For years, state and local officials have known about this shadow network of unlicensed care homes, where older and disabled Marylanders often end up in exchange for their Social Security or disability checks. Lawyers have called it “trafficking,” benefit exploitation and outright neglect.

A Spotlight on Maryland investigation found that state and local agencies have repeatedly failed to shut down dozens of known unlicensed facilities, allowing an underground industry to flourish in Baltimore’s neighborhoods. Hundreds of emergency calls, thousands of documents, and interviews with lawyers, families, caregivers, and business owners reveal a grim pattern: people in their final years left to die in squalor while government agencies look away again and again.

The Office of Health Care Quality (OHCQ) — the Maryland Department of Health agency responsible for monitoring and licensing the state’s health care facilities — said it takes “appropriate action” to protect seniors, but acknowledged that despite hundreds of complaints since October 2023, it has sent one referral for prosecution to shut down unlicensed assisted living facilities (ALFs). Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown’s office separately confirmed that it received one.

That one referral was in August 2024. OHCQ and the AG’s office said zero complaints were referred for prosecution in 2025.

This Spotlight on Maryland investigative series will expose how government failures have built an economy of exploitation — and who profits, who enables it, and who allows the state’s seniors to be ignored behind closed doors.

Here’s an overview of Spotlight on Maryland’s findings, which will be reported in depth in the coming weeks and months.

A crisis in plain sight

The investigation began when Spotlight on Maryland noticed a pattern: repeated 911 calls to the same Baltimore addresses for elderly residents in distress. Many of the calls involved unrelated seniors of different ages and genders living at the same locations — properties that were not listed as licensed assisted living facilities.

A trail of government records, lawsuits and nearly 500 hours of fieldwork revealed a system that appears to be operating outside the law. Emergency responders frequently filed complaints with OHCQ detailing unlicensed assisted living facilities operating unchecked.

The complaints described strangers living together in cramped rowhouses, seniors left unwashed and unfed, and residents packed into bedrooms so crowded they violated city occupancy limits.

Maryland Legal Aid, a nonprofit law firm serving low-income residents, warned lawmakers in March 2023 that state protections for seniors and disabled adults were dangerously inadequate.

“It’s no secret that unlicensed ALFs engage in human and/or benefits trafficking, using coercion, deception, threats or other means to traffic a victim, moving them from one facility to another for the additional purpose of appropriating their benefits, such as Social Security Retirement, Food Stamps (SNAP), or other benefits,” the law firm said in its 2023 written testimony.

Those with low or no income are especially vulnerable to such exploitation because “they often have nowhere else to go,” Maryland Legal Aid said.

A licensed assisted living facility in Maryland costs about $4,000 per month, according to Maryland Legal Aid. Unlicensed operators charge far less — sometimes between $600 to $1,000 — creating an illicit market that preys on those least able to protect themselves, according to Spotlight on Maryland’s investigation.

There have also been federal warnings. An 81-page study from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2015 during the Obama administration said “unlicensed care homes appear to be widespread in some areas within some states.”

“They are commonly run in single family residences, but also were reported to operate inside buildings that had been schools or churches,” the HHS study said. “Although some … informants provided a few examples of unlicensed care homes where residents receive what they categorized as good care, it appears that abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation of these vulnerable residents is commonplace.”

The HHS report highlighted a handful of states, including Maryland, Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas. In Maryland, federal researchers found that there may have been 78 unlicensed care homes serving more than 400 individuals in one county.

A separate federal report around the same time period estimated 370 to 400 beds in unlicensed assisted living facilities in Anne Arundel County.

Government documents show suffering

The suffering is laid bare in OHCQ complaints obtained by Spotlight on Maryland.

In one case, Baltimore police discovered a 74-year-old man who had been missing for four days, his body covered in maggots, found beneath a bush outside a suspected unlicensed home in Lake Walker.

In West Baltimore’s Forest Park neighborhood, officers found a 77-year-old male inside an alleged unlicensed ALF, lying in a hospital bed, unresponsive and “covered in a copious amount of dried feces.”

“[He] also [had] a large piece of what appeared to be an adult diaper in [his] mouth with feces present,” an emergency responder reported to OHCQ.

In yet another incident, a 60-year-old woman managed to call for help only after fighting to retrieve her cellphone from an alleged unlicensed ALF manager. Inside the ambulance, she told responders she could no longer urinate without severe burning and struggled to walk.

Spotlight on Maryland asked Rafael Lopez, secretary of the Maryland Department of Human Services, what his agency is doing to aid vulnerable adults living in unlicensed facilities. Lopez’s agency oversees Adult Protective Services.

