Anti-Police Groups Rake In $2 Million From California Health Department
18th November 2024
A California health department poured millions of taxpayer dollars into anti-police groups over the last year for projects ranging from COVID-19 treatment to coaching teens on social justice activism, a Washington Free Beacon review of state grant spending found.
The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), which runs the Golden State’s Medicaid program for some 15 million residents, or a third of the population, doled out nearly $2.4 million to the anti-police groups. Recipients include the Anti Police-Terror Project, an Oakland-based police abolition group, and several organizations that joined its defund the police coalition, such as Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice.
DHCS, which has a $164 billion budget and a staff of nearly 4,700, promises “to use our state’s tax dollars as effectively as possible.” The grants, meanwhile, were awarded during the 2023-24 budget year, as California faced a $22.5 billion shortfall. A DHCS spokeswoman said the department wouldn’t be able to provide a response before “the middle of next week.”