After serving the local community for 47 years, Girls Inc. of Tarrant County has found itself without $115,000 of state funding and at the center of a cultural war of sorts.
“Certainly disappointed,” said Girls Inc. of Tarrant County CEO Jennifer Limas. “It has been a long-time partnership with the community youth development grant and with other organizations who are providing programs in the Northside and Diamond Hill Area.”
Limas says Girls Inc. will continue to provide services and is looking to the community for financial support.
Opponents rallied at Tuesday’s Tarrant County Commissioners’ Court, demanding they deny the non-profit state funding, accusing the group and/or its national organization of advocating for gender identity exploration, abortion rights, and other controversial topics.
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Counties are tasked with distributing approximately $500,000 from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
Girls Inc. of Tarrant County is one of five county non-profits that were set to receive funding: between $115,000 to $200,000 for Girls Inc. alone.
The non-profit has received funding for 15 years until now. After hearing from the public, including some people who support Girls Inc., commissioners voted 3 to 2 to deny the contract.
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Commissioners Roy Brooks and Alissa Simmons were the dissenting votes.
Brooks said he was taken aback at the vitriol behind the many emails he received on the issue.
“Claiming that Girls Inc. is a communist organization,” said Brooks, a longtime supporter of the group. “Come on folks.”
The denied funding represents about 30% of the program’s budget. Limas is now focused on raising money to make up the loss and to clear her organization’s name while distancing their group from the national chapter.
“The accusations that were made in commissioner’s court yesterday, some of them were just plain lies and defamation. Some of them were based upon things that are happening in other parts of the country and our national organization,” she said.
“In Tarrant County, we deliver programs within all of the state legislation, within requirements of the country.”
The local mission, she stresses, is to help at-risk girls in four Tarrant County zip codes by providing health and educational programs and ways to ‘avoid risky behavior.’
It is a mission that includes trans and non-binary youth, according to its website, but one that Limas stresses is in line with all state and local laws and regulations.
Limas told commissioners the local non-profit disagrees with the national organization on some key issues and will reconsider its ties to the national branch.
Commissioner Manny Ramirez, who voted to withhold the state funding, supported the local group and encouraged Girls Inc. of Tarrant County to cut national ties potentially.
Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare, who also voted to deny the funding, said he has no doubt well-meaning people are working for the local group and is also encouraged to hear they are considering breaking away.
“I cannot vote to give taxpayer money to an organization that wants to de-stigmatize abortion, seems anti-police, teaches that men can have periods, and thinks it’s ok for children to change their sex,” said O’Hare during commissioner’s court.