“I’m not familiar with the specific question you’re asking,” Lopez said. “When any case comes to our attention of any kind of abuse of an adult, we act urgently and we make sure we treat that adult with the respect and dignity that they deserve.”

Despite Lopez saying his team would provide data on the number of contacts and referrals made from individuals living in unlicensed ALFs, his office did not supply that information and said the department does not categorize complaint data by setting.

The systemic cycling of elderly adults with nowhere to go

Each emergency visit to an area hospital triggers the same bureaucratic system: After treatment, hospitals scramble to find placement for what professionals call “complex cases.”

Some individuals — overwhelmingly elderly, Black, disabled and poor — are cycled from emergency rooms to unlicensed homes, then back again. Many suffer from dementia, Alzheimer’s, terminal cancer or substance use disorders.

Lawyers, health care workers, and family members described an unbroken loop in which hospitals discharge patients because they need the beds, and nobody checks where they end up.

In one case, Christina Talley said she called police for a welfare check after learning that her 69-year-old sister, who has Lewy body dementia, was left alone by home care professionals. Her sister — whom Talley asked not to name — had previously set her home on fire by accident because of her memory loss.

Talley said her sister later spent about four months at a Johns Hopkins hospital as doctors worked to determine the best medication and treatment plan for her complex condition. Eventually, a meeting was held between hospital staff and family members to discuss her sister’s long-term care.

Talley said she felt she had no choice when the hospital informed her family that her sister needed to be moved.

The government “needs to advocate for the aging,” Talley said. “There has to be laws, and rules, and regulations — a deep dive into how the aging system is being run and put them [the seniors] first instead of the bottom line, the money.”

Talley said the ongoing cycle between hospitals, residential placement organizations, and both licensed and unlicensed assisted living facilities has taken a toll on her sister and the entire family, with no clear end in sight.

A spokesperson for Johns Hopkins hospitals acknowledged Spotlight on Maryland’s questions about Talley’s experience and allegations but did not respond before publication.

‘I take it one day at a time’

George “Bobby” Gilliam, 62, is one of many older Marylanders with nowhere else to go. Standing outside a Garrison Boulevard building in early October, he described his living situation to Spotlight on Maryland.

“I pay $765 a month for rent … I can stay here as long as I can pay my rent,” Gilliam said. “They give medication, they send you to the day program. Right now, I’m trying to get food stamps.”

Gilliam’s brother, Frank Clark, said their family has struggled for years to find him adequate care and support. Speaking from his car outside his elderly parents’ home in Sumter, South Carolina, Clark said both parents — now in their 80s and hospitalized —have been desperate to ensure Gilliam is safe. Clark said his brother has a history of drug addiction and is vulnerable to exploitation.

“You’ve been there. You’ve seen the area. It’s the worst place in the world you could put them type of people because they’re susceptible to everything around,” Clark said. “I know this is his second, maybe third go around with them. They had a smaller house the first time. I think they still got that same house, I’m not sure.”

Although a staff member said the building’s residents are fed, Gilliam said he was still waiting for government assistance to supplement what he had in his apartment — a bag of rice and some water.

“At the end of the day, a long day, I pray, I just pray, and I sit back and I be quiet,” Gilliam said. “It gives me a peace of mind, and I go to a quiet place, a little quiet area, and I pray to God and Jesus Christ, and I take it one day at a time — that’s all I can do.”

His situation underscores a growing crisis in Maryland: Older residents with limited income or health challenges often end up in various housing settings with little oversight, but which fill a gap no one else will.

‘We take people 24 hours a day’

Gilliam lives in a building operated by Daquan Thomas, who identified himself to Spotlight on Maryland as founder of Aim to Inspire Care Forever Limited, a nonprofit running a multistory building on Garrison Boulevard in Walbrook Junction. He calls his business “supportive housing.”

“I would say one of our biggest supporters would be LifeBridge Health,” Thomas said. “They really don’t believe in, you know, putting people out on the streets, so, if anything, they’ll contact us. We take people 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

LifeBridge Health confirmed to Spotlight on Maryland that it has a business relationship with Thomas’ organization, claiming it partners for “medical respite care.” When asked to define the partnership and what qualifies as an appropriate discharge to Thomas’s organization, LifeBridge Health’s spokesperson Sharon Boston responded, saying, “We have no further comment.”

Brian Mullen, a spokesperson for the University of Arizona Global Campus — the school that acquired and rebranded Ashford University in 2020 — said that Thomas, who claimed to hold a doctorate in health care administration from Ashford University, took only one course in 2010 and never graduated.

Mullen added that Thomas was enrolled in a bachelor’s program in human resources.

Spotlight on Maryland emailed Thomas about the discrepancy. Thomas was also questioned about his active $1.7 million lawsuit against his nonprofit and Gilliam’s claims of verbal abuse.

