Monroe County is launching an investigation into the finances of an organization tasked with distributing COVID relief funds to community outreach organizations.
The county notified Community Resource Collaborative Inc. on Wednesday that it would be freezing all funding to the organization and launching a forensic audit into the program. That audit began Thursday.
County officials allege the group failed to perform the services it was contracted for, failed to maintain a financial system or financial records, and failed to comply with audit services for federal grants.
The county also accuses Community Resource Collaborative of “making false claims or statements” in connection with the award. The allegations are laid out in a certified letter signed by Faye Pelow, community development initiatives manager for the county, and obtained by WXXI News.
The notice states that should the forensic audit find evidence of violations, the county will permanently drop the organization as a contractor and will report it to law enforcement.
County Legislator Rachel Barnhart said that, as of Wednesday, lawmakers had not been notified that the county suspended CRC’s funding.
“This is an extremely troubling development which raises questions about the oversight of an organization that appears to function as merely a pass-through for ARPA dollars,” Barnhart said. “... (CRC) was performing a redundant fiduciary function even though it had no experience or clear ability to do so.”
CRC registered with the state as a nonprofit in early September 2021. At the time, the organization had a stated intent to “collectively and successfully connect young people with the resources they need to be able to move through their traumatic experiences to starting personal peace by addressing housing, employment, mental health, and other services required to support basic human needs and continued personal growth and healing.”
In May 2023 the county awarded a contract to Community Resource Collaborative to serve as the “fiscal agent” for the Neighborhood Collaborative Project. Announced in 2021, the latter brought together some two dozen neighborhood nonprofits to focus on street-level outreach efforts. The county awarded $7.2 million in American Rescue Plan Act dollars to the project, and the funds were to be distributed over four years.
Cameron Community Ministries is one of the organizations in the project. Executive Director Olivia Kassoum-Amadou declined to comment, but said she was awaiting instruction from the county.
CRC is headed by former Pathways to Peace director Anthony Hall. He left the youth and gang intervention program last year and joined CRC in July. He replaced Tina Paradiso, who now serves as CRC’s chief operating officer.
Hall did not immediately return a request for comment.
At the onset of its contract, the organization was given the opportunity for a maximum first-time payment of $386,138.25.
County Executive Adam Bello, in a press conference Thursday, said $1.1 million has so far been distributed to CRC. How much of those funds made it to its intended recipients is the subject of the investigation.
Bello said CRC had admitted financial mismanagement to the county this week and had fired an employee.
“The Legislature intended for that $7.2 million to go to neighborhoods that desperately need investments in housing, health care and workforce development,” Barnhart said. “It’s my hope all nonprofits potentially impacted by this development continue to receive funding and support for their important work.”
