{"id":2607254,"date":"2026-05-27T08:27:59","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T12:27:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watchdog-your-tax-dollars-funded-the-splc-while-the-splc-funded-racist-groups\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T08:32:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T12:32:36","slug":"watchdog-your-tax-dollars-funded-the-splc-while-the-splc-funded-racist-groups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watchdog-your-tax-dollars-funded-the-splc-while-the-splc-funded-racist-groups\/","title":{"rendered":"Tax Dollars Funded The SPLC While The It Funded Racist Groups"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwatchdog-your-tax-dollars-funded-the-splc-while-the-splc-funded-racist-groups%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2607254&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article claims the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)-which it says is under federal indictment over alleged hate-hoax funding-has received millions of dollars from government bodies to support activities in U.S. public schools.It cites OpenTheBooks, which reports SPLC received at least $3.85 million as 2016 for \u201cteaching materials,\u201d including over $1.35 million in direct payments from schools adn public institutions, though the payments are often described as lacking clear explanations.<\/p>\n<p>A key example highlighted is a $2.5 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant (within HHS) to the University of Michigan-ann Arbor to expand the SPLC\u2019s \u201cLearning for Justice\u201d curriculum (originally \u201cTeaching Tolerance\u201d). The project, \u201cYouth Empowerment Solutions\u201d (YES-ERACE), is described as a middle-school pilot meant to study effects on students\u2019 sense of empowerment and racist or violent behaviors. The article further alleges the program was later rebranded as \u201cYES-IDEAS\u201d with SPLC removed from the public name while using the same principal investigator, Marc Zimmerman.<\/p>\n<p>The piece also lists additional examples of payments by various school districts and universities-such as purchases of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-ncaa-policy-allows-student-athletes-to-benefit-from-their-name-image-and-likeness\/\" title=\"New NCAA Policy Allows Student...Athletes To Benefit From Their Name, Image And Likeness\">professional services<\/a>, seminars\/workshops, and reimbursement of <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >speaker travel-arguing thes expenditures<\/a> indicate SPLC involvement in K-12 education. It notes that HHS funding for the program was reportedly stopped, but associated university webpages remained briefly accessible before being taken down.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The far-left Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), currently under federal indictment for allegedly funding hate hoaxes, has been able to push its propaganda in schools through millions of dollars in direct payments from government entities at all levels.<\/p>\n<p>According to watchdog OpenTheBooks, SPLC has <a href=\"https:\/\/openthebooks.substack.com\/p\/southern-poverty-law-center-received\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">received<\/a> at least $3.85 million specifically for teaching materials in American public schools since 2016, with $1,352,655.07 in direct payments from school districts, cities, counties, universities, and states. While the group says most payments lack an explanation, the amounts \u201csuggest payment for materials, speakers or licensing fees.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile Frederick Douglass, and my late friend Bob Woodson, challenged us to remember the great principle in the Declaration of Independence that our rights and dignity come from God, not government, geography or ethnicity, some groups claiming to fight racism have decided to desecrate our founding principles with identity politics,\u201d OpenTheBooks CEO John Hart told The Federalist. \u201cTaxpayers deserve full transparency from government agencies and public universities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The governments are not just in Democrat-run states, and include Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.<\/p>\n<p>Through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, OpenTheBooks found a $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), inside the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor to fund pushing the SPLC\u2019s \u201cLearning for Justice\u201d curriculum program into middle schools. The project was called \u201cYouth Empowerment Solutions: Engaging Youth for Anti-Racism and Cultural Equity (YES-ERACE).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The \u201ctrial\u201d program collected data from six middle schools to \u201cexamine the effects of the curriculum on individual youths\u2019 sense of empowerment, racist behaviors, and violent behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It would also track the \u201ceffects of YES-ERACE on perpetration of racist attitudes and behavior\u201d using a \u201cmodel that predicts empowered outcomes will mediate perpetration of racism, and that YES-ERACE effects on aggressive and violent behavior will also be mediated by reducing perpetration of racism over time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLearning for Justice\u201d was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.splcenter.org\/resources\/stories\/learning-justice-teaching-tolerance-changes-its-name-reflect-evolving-work-struggle-radical\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">rebranded<\/a> from \u201cTeaching Tolerance\u201d in order to \u201creflect evolving work in the struggle for radical change in education and community\u201d which went from \u201creducing prejudice to more pointedly supporting action to address injustice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe must learn, grow and wield power <em>together<\/em>,\u201d the SPLC stated of the name change, claiming that it intends to examine \u201cthe ways systems and institutions perpetuate racism and white supremacy\u201d and \u201cdemand radical change, challenging white supremacy in school and teacher education curricula, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/stanford-law-americas-public-education-system-produced-racial-hierarchy\/\" title=\"Stanford Law: America\u2019s ... ... System Produced \u2018Racial Hierarchy\u2019\">school discipline policies<\/a>, school facilities and classroom climates.