“[S]hut your mouth find factual information you are working for my landlord and my attorneys will be in contact with your company,” Thomas said in an emailed response. “My Ph. D [sic] is from a university you ask me which school I went to I advised you one of the many because your [sic] a snake in the grass working for the devil get a real story Gary as your time at your current company will end very soon.”

Court filings show multiple bankruptcy cases for Thomas spanning 15 years and a $1.7-million judgment for unpaid rent at his Garrison Boulevard property, where Thomas said he has also struggled to pay energy bills. Bankruptcy filings show that Thomas claimed to have earned income only from working in retail for the prescription eyeglass industry.

In July 2024, Thomas applied to be a nonprofit, and last month he told Spotlight on Maryland he has applied to receive state and local taxpayer funds.

“We’ve applied for multiple grants and federal funding,” Thomas said. “[W]e still haven’t gotten any type of, you know, help, unfortunately — but it is what it is. We’re still making it happen, you know, we have the hospitals that we work with who, you know, make private donations to the nonprofit.”

Thomas described the services the Garrison Boulevard location offers.

“Typically, it just depends on the client,” Thomas said. “If the client needs assistance with medication management, if the client needs assistance with light housekeeping, if the client needs trips back and forth to appointments, anything of that nature.”

The property’s owner, 211 W Garrison, LLC, has filed for receivership, alleging Thomas is illegally running an assisted living facility. Despite the legal troubles, Thomas claimed to be serving individuals living in 38 units in the building and between 200 and 400 people — most poor, disabled, struggling with mental illness, or battling addiction — since he started operating Maryland facilities in 2018.

But as the legal battle continues, residents like Gilliam are living in a last resort, paying rent to an operator who is being sued for allegedly failing to pay his rent, potentially putting their housing at risk.

‘Nobody’s noticing’

Spotlight on Maryland requested interviews with LifeBridge Health and Johns Hopkins, both identified by multiple sources as hospitals that outsource some discharge placements to third-party operators. Neither institution agreed to an interview.

“[Assisted living] facilities need to be licensed and monitored,” said Arthur Drager, outside counsel for Johns Hopkins hospitals and other Maryland hospital systems. “It’s not a matter of only getting a license. Someone or some entity needs to oversee and stop in, unannounced, in facilities, to see what is actually going on.”

Ellen Jordan “EJ” Hammann, a partner with the Baltimore medical malpractice firm Brown and Barron, said that those inside licensed and unlicensed facilities caring for seniors are not the only ones keeping silent. Seniors often won’t — or can’t — advocate for themselves.

“Our elderly population tends to be quiet, especially when they’re ill. They’re not making a lot of noise,” Hammann said. “What we have is a quiet generation slowly slipping away, and nobody’s noticing.”

Drager, the outside counsel for Johns Hopkins, said he “probably” has seen instances of seniors placed in an unlicensed ALF in his career after hospital discharge. Without naming the hospital, the elder care attorney for medical institutions said a guardianship client of his was shipped one day to an old farmhouse in Delaware.

When Drager arrived with hospital attorneys, he said he saw approximately half a dozen seniors sitting in a living room around a television set.

“I took this woman outside, with the attorney from the hospital,” Drager said. “She had bruises on her arms, she was frightened of the people who had the facility, and we let her know we were not going to leave without her.”

Hammann said lawyers who work on elder neglect and elder abuse talk about the absence of care. “And I think it is sometimes akin to warehousing. It’s like you’re renting a storage unit, you sign a contract, you put boxes in a storage unit, and you forget about them.”

Even as the crisis and the number of unlicensed facilities multiply, state lawmakers are considering loosening regulations. One bill introduced during the 2025 session would expand Medicaid funding for long-term rentals, a step advocates say could blur the line between supportive housing and unlicensed care homes.

In written testimony, Johns Hopkins said of the proposed Maryland expansion: “There are real benefits to providing this service, we know first-hand.”

A law with no enforcement

State Attorney General Anthony Brown’s office in 2023 pushed for legislative changes to make it a felony to operate an unassisted living facility. Two years ago, the Maryland General Assembly — at the request of Attorney General Brown — made operating an unlicensed assisted living facility a felony. The law had overwhelming bipartisan support and the backing of advocates for older adults.

“One thing has become clear … unlicensed assisted living facilities are hotbeds for the abuse and exploitation of vulnerable victims who cannot speak for or protect themselves,” said W. Zak Shirley and Lisa Hyle Marts, leaders in the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in the attorney general’s office, in a March 30, 2023, memo. “By virtue of remaining unlicensed, these facilities operate in the shadows – enriching their unscrupulous owners/operators by taking advantage of people in desperate need of assistance.”

