Former House Speaker and current Rep. Joe Tate, D-Detroit, has thrown his political weight behind seeking a combined $3 million in taxpayer funding for the Downtown Boxing Gym Youth Program, a nonprofit offering after-school tutoring and boxing classes on Detroit’s east side.

The 2026 state budget legislative wish list includes Tate’s $2 million earmark to expand the gym’s campus and build a new Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics lab, while another $1 million, routed through a rural school agency in Clinton County, comes from a separate education line item sponsored by Tate. The gym says the funds will allow it to double capacity and reduce a years-long waitlist.

Supporters call it an investment in a proven program, citing the gym’s 100% high school graduation rate. But fiscal watchdogs are raising red flags over the opaque process and political favoritism. The funding was not awarded through a competitive grant system. Instead, Tate is attempting to insert the funding directly into the budget.

Critics say this is part of a larger trend in Lansing, where over $400 million was allocated for the current year in what some are calling pork-barrel earmarks. Tate’s district received one of the largest youth-focused grants, while statewide mental health and school safety funds were cut by more than $300 million.

Tate has said the budget delivers for “every hometown,” but critics argue targeted handouts for high-profile nonprofits leave rural and suburban needs behind. As Michigan’s surplus narrows, questions loom over whether programs like this should receive blank checks without scrutiny.

The gloves may be off, but taxpayers will be the judges on whether this one lands or misses.