In a spectacular show of calm, neutrality and restraint, the Mississippi State auditor reported that federal money meant to be used to prevent HIV was spent by the nonprofit grant recipients in other ways than proposed - ways that clearly did not match the proposal nor what the State agreed to support. At the same time, program invoices were presented approved by the State despite recognition or lack there-of that the monies were not used to achieve the intended purpose or goal. The auditor really held the state agency responsible for payout on the grant responsible. Talk about lack of oversight! But I do wonder if the nonprofit boards REALLY thought this was the best way to expend their grant monies and really believed the outcomes were in the best interest of their stakeholders. And how likely are these organizations going to be going forward securing grants and contracts to continue their work of reducing the incidences of HIV?
White’s team of auditors looked at federal grant money going toward HIV testing and prevention in the state, part of a health department goal to decrease HIV infections by 75 percent by this year.
White doubts that will happen now.
His office found more than $850,000 going to three nonprofits -- the Immigrant Alliance for Justice and Equity, Love Inside for Everyone, and Love Me Unlimited 4 Life -- over a four-year period, but the organizations only tested 35 people during that time.
“If the Department of Health wanted to claw back some of this money from the nonprofits, [and] if you’re running those nonprofits, you would say, ‘I showed you the receipts and you paid me for this, and now you want me to pay it back. Why did you give me permission to do this in the first place?’” White said. “So it’s really just a sad example of a bunch of people who made really dumb decisions at multiple levels, and the victims end up being two groups of people: one, the taxpayers, and two, people who could have been tested for HIV who weren’t as a result of all this spending.”
More than a quarter million dollars was reimbursed with invoices...but no documentation to show how the money was actually used, meaning MSDH should have stepped in and denied the requests.
White’s investigation revealed they didn’'t“There’s clearly some rubber stamping that was going on at the Mississippi Department of Health, and that’s unfortunate. I would also say, though, that it’s unfortunate that the grant agreements were written pretty broadly, and so the nonprofit, which should have been pushed to focus more directly on testing people for sexually transmitted diseases, was allowed to just go out and spend money on a bunch of stuff that really didn’t advance that cause very much,” White said.
MSDH declined to directly address what White said during a WLBT interview, instead releasing a statement on the report itself, saying the agency takes the findings seriously and agrees those lapses are unacceptable.
“Even prior to this report, MSDH had taken decisive action to strengthen oversight and accountability,” the statement said. “The Auditor’s concerns involve past agreements. None of the nonprofits cited in the report currently have active grants or contracts with MSDH to continue these activities. Today, our leadership is committed to a culture of accountability, transparency and measurable results.”
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