At the time, Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott’s office said the city’s health department knew of 80 unlicensed ALFs. That estimate has increased by nearly 50% over the past two years, based on counts now tracked by local and state agencies.

In a March 2023 letter to the state House Health and Government Operations Committee, the Mayor’s Office of Government Relations acknowledged “multiple complaints” about unlicensed assisted living facilities, citing financial, physical and psychological abuse, resident neglect, inadequate food for residents, mismanagement of their medications, and theft of their financial benefits.

Nearly three years later, the city declined to answer Spotlight on Maryland’s questions about unlicensed assisted living facilities. A city spokesperson said the request for information would be “handled by the Office of Health Care Quality — within the Maryland Department of Health — as they are responsible for licensing and regulating assisted living facilities, residential service agencies and nurse referral agencies.”

The Maryland Department of Health said it takes “appropriate actions” to combat unlicensed ALFs, including cease and desist letters, fines, and referrals to the attorney general for prosecution. A department spokesperson estimated receiving eight to 10 complaints per month about unlicensed facilities — consistent with a 2023 Health Department letter showing about 120 allegations investigated annually.

Spotlight on Maryland has filed a public records request with OHCQ to learn more about the complaints and referral process.

“OHCQ works closely with the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) within the Office of the Attorney General to investigate and prosecute these unlicensed programs,” said the 2023 letter from former Health Secretary Laura Herrera Scott.

Yet Brown’s office confirmed that no prosecutions have been brought under the new law since it took effect in October 2023.

Brown’s office said it received one criminal referral in August 2024 for a suspected unlicensed assisted living facility in Anne Arundel County. Jennifer Donelan, the AG’s spokesperson, said the office “declined to prosecute due to insufficient evidence.”

Privately, government officials have met about what they call a growing unlicensed ALF crisis, according to senior government officials not authorized to speak to the media. The same leaders who championed the 2023 legislation have failed to enforce it, overwhelmed by the growing number of aging Marylanders in need and the lack of legitimate housing alternatives.

Have you experienced or have direct knowledge about unlicensed assisted living facilities operating in Maryland? Do you have a tip related to this story? Reach Gary Collins at gmcollins@sbgtv.com or contact Spotlight on Maryland’s hotline at (410) 467-4670.  Spotlight on Maryland is a collaboration between The Baltimore Sun, FOX45 News, WJLA in Washington, D.C.

Founder Dermell Brunson now says those teachers knew there would be delays — a claim their attorney argues is both false and illegal under Maryland labor law.

At issue is accountability over public dollars and labor rights. The taxpayer-funded nonprofit continues to receive contracts with Baltimore City Public Schools even as former instructors allege wage violations that could expose the organization — and potentially the school district — to legal and financial liability.

Brunson told Spotlight on Maryland that the educators signed short-term, project-based contracts and were “freelance, independent” contractors, not employees. “Invoices are subject to processing delays,” he wrote in an email. Educators were “well aware when hired.”

But attorney Howard Hoffman, who represents the eight educators, said that explanation does not absolve the nonprofit of its legal obligation to pay on time.

“These workers were statutory employees under wage and hour laws,” Hoffman said in a statement. “This employer cannot hide behind any contract provision that excuses its failure to pay due to ‘processing delays’ or whatever they allege.”

Maryland law requires employers to pay workers at least twice a month and also points out that any agreement to work for less than minimum wage is void, which is $15 an hour in the state.

A contract obtained by Spotlight on Maryland shows the nonprofit allows up to 10 days to process invoices — far short of the months-long delays teachers describe.

Cedric Benning is one of the educators who claims he has not been paid. He was a media arts instructor at Booker T. Washington Middle School for the 2024-25 school year. He told The Baltimore Sun in October that he stopped getting paid last year.

“I’m in a whole new school year and still haven’t been paid for the work I did last year,” Benning said.

Benning and seven other educators are suing both Leaders of Tomorrow Youth Center and Baltimore City Public Schools to recover the wages they say they’re owed.

When asked if the educators can expect to be paid soon, Brunson said, “Not if the eight former contractors continue their lawsuit against LTYC and [Baltimore] city schools.” He added that the lawsuit will have to play out, but it’s a costly expense for the nonprofit. “Waiting patiently and professionally, would have seen those 8 contractors’ invoices paid over a month ago.”

Have a story tip? Email Spotlight on Maryland at spotlightonmaryland@sbgtv.com or call the hotline at 410-467-4670. Spotlight on Maryland is a collaboration among The Baltimore Sun, FOX45 News and WJLA in Washington, D.C. Tessa Bentulan can be reached at tbentulan@sbgtv.com.

