Chicago’s Alliance of the Southeast (formerly known as Alianza Leadership Institute) is a recent grantee of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, receiving a $35,000 grant in the 2023-2024 cycle and another for $25,000 in 2024-2025 for a total of $55,000.
This grantee primarily focuses on building leadership capacity and conducting training for organizations in southeast Chicago. However, the executive director of ASE, Amalia NietoGomez, publicly promoted the practice of drag queen story hours on her social media, raising a serious question about her ability to faithfully lead an organization entrusted with Catholic funding.
According to ASE’s website, Amalia NietoGomez has been the director of ASE since 2013:
On September 15, 2022, NietoGomez reposted an article from the Chicago Tribune titled: Drag Queen Story Time is Not a Threat to Our Way of Life, It’s a Joyful Loving Balm. NietoGomez commented about the article:
Our world needs to be fuller, not lesser. I want a world that is *not* black, white, and shades of grey. I want it in technicolor. We need a world full of love- accepting people as who they are and who they are meant to be. [emphasis added]
NietoGomez’s posting of this article shows an intent to promote the perverted practice of allowing gender confused individuals access to young children, and her statement shows confusion on her part about the Church’s immutable teachings on homosexuality and transgenderism.
Conclusion
CCHD would do well to remember that “personnel is policy.” While CCHD grant guidelines do not cover the statements or actions of the leadership of its grantees, we have found the beliefs of grantee leadership to be a good predictor of future grantee behavior. A grantee led by a person who would publicly promote such things as drag queen story hour has a high probability of running off the rails. As such, it is poor stewardship of Catholic funding to continue funding ASE and we recommend an immediate termination.
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