Prince George’s County nonprofits are scrambling after nearly $2 million in grant funding was rescinded by Council Chair Edward Burroughs, who cited political favoritism in how funds were divvied up last October.
“What you will see is that three council members got nearly 70% of the entire fund for their priorities,” Burroughs said during a council meeting on Tuesday.
Council member Jolene Ivey was serving as council chair when the allocations were made last October. She defended her choices on Tuesday during council comments, saying she prioritized nonprofits that would benefit the broader county, rather than individual districts.
Ivey also criticized Burroughs for rescinding money that had already been promised.
“Last fall, I awarded the grants with the collaboration of my colleagues, and we sent out letters. We let people know we’re getting this amount of money,” Ivey told WTOP at a news conference Tuesday morning.
She invited dozens of nonprofits to a news conference ahead of the council meeting Tuesday to speak about what the funding loss would do to their organizations.
“They were just waiting to be approved and have their money come,” Ivey said. “They’d already planned for the money.”
Dr. James Benjamin runs Autism FYI, a program that trains first responders, teachers, social workers and others in public-facing jobs on how to interact with people with autism. He has two sons with autism, so the cause is near and dear to his heart.
“With all this, we’re going to have to close down shop,” Benjamin said at the news conference. “And it just threw me for a loop, because we depend on it, and I hope this works out. I really do.”
Meanwhile, Elsie Jacobs with Suitland Action Team shared during the council’s public comment time that her area was overlooked when funding plans initially went out last year.
“We have senior citizens that I presented to the councilwoman, about 15 or 16 seniors, who would be evicted,” Jacobs said supporting the decision to rescind the funding. “I’m telling you right now in my whole history, I’ve never seen senior citizens put out on the street.”
But Burroughs defended his choices, pointing to District 6 Council member Wala Blegay, who received no money.
“I cannot look at Council member Blegay, who represents one of the largest districts, and see that she got zero dollars, and do nothing,” Burroughs said.
Blegay condemned Ivey during council comments and echoed Burroughs’ claim that the money was withheld from her district unfairly.
“We’re sitting here today with a council member who was so vindictive to take this,” Blegay said. “And I’m just saying, I understand the nonprofits that are here frustrated, and I’m sorry that you’ve been used as a tool.”
Ivey introduced a motion to restore the funding; however, none of the other council members seconded it.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article stated that Burroughs introduced the motion to restore the funding. However, it was Ivey who introduced the motion.
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