A recent Gates Educational Advancement Grant via Inland Empire Community Foundation (IECF) is giving one local faith-based, non-profit organization something to celebrate.
Congregations Organized for Prophetic Engagement (COPE), which was created by a group of pastors, will utilize the recent IECF grant to strengthen its mission to protect and revitalize the communities in which they live, work, and worship.
COPE does this by training and developing the capacity of religious and lay leaders in congregations.
“The recent grant will help us build upon the leadership capacity of not only our staff and our board, but really those who are closest to the problem,” said Pastor Samuel Casey, who also serves as COPE’s executive director. “This allows us to continue to work with them to develop not only solutions, but real innovation that increases their ability to be civically engaged and involved, and actually talking to the decision makers.”
“Most importantly, it will help us see that real and transformative change actually comes to the communities where we live, work, and worship,” he added.
The funding comes at unprecedented time in history when the fight for civil rights has grown considerably during the current administration.
“Investments like this grant make it possible for us to continue doing what we’ve always done, regardless of the political climate,” Casey said. “And that is to organize, intentionally, people into units of power to advocate for their own interest. It’s just unfortunate that we have to do it more reactively now than we would proactively.”
Casey founded COPE in 2000 from a listening campaign with African American clergy, lay, and community outreach ministries in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties. Collectively, these visionaries wanted to create meaningful change in their communities.
It began as an affiliate of Regional Congregations and Neighborhood Organizations (RCNO) training center, an intermediary organization focused on building the capacity of clergy, laity, and community leaders in small- to mid-sized African American congregations and community organizations.
Some 25 years later, COPE continues to engage in public policy initiatives that lead to program innovations and stronger communities.
“Being here gives not only me but other people opportunities to actually live out their life’s purpose,” Casey said. “This is not work for me. It’s a calling.”
Thus far, COPE’s reach has been significant, encompassing civic engagement, health access, education, and justice reform, to note a handful.
The latter, in fact, finds the nonprofit taking on the Rethink Public Safety Initiative, which is designed to “promote responsible, restorative, and redemptive approaches” to various justice reforms in schools and communities throughout the Inland Valley.
To that end, district attorneys, law enforcement, and policymakers can do everything from helping prevent unjust targetings of Black and Latino residents to helping people charged with minor crimes.
Keeping undocumented immigrant families together may come into play lately as national ICE raids continue to affect several major cities like Chicago and the Los Angeles region.
Casey notes that the organization’s alliance with the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) has also been pivotal.
Looking ahead, the pastor said the nonprofit encourages locals to get involved, reminding people that government and various corporate practices impact the community because of various policy decisions.
“With what we see in the world right now, we want to make sure people are made whole and well, regardless of policies and practices,” Casey stressed. “Because right now, we’re just an unhealthy population. There has become greater solidarity and greater unity amongst the ethnic groups and wars that we’re all facing right now.”
“To simplify it: I’m looking forward to a more just and radical beloved community,” he added.
For more information, visit copesite.org.
This story originally appeared in the Press Enterprise, November, 2025.
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