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYES-ERACE\u201d was also rebranded in a new project which, as of December 2025, was called \u201cYES-IDEAS,\u201d removed all mention of SPLC, and uses the same principal investigator for the original grant, Marc Zimmerman. OpenTheBooks says it is the exact same program, describing it as \u201cdifferent name, same racial game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Zimmerman is a faculty member at the University of Michigan who <a href=\"https:\/\/sph.umich.edu\/faculty-profiles\/zimmerman-marc.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">focuses<\/a> on \u201cadolescent health and resiliency, and empowerment theory.\u201d He has used previous grants to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion ideology, like co-authoring a paper called \u201cUnderstanding the Intersectionality of COVID-19 Racism, Mental Distress, Alcohol Use, and Firearm Purchase Behavior Among Asian Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to Fox News, HHS is no longer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/massive-splc-linked-education-grant-under-fire-watchdog-exposes-ties-middle-school-programs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">funding<\/a> the program. However, the <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/4wVLsFq\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">website<\/a> remained live at the time of reporting on the University of Michigan\u2019s website. Since OpenTheBooks\u2019 report published, however, the page has been <a href=\"https:\/\/firearminjury.umich.edu\/project\/youth-empowerment-solutions-ideas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">taken down<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Michigan is not the only place that has paid for the \u201cTeaching Tolerance\u201d \/ \u201cLearning for Justice\u201d program to be in public schools, OpenTheBooks noted, pointing to Cincinnati Public Schools and Penfield Central School District, outside Rochester, New York, as examples.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the funding is nondescript, and it is unclear exactly what public school systems are purchasing from the SPLC. As the report noted, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/fulton-county\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Fulton County, Georgia<\/a>, was part of the reason that public revenue \u201cpeaked\u201d for the SPLC in 2021 because it made three separate unexplained payments totaling nearly $40,000.<\/p>\n<p>  Some other school systems like Robbinsville Public School in New Jersey bought Title IV Purchased Professional Services, which is part of the federal Elementary and Secondary Schools Act of 1965 allowing K-12 grants for teacher trainings from third parties, hired instructors, and after school programs. Chicago Public School District 299 paid for \u201cCredit Classes, Seminars, Workshops, Etc.,\u201d which OpenTheBooks says \u201cindicated SPLC was spreading its materials and message in K-12 classrooms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kansas State University and the Judicial Conference of Ohio paid to reimburse SPLC speaker travel expenses.<\/p>\n<p>The SPLC is under federal indictment for allegedly defrauding its donors by using their donations to <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/05\/20\/democrats-protect-splc-by-trying-to-censor-truth-about-very-fine-people-hoax-from-congressional-record\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fund hate hoaxes<\/a>, like the 2017 \u201cUnite the Right\u201d rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Breccan F. Thies is the White House correspondent for The Federalist. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. As an investigative journalist, he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pa-court-rules-improperly-dated-mail-ballots-must-be-counted\/\" title=\"PA Court Rules Improperly Dated Mail Ballots Must Be Counted\">previously covered education<\/a> and culture issues for the Washington Examiner and Breitbart News. He holds a degree from the University of Virginia and is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. You can follow him on X: @BreccanFThies.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The SPLC, indicted over alleged hate-hoax funding, got millions to push materials in schools<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":2607255,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/pexels-pavel-danilyuk-8422132-scaled.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[80324,80325,15303,38824],"class_list":["post-2607254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-nonprofit-controversy","tag-racist-groups","tag-splc","tag-taxpayer-funding"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/pexels-pavel-danilyuk-8422132-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/179"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2607254"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2607258,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607254\/revisions\/2607258"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2607255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2607254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2607254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2607254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}