Clark County is holding back federal money from the local Urban League because a recent review found double billing, problems with receipts and a lack of proof that one of the organization’s programs was actually helping the poor pull their lives together.
At issue is a grant of $67,000 that was to be used to help people who were having trouble paying utility bills or rent. The county found that the Urban League paid only part of what clients owed on their bills. The nonprofit organization then asked those clients to pay back 60 percent and billed the county for the same cases. The Urban League issued no receipts to some clients. At other times, clients got receipts but the organization entered the payments under “miscellaneous income.”
And still another finding: There were no plans for helping clients get back on their feet, a condition of the grant.
The Urban League has to correct most of the problems within 30 days to draw again from the grant, said Shawna Parker, analyst at Clark County Community Resources Management, the division that oversees the federal money.
Parker said the problems with the program are serious, adding there are “concerns about whether the organization can manage the money.”
“There is no accounting or justification of the taxpayers’ money, no assurance it is being used wisely and for the purposes it was intended,” she said. In sum, “the goals of the services are in doubt.”
If the money is cut off, it will be the third time in the past four months that a local government has taken back federal dollars from the Urban League. In all three cases, the nonprofit group failed to meet terms of contracts attached to grants, officials said.
Previously, the poverty-fighting organization had trouble meeting the milestones for a $95,000 grant to help seniors repair their homes. The Urban League failed to spend half the money by January. The organization told officials “the program had fallen apart” and suffered excessive turnover, said Tim Whitright, development manager of the Las Vegas Neighborhood Services Department. So the city extended the deadline to March 31. When that deadline wasn’t met, the city took back nearly $70,000 in late May, “a matter of making sure the funds get out to the community,” Whitright said.
The city is managing nearly $5.3 million in federal Community Development Block Grants this year, but hasn’t had a problem of this size with any other nonprofit organization, Whitright said.
North Las Vegas found the Urban League couldn’t spend $57,000 from the same federal source, also meant for repairing the homes of seniors. North Las Vegas took back its money in June.
Parker also discovered more than $110,000 in unspent money for seniors from a $150,000 grant nearly 15 months old. If the money is not used by Dec. 31, it will also be taken back, she said. Further, the county discovered that the $40,000 spent to date went to one contractor. Federal rules require that the work be bid out.
At the Urban League’s board meeting in June related troubles were on the table as board members discussed the need to prepare a plan for cutting programs. In building up its budget to about $4.5 million during the second half of its four-year history, the organization apparently took on too many grants without sufficient qualified staff to handle them.
Executive Director Ray Clarke said in June that his staff would have the reduction plan ready in 30 days.
On Friday, Clarke had no comment on any plan to cut programs, the county’s findings, or the earlier pullbacks of funding.
Instead, he encouraged taking a firsthand look at “the positive impact that the Las Vegas-Clark County Urban League is having in the community,” adding that he is “very encouraged by the progress (the organization) continues to make.”
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