), a lending institution directly affiliated with the ECC. These loans were not public moneys and every dollar loaned is being paid back by JPUSA at market interest rate. The second main source of rehab dollars was the net profit on the sale of buildings JPUSA members lived in before they moved to 920 W. Wilson. JPUSA also received a grant of $25,000 from Frontier Friends, an ECC affiliated charity, to help with the project.

Further, the article insinuates that some conflict of interest existed regarding our financing of the rehab of Cornerstone Community Outreach (CCO) shelter for homeless women and children at 4628 N. Clifton: "The commune's non-profit charity also used tens of thousands of government dollars to hire Jesus People's own contracting companies to do construction work on the group's homeless shelter and the transitional living center, as well as buying the charities' food, supplies and office space from Jesus People USA."

Regarding the Clifton Shelter there were two waves of rehab. The first relatively minor wave used moneys borrowed from NCP, again private loans which JPUSA is paying back at market interest rate. JPUSA workers did the rehab with NCP's knowledge and approval. The second and more substantial wave of rehab was financed by a $900,000 forgivable loan made by Chicago's Dept. of Housing. This second wave of construction was supervised by the architectural firm of Fielding & Associates and general contractor Bulley & Andrews. JP Electric, a JPUSA business and a qualified electrical contractor, was awarded the electrical subcontract because their bid was the lowest.

The quote from the Tribune article also refers to public dollars being used in rehabbing CCO's transitional living center, and infers a conflict of interest in hiring JPUSA contractors there. In truth, the rehab of the eighteen-unit apartment building was financed through a mortgage loan made to JPUSA by Community Investment Corp., a private socially conscious lender. Again, every dollar of this rehab loan is being repaid by JPUSA at market interest rate. This renders the issue of hiring JPUSA contractors moot, as JPUSA is completely responsible for repaying the rehab money. No government money was involved in the rehab of CCO's transitional living center.

The Tribune writes that CCO grants and tax breaks grew to as much as $1 million. While it is unclear what the Tribune means by "tax breaks," CCO's government grants totaled $742,000 last year. CCO also receives some contributions from private donors and some smaller grants from churches and private foundations. CCO's total budget last year was a little over $1 million, all of which is accounted for in a certified audit published by Desmond & Ahearn, Ltd., certified public accountants. The financial can be viewed at www.Guidestar.com.

What is not spelled out in the Tribune article is how that money was spent. CCO's five major outreaches to Uptown's neediest citizens are: subsidized housing for 80 to 90 low-income senior citizens (Friendly Towers); shelter for 340 homeless women and children per year (CCO's Clifton Shelter); housing plus supportive services for 15 to 18 homeless families enabling them to transition to a self-sufficient lifestyle (location omitted to protect abused women with children living there); after-school tutoring, recreational, and mentoring programs for 30 to 40 middle-school and high-school students; an overnight shelter for 70 to 80 homeless women; a hot-meal program for needy people in the area serving approximately 31,000 meals per year.

The Tribune writes: "By 1998, the most recent income tax returns available, the commune was grossing $12.6 million a year and netting well over $2 million." In the year 2000 JPUSA netted $1,667,004.00 according to the financial statement reviewed (but not yet issued) by Clifton, Gunderson L.L.C., certified public accountants. This income is the sole support of approximately 450 people.

The article alluded to alleged musings by some JPUSA members about the propriety of accessing certain public health and food programs for poor people: "If we have a steady income, they wondered, why do we still use the free health care at Cook County Hospital? Why are all the mothers enrolled in the federally funded Women, Infants and Children program? And why are families collecting food stamps when the commune clearly has the funds to provide three square meals a day?"

Only a handful of JPUSA members with special dietary needs receive food stamps. The vast majority of JPUSA members do not. Members avail themselves of WIC, Cook County Hospital, and other publicly subsidized health options because JPUSA members' incomes do indeed fall below the poverty line.

The article contains many other inaccuracies and slanted perspectives. Space does not allow us to examine each of them. JPUSA is a group of human beings with all of the struggles and failings common to society at large. Though disturbed by the Tribune's attempt to marginalize JPUSA with this unfair and distorted portrait, we remain at work in Uptown with doors and hearts open to the city.

For the Jesus People community and pastors,

Thomas Cameron,
General Counsel

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© 2001 Jesus People USA Evangelical Covenant Church. All rights reserved.