Grants and Agreements

More Info and Opportunity to Ask Questions About the Coconino/National Baptist Convention Project

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I’d like to start by giving a shout-out to the Coconino National Forest.  When I called them, a real person answered the phone at the SO.  She put me directly in touch with a public affairs person.   They also volunteered to answer folks’ questions about the project, so please put your questions in the comments.  This is excellent, since my emails and phone calls to the contacts at the Convention itself have gone unanswered.

Anyway, here is the Forest’s original press release:

Due: Oct 3 / released Oct 16

The National Baptist Convention has put its faith in a Forest Service keystone partnership to execute forest management tied to the USDA Wildfire Crisis Strategy (WCS).

The Nashville-based convention signed a participating agreement Aug. 12, 2024, to reduce forest fuels on the 4 Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI) landscape as its first venture. The project aims to masticate trees along 20 miles of road edge on the Mogollon Rim Ranger District of the Coconino National Forest. Since the first week of September, trees near Forest Service Road 300 have been pulverized into chips, with slash left on the ground. These areas are treated boundaries allowing firefighters to conduct hundreds of acres worth of prescribed fire ignitions with minimized risk and exposure.

The National Baptist Convention is 7.5 million members strong, comprised of 99% African Americans, of which 49% have a household income of $30,000 or less, 66% live in the top five rural states in the south and 54% have a high school education or less. Opportunities to partner with the Forest Service to complete meaningful work benefits these under-served communities, with increased access to economic benefit and delivery of resources back to their rural communities. The convention has taken on the business of disaster management in the past, requiring cutting down trees and putting down sand bags in harsh conditions. It is now mastering a learning curve to be in the business of forest management.

The convention became a keystone partner aligned with the Department of Agriculture Strategic Plan goal to advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in program and service. Through a trickle-down effect, the National Baptist Convention shared its equity spotlight with its hired contractor Kelly Liu of Innovative Consulting Solutions, which is an Economically Disadvantaged Woman Owned Small Business.  The project aims to be completed in late November 2024 with prescribed fire ignitions planned for next spring.

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I was hoping that the trickle-down mentioned in the press release might involve local folks (or even Arizonans) but it seems like the President of Innovative Consulting Solutions is located in Baton Rouge. It also has the same name as several other businesses. Here’s Ms. Liu’s Linkedin page.

Innovative Consulting Solutions provides strategic business development consulting. We specialize in achieving rapid, exponential growth.

Since 2017, we have helped clients secure $900 million in profitable contracts.  We specialize in business development, marketing, content creation, proposals, and project management. Our sectors of expertise include government services, construction management, disaster recovery, and energy management.

It seems to me that the consulting fees on $900 mill may raise employees of that company, whatever their race or gender, somewhere above “economically disadvantaged.”

I find it mildly fishy that there are so many companies with the same name.

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But it’s all in the name of “equity”, and I can’t get out of my mind that it’s just another abstraction that means “it sounds good, and it is whatever we say it is.” So I went back to the Executive Order.

Here’s the definition of equity in the Executive Order, which President Biden signed on January 20 (inauguration day) 2021.

Definitions. For purposes of this order: (a) The term “equity” means the consistent and systematic fair, just, and impartial treatment of all individuals, including individuals who belong to underserved communities that have been denied such treatment, such as Black, Latino, and Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other persons of color; members of religious minorities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) persons; persons with disabilities; persons who live in rural areas; and persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality.

(b) The term “underserved communities” refers to populations sharing a particular characteristic, as well as geographic communities, that have been systematically denied a full opportunity to participate in aspects of economic, social, and civic life, as exemplified by the list in the preceding definition of “equity.”

I’ll have to check with Arizonans, but I would bet that there are Black, Latino, and Native American persons and businesses there.  Both the Native Americans and Latinos have histories of working with these lands, but if not, they too could be funded to develop a “learning curve.”  Also,  some Arizonans are LDS, which qualifies as a religious minority, and there are many “persons who live in rural areas.” So I’m still puzzled as to why the folks getting this funding were chosen.  Perhaps some underserved communities count more than others in the USG equity efforts, either intentionally or accidentally.

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Anyway, please put your questions for the Coconino folks in the comments below, and I will ask them.

National Baptists Masticate on the Coconino: Is This Forest Service Grant Really About “Equity”?

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Copies of the National Baptist Convention Master Agreement and Coconino SPA was sent to me out of concern about church and state.   The Feds do give many grants to religious organizations (such as the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, for example).  It seems to me that those grants are usually given to organizations that are already doing something (say providing food or housing) and helping them to do more.  They may or may not have a match, as far as I know.

