The Momentum Center announced the grand opening of their Moo-Mentum Ice Cream Parlor on March 13, 2023. The Momentum Center sells itself as a grassroots non-profit organization that helps the mentally ill by reducing stigma and providing a place for socialization. The Momentum Center does not provide any therapeutic services, but does provide social and recreational programs which include activities like the LGBTQ+ affinity groups, dinner and movie nights, anti-racism town hall meetings, and LGBTQ+ presentations for members.
Grassroots movements are initiatives that start with local people. According to Thought Co, “Rather than money, the power of grassroots movements comes from their ability to harness the effort of ordinary people whose shared sense of justice and knowledge about a given issue can be used to influence policymakers.” According to Barbara Lee Van Horssen, the Momentum Center is a “grassroots effort to create a stigma free community.” In the case of the Momentum Center, the term grassroots is misleading. Grassroots organizations thrive from the motivation of the people involved, not from infusions of money. The Momentum Center may have started as a grassroots organization, but today it is a taxpayer funded agent of the state.
During the June 26, 2023, Ottawa County Community Mental Health board meeting, Barbara Lee Van Horssen of the Momentum Center disclosed they anticipated a $674,000 budget this year.
(14:35) “In terms of our budget, this year we project that we be receiving $674,000, 43% of that will come from the mental health millage. Originally, the CMH millage made up a higher percentage of our budget. We have been able to gather a lot of community support which has allowed us to expand our programming beyond just what the millage will pay. And you can see, our expenses are about 86% of our expenses go to programming. So, the CMH millage alone is not enough to cover all of the programming costs.”
In addition to covering other Momentum Center initiatives, this budget, largely funded by taxpayers through the mental health millage, appears to have been used to cover the start-up costs of the Moo-Mentum Ice Cream Parlor. According to invoices obtained via FOIA, the Momentum Center billed taxpayers over $33,000 for items such as flooring, paint, a hand washing sink, an ice cream cabinet, a utensil holder, lawn mower and picnic table. This was in addition to their monthly contract rate of $24,233.33.
The Momentum Center receives $290,799.79 per year from the mental health millage.
This is a sample monthly invoice. On the invoice below, you can see that in addition to the monthly payment of $24,233.33, the Momentum Center received $9,230.59 out of $30,000 set aside to cover their start-up costs.
Following are two sample invoices submitted to Community Mental Health Ottawa County, and then a table summarizing other invoices submitted.
Here is a summary of the invoices.
Are you satisfied with your tax dollars paying for anti-racism task force groups, get out the vote events, and vaccine clinics in the name of helping those with mental illness? Do you support paying the start-up costs for businesses and non-profit organizations? I’m sure there are plenty of other ice cream businesses in our area that didn’t need (or want) public funds to get them started.