Leaders of Tomorrow Youth Center, or LTYC, is a nonprofit with a mission to help children excel through arts education. But public records obtained by Spotlight on Maryland reveal a series of lawsuits and concerns involving the organization and its founder, Dermell Brunson.

Earlier this year, eight educators hired through LTYC to work in performing and creative arts roles at Baltimore City schools claimed they have yet to be paid. Brunson does not take any responsibility for it and instead blames payment delays from business partners and federal funding cuts. He also told Spotlight on Maryland in an email that the educators LTYC hires “are arts instructors, not teachers. [They are offered short term, project-based contracts.” Brunson noted the instructors are not LTYC employees.

Brunson says the eight educators knew payments could be delayed and that it was written in their contract agreements. The attorney representing those educators says that’s against the law.

This is not the first legal dispute tied to LTYC. In 2022, the nonprofit sued Brunson. He was accused by the nonprofit’s board of giving himself and another employee a raise without prior approval. Brunson called it a “retaliation lawsuit filled with lies.” He said any pay increases were made “within the organization’s bylaws and internal finance procedures.”

He declined an in-person interview for this story but answered a majority of questions through email. In emails, Brunson signs his name with the title “Dr.” When asked about his academic background, he said he graduated from the Baltimore School for the Arts – a high school. When asked again which college he attended, he replied, “That’s all I have for you at this time. Extremely busy.”

BCPS said it was “not initially aware of the filing” when partnering with LTYC. Brunson said the case was later dismissed.

Despite that, the nonprofit continues to face criticism from educators who say they are still waiting for payment.

When asked why the district chose to work with a nonprofit to hire educators, and whether it should manage hiring internally, Baltimore City Public Schools did not directly answer. Instead, the district said it “partners with nonprofits and local organizations to provide supplemental fine-arts programming that connects schools with local artists.”

Ward Morrow, an attorney specializing in employment law, said some school systems contract with nonprofits to save money, but those savings don’t always materialize.

“Typically, the thought would be you pay the teachers less. It would be less expensive to do it,” he said. “In general, the only way the nonprofit is going to be able to come in at less than what the government pays is by cutting the costs of the teachers. It would be balanced on their backs.”

Morrow is also an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. He added that hiring through nonprofits can sometimes cost taxpayers more.

“You’re going to have to pay them [educators] a salary,” Morrow said. “The person who pays them -— the nonprofit is also going to have to be paid a salary. Now, you’re paying double.”

Have a story tip? Email Spotlight on Maryland at spotlightonmaryland@sbgtv.com or call the hotline at 410-467-4670. Spotlight on Maryland is a collaboration among The Baltimore Sun, FOX45 News and WJLA in Washington, D.C. Tessa Bentulan can be reached at tbentulan@sbgtv.com.

Despite City Hall touting public-health strategies and police reporting thousands of foot patrols, residents in multiple neighborhoods describe daily drug dealing in plain view and little visible enforcement to deter it. Three mass overdoses since July sharpened concerns, yet community leaders say conditions on the ground haven’t changed, raising questions about how the city measures progress, deploys officers, and balances harm-reduction with basic public safety.

At Yorkewood Apartments, in what appears to be a peaceful Northeast Baltimore community, there’s a scene of drug dealing, car jackings and trash pileups. Olympia Pakis, who moved to the apartment complex from Arkansas in April, quickly realized safety isn’t guaranteed.

“I told [management] to get us the nicest building they had because I have a 2- and 5-year-old,” Pakis said. “Apparently, there were drug dealers in front of the building that they had assigned to me.” Those drug dealers are on the corner of Chinquapin Parkway and East Belvedere Avenue on a regular basis.

Pakis was reassigned to another unit farther from the drug dealing, but crime followed. Her Hyundai was recently stolen, steps from her home, and later found with exposed wires and a huge scratch that stretches across the entire right side of the car.

“It worries us,” she said. “We don’t go out past a certain time. We can’t do certain things.”

Spotlight on Maryland first reported last week on the issues at Yorkewood. The property manager, Pratum Companies, said it had worked with the Baltimore Police Department to ban 23 people from the property in September for illegal activity, including drug sales. All 23 people were not residents of Yorkewood. Pratum took over as management in July 2024 and has “worked in tandem with the property owner to address ongoing resident concerns and community issues.”

The problems Pakis described are far from isolated.

Across the city, in Penn North, residents and recovery advocates say the same scenes play out daily — drug transactions in plain view and a lack of police presence to deter them.

Nicole Brown, a clinical supervisor at the Penn North Recovery Center, said Baltimore needs stronger and more visible enforcement to make progress.

“In a word: police presence,” Brown said. “There’s just not enough police presence that will deter the situation. … There’s a lot that can be done with police physically being there instead of sitting in their cars. It’s pretty much what they do. You might see one random police car, but you don’t see any more.”