*After I wrote this, I noted I didn’t point out that this denomination of Baptists is Black; I don’t know whether that matters or not to readers, but seems relevant to the idea of “equity” and how it is interpreted by the Forest Service.*

There are several interesting and perhaps unusual things about these agreements, and I’d like to highlight a few here.

  1.  NBC does not seem to have experience in activities around the Wildland Fire Strategy, and the MA (Master Agreement) says this is what their interests are:

Embracing the stewardship of creation and the empowerment of individuals, the National Baptist Convention (NBC) strives to foster a nurturing environment both spiritually and naturally. In collaboration with like-minded organizations, NBC endeavors to sustain and enrich the lives of communities, while preserving and enhancing the health and beauty of the nation’s forests and grasslands. Through evangelism, education, and active engagement, NBC aims to cultivate a legacy of faith and conservation, nurturing a harmonious existence between humanity and the earth.

In the background section, the MA says:

Two significant recent investments from Congress-the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL- 2021) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA – 2022)-allocated substantial funding to the Forest Service to meet these challenges. In addition to other tools, this national agreement and partnership will be a concerted effort to address such needs and may include funding from both BIL and IRA, as well as regular appropriations, to allow for tailoring of specific projects to the needs of individual Regions and Forests where the fuels reduction and ecosystem restoration requirements are the greatest.

2.  In the MA there seems to be a peculiar partnership with a for-profit government contracting entity.

D. ESTABLISH SUB-PARTNERSHIP. The National Baptist Convention USA, Inc. will establish a Sub-Partnership with Dynamic Construction Group LLC to coordinate specific roles and responsibilities per each established supplemental project agreement (SPA) to accomplish mutually agreed upon work projects.

a. The National Baptist Convention USA, Inc. will support all administrative and financial management of the agreement. The National Baptist Convention USA, Inc. will also support outreach and engagement activities, such as (but not limited to) meeting design, meeting facilitation, public information development/maintenance, development of workshops and educational materials, recruiting and training volunteers, partnership building, and shared stewardship coordination.
b. Dynamic Construction Group LLC will support implementation of on-ground activities and improvements, such as (but not limited to) vegetation thinning to reduce high levels of hazardous fuels and improve forest resilience to wildfire and overall resource health, NEPA Planning and supporting surveys, watershed restoration and other enhancements of aquatic habitat, cultural site restoration and protection, reforestation, noxious weed abatement/control, and other activities that improve wildlife habitat, recreation infrastructure among other integrated accomplishments on National Forest System lands.

What can we discern about Dynamic Construction Group LLC?  This is really above my investigative paygrade, but it seems to be a company based in Baton Rouge, LA that “provides services related to disaster response, infrastructure construction and facility support.”  According to this site, they have two IDIQ awards, one with DHS with a potential value of $75 billion to construct “influx care facilities housing unaccompanied children.”  So conceivably it would be easy for the FS to contract with them directly.  It also sounds like they have no experience in fuel treatment work, either.  How can a grant have a “sub-partnership” with a for-profit entity?  For us in the cheap seats, it seems like a very roundabout, and unnecessarily expensive, way to get a mastication project on the Coconino done.

3.  Match.  I have to say I loved this writing.  This is the justification for no match on this grant:

The equitable distribution of benefits to disadvantaged communities and Tribes is central to our work and the focus of recent Executive Orders. How we consider, communicate with, outreach to, and support these communities is critical to our success as an agency. The Forest Service has been heavily engaged in expanding its partnership network to meet equity goals and objectives in support of the Wildfire Crisis Strategy (WCS) and other agency priorities. This agreement with the National Baptist Convention has been created to further support equity in the implementation of these priorities. We are developing a master participating agreement that will be implemented through supplemental project agreements, similar to existing Keystone Agreements. We are seeking a waiver of match for all work, to maintain consistency with other keystone partners and ensure success with this new partner.

As Anonymous stated, what are these “equity” goals?  It doesn’t seem equitable to not compete federal work.  You could argue that any grant, anywhere, anytime, with anyone, shouldn’t have a match.. “to maintain consistencey with other keystone partners and “ensure success.””

I’m sure there are disadvantaged people (and Tribes!) around the Coconino who could be hired via a standard contract to do this work.  I hope that “equity” isn’t a code word for..spending tax dollars on layers of non-competed NGOs and their for-profit allies, rather than just contracting for the work directly with local (disadvantaged) outfits.

If anyone else knows of peculiar Master Agreements or SPAs, please contact me.
I’m hoping that some real journalist will write a story about this.. so far none have been interested.

Here’s the statement of work:

Attached are redacted copies of the Master Agreement and the SPA.

NBC Master Agreement with FS_Redacted
spa for nbc002_Redacted