The organization Brown works for helps people battling addiction find treatment and stability. The recovery center also provides shelter, food and clothing. Nobody is turned away. Brown believes if it wasn’t for this group, “I really don’t know what would happen to these people and this neighborhood.”

She said the city’s response has been slow, even after three mass overdose incidents since July. “No,” is what Brown said when asked if much has changed since those events. “It’s just sad. It’s really sad.”

Spotlight on Maryland has previously asked the Baltimore Police Department about the lack of officers, as described by residents. The department said officers regularly engage with residents; officers have done close to 5,000 foot patrols and 9,600 business checks this year in the Penn North area. Overall crime in Penn North is down 29%.

Brown credited Mayor Brandon Scott’s presence after the three mass overdoses and for recently installing Narcan boxes at Metro stations across Baltimore — an effort to prevent overdose deaths. But she said the work can’t stop there.

“The mayor’s doing the best he can. City council [members], I don’t really know exactly what they’re doing,” Brown said. “Government officials need to step in and help.”

Spotlight on Maryland reached out Councilman James Torrence, who represents Penn North, for comment. So far, he has not responded.

Spotlight on Maryland asked Mayor Scott’s office what’s being done: if he plans to increase police presence and what’s being done to stop people from using. His team did not directly answer those questions, instead stating public health strategies have led to the city’s historic progress in reducing overdose deaths. A spokesman pointed to the Mayor’s Overdose Response Strategic Plan that is designed to increase prevention programming “to help youth avoid and reduce substance use disorder.”

The statement also mentioned the Opioid Restitution Fund, aimed at “investing in harm reduction, address the social determinants of health, and build out prevention initiatives.”

Back in Northeast Baltimore, near Yorkewood, many said they want the city to treat drug dealing with the same urgency as overdose prevention. Narcan is a life-saving tool that prevents an overdose, but it doesn’t stop a person from using.

Spotlight on Maryland is a collaboration between FOX45 News, WJLA in Washington, D.C., and The Baltimore Sun. Have a news tip? Contact Tessa Bentulan at tbentulan@sbgtv.com.

The move marks a significant shift in Maryland’s approach to health education after years of emphasizing the need to promote different gender identities at all grade levels. The proposed rollback reflects mounting political and parental pressure on schools to narrow classroom discussions of gender identity — a debate now stretching from local school boards to the U.S. Supreme Court and the Trump administration.

The Maryland Comprehensive Health Education Framework instructs public schools on what to include in local curricula. The current framework instructs kindergartners to “recognize a range of ways people identify and express their gender” and first graders to “identify a range of ways people identify and express their gender.”

Under the newly proposed framework, MSDE removes the “gender identity and expression” lessons from early elementary grades. Instead, a similar lesson is pushed to fifth grade, where students would “demonstrate ways to treat people of all gender identities and expressions with dignity and respect.”

The Maryland State Board of Education voted Tuesday to publish the updated framework, which will then be reviewed by the Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review. If approved, the framework will undergo a 30-day public comment period before potential revisions and implementation.

Raven Hill, a spokeswoman for MSDE, said the changes on gender identity content in schools reflect an updated understanding about student maturity levels.

“After consulting with subject-matter experts and the Health Education SFVC, we identified 5th grade as the appropriate developmental stage to introduce the personal characteristics of gender identity and expression,” Hill told Spotlight on Maryland. “We also removed the term gender expression from kindergarten because, at that age, the focus should remain on kindness and bullying prevention, not identity labels.”

Caitlin Edmondson, who has two children in the Carroll County Public School system, praised the decision from MSDE but said more work must be done.

“I feel like parents’ voices are being heard,” she told Spotlight on Maryland. “I’m very happy to see this. We need to focus on real education. We need to focus on math, science, social studies and ELA.”

Rosalind Hanson, who has a child in the Montgomery County Public School system and works as the director of development for Moms for Liberty, said the new MSDE framework is “fantastic news.”

“I’m grinning from ear to ear,” she told Spotlight on Maryland. “This is a common-sense approach to helping to eliminate the idea that you can be anything other than the sex that you were born.”

The joint committee has the authority to pause a review on proposed changes from MSDE and hold a hearing. Sen. Mary Washington (District 43) and Del. Samuel Rosenberg (District 41), who head the committee in each chamber, did not respond to a request for comment on whether they plan to get involved in the updated health framework.

The Maryland health framework instructions on different gender identities in early elementary school are replaced in the new proposal by a section titled “dignity and respect,” where kindergartners learn to “identify what it looks like to treat others with kindness” and first graders to “recognize ways to treat all people regardless of gender with dignity and respect.”

The proposed health framework keeps lessons on different gender identities in middle and high school.

Sixth graders learn to “define sex assigned at birth, gender identity, and gender expression, and how these are components of a person’s overall identity.”

Seventh graders “compare sex assigned at birth and gender identity, and explain how they may or may not differ” and “explain that gender identity and gender expression are personal and may differ from societal or cultural norms.”

Eight graders “explain sex assigned at birth and gender identity, and explain how they may or may not differ.”

High schoolers under the proposed framework “acknowledge that gender identity and gender expression exist on a continuum, may change over time, and how they relate to a person’s sense of self and relationships.”

Edmondson said she hopes to see MSDE continue to reform its health framework so that gender identity lessons are completely removed.

“I wouldn’t stop here just because it’s out of the elementary schools now,” she told Spotlight on Maryland. “You can teach dignity and respect for everyone without singling out a specific group of people. I feel like it’s one of those things that if you tell kids about it, there’s a more likely chance for them to think about it when maybe they never would’ve thought about it.”

Maryland parents can opt out their children from the Family Life and Human Sexuality portion of the health framework, which includes the lessons on different gender identities.

The federal government has rebuked Maryland public schools over several of its policies and programs this year that mention different gender identities.

The Trump administration notified Maryland officials in September that they need to remove mentions of different gender identities from their version of the federal Personal Responsibility Education Program or risk losing funding. Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown joined more than a dozen Democratic State Attorneys General in a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the defunding threats.

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in June in favor of Montgomery County parents who sued their public school district after being told they were unable to opt-out their children from a language arts lesson plan that included a series of LGBT books. One book starting in kindergarten, “Born Ready: The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope,” details how a young girl decides to identify as a boy.

The U.S. Department of Education told Spotlight on Maryland in September that Maryland may be at risk of losing Title IX funding if it does not alter policies that allow students to access restrooms, locker rooms, and sports teams based on their preferred gender identity. Maryland State Superintendent Carey Wright told Spotlight on Maryland in response that she has no plans to change the policies.

Additionally, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told Spotlight on Maryland in July that Maryland may be at risk of losing funding for its Teen Pregnancy Prevention program if officials do not remove an inclusion of “gender ideology.”

Spotlight on Maryland is a joint venture by FOX45 News, The Baltimore Sun and WJLA in Washington, D.C. Have a news tip? Call 410-467-4670 or email SpotlightOnMaryland@sbgtv.com. Contact Patrick Hauf at pjhauf@sbgtv.com and @PatrickHauf on X.

The Southwest Sports and Fitness Alliance (SSFA) — a grassroots organization that renovated and reopened a long-shuttered recreation center in the Poppleton neighborhood — had applied for a BCYF grant to expand its programming for disadvantaged youth. The group runs football and chess boxing leagues that keep young people engaged and off the streets.

Ivan Leshinsky, who founded SSFA in 2019, said he was hoping to expand operations through a grant from the taxpayer-backed BCYF nonprofit, which aims to support youth programs in the city. However, he said his organization has faced continued rejection.

“It’s disappointing and frustrating,” Leshinsky told Spotlight on Maryland. “We’ve tried to get funding for four years now. But we think we’re at the precipice right now where we’re getting the kind of recognition that’s needed.”

“Sustaining that momentum is really a critical challenge, and that’s where we’re hoping Baltimore Children and Youth Fund is going to come through for us,” he added.

BCYF was created to invest city tax dollars in small, community-based organizations that serve young people. But a share of those funds has instead flowed back to City Hall.

Spotlight on Maryland’s reporting over the past year has found millions of taxpayer dollars rerouted to city government, high consulting costs and a pattern of limited transparency — raising questions about whether BCYF is fulfilling its founding purpose.

Leshinsky criticized BCYF’s decision to send about $7 million back to the Baltimore City government this year through the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development (MOED). As a result, BCYF’s funding for grantmaking to local charities was cut by about $6 million, according to the current Baltimore City budget.

“Personally, I would have liked to see more money go into the nonprofit organizations that are working in the communities,” Leshinsky said.

BCYF previously told Spotlight on Maryland in response to a public information request that it had no records of the money it sent to MOED. BCYF’s board voted unanimously in April on its 2025 grantees one week after a presentation from J.D. Merrill on behalf of city government.

Anthony Hudgins, executive director of SSFA, said a BCYF grant would have helped scale up operations to serve Poppleton youth.

“We want to be able to scale what we’re doing here and be a model,” he told Spotlight on Maryland. “We’re not the Boys and Girls Club or the YMCA, these nationally recognized groups. We’re a neighborhood nonprofit that is pulling itself up out of bootstraps.”

John Brothers, the former president of the T. Rowe Price Foundation and co-chair of the BCYF task force, said he led efforts to launch the nonprofit not to fund the mayor’s office but so that local grassroots organizations could thrive.

“BCYF was created to be ultra-transparent, against traditional philanthropic norms,” Brothers told Spotlight on Maryland. “This goes against the spirit of why BCYF was created.”

The Baltimore City Council is scheduled to debate legislation next month that would impose new regulations on BCYF, including restrictions on sending money back to the city government.

The bill has support from seven council members but faces opposition from Mayor Scott and BCYF.

BCYF President Alysia Lee told the Baltimore City Board of Estimates last month that while her organization was proud to support mayoral initiatives like YouthWorks, it does not plan additional transfers to the mayor’s office.

“We’re happy to work collaboratively, but that investment was a one-time investment,” Lee said.

BCYF did not respond to a request for comment on criticism it faced from SSFA.

The Baltimore City Inspector General launched an investigation into BCYF last month.

Spotlight on Maryland reported over the past year about a series of financial and transparency concerns at BCYF. The organization relies on Baltimore City taxpayer dollars for more than 99% of its funding —money it’s guaranteed each year — but operates as a nonprofit without required performance audits.

BCYF has spent roughly $10 million on consulting fees since 2020, according to documents obtained in a public records request by Spotlight on Maryland.

Additional public records requests by Spotlight on Maryland revealed BCYF spent roughly $300,000 on four out-of-state trips since 2024 for its adult staff and partners. Specific expenses included $3,600 for three yoga sessions and one “short breathing exercise.” BCYF defended the trips as initiatives that taught local nonprofit leaders about best practices.

Spotlight on Maryland is a joint venture by FOX45 News, The Baltimore Sun and WJLA in Washington, D.C. Have a news tip? Contact Patrick Hauf at pjhauf@sbgtv.com and @PatrickHauf on X.

The current Baltimore City budget sent $16 million to the BCYF nonprofit, which then sent $7 million to the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development (MOED) to back a series of youth initiatives. BCYF said it has no documentation of this money transfer and refused to answer a series of questions about how its board decided to send the money.

The lack of documentation and unanswered questions strike at the heart of Baltimore’s ongoing accountability challenge: who is tracking how taxpayer dollars are used once they leave City Hall — and, in this case, why they returned.

A BCYF board minutes document from April states that J.D. Merrill, as a representative of Mayor Brandon Scott’s office, “joined the board to answer questions about a potential partnership.” BCYF’s board unanimously approved its 2025 grants one week later. Merrill last week was named the mayor’s chief of staff.

Spotlight on Maryland sent a series of questions to Mayor Scott’s office, BCYF President Alysia Lee and BCYF Board Chair Larry Simmons Jr., including:

• What did J.D. Merrill present to the BCYF board on April 15?
• What exactly did BCYF’s board know about how the $7 million sent to the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development would be spent?
• What exactly did the BCYF board vote on for this money sent to MOED?

None responded.

The BCYF money sent to MOED sparked concerns from members of the Baltimore City Council. This included Council President Zeke Cohen and Councilman Mark Conway, who cited the BCYF money as his reason for voting against the budget. Cohen and Conway cosponsored a bill along with five other City Council members last month that would establish a series of new regulations and oversight of BCYF, including limits on how it can send money back into the Baltimore City government.

John Brothers, the former president of T. Rowe Price Foundation and co-chair of the BCYF task force, said the money sent to MOED “goes against the spirit of why BCYF was created.” He said the mayor’s office should focus more on raising private funding for YouthWorks like in years past.

“The mayor decided this year to have YouthWorks funded largely by public funds, and used BCYF funds to do it, which goes against both the reasons for why BCYF was created but also now because of the public funding of Youth Works, goes against the original public-private intent of YouthWorks,” Brothers told Spotlight on Maryland on Thursday.

Spotlight on Maryland broke the news this month that the Baltimore City Inspector General launched an investigation into BCYF.

Lee, BCYF’s president, testified at the Baltimore City Board of Estimates this month that her organization does not plan to send any more money to the mayor’s office, describing the $7 million as a “one-time investment.”

“I was at the board meeting when they decided to prioritize the children, and that was the main focus: what do young people need? I think there was a real strong understanding in the room — and that’s why the board vote was delayed and people took extra time — that the decision would not be popular no matter what the decision was because the headlines will read as they will,” Lee said.

Scott’s office previously told Spotlight on Maryland that it used the BCYF money for:

• $4.9 million to YouthWorks, which provides paid summer jobs for teens and adolescents
• $1 million to the mayor’s “summer youth engagement strategy”
• $2.1 million to the Summer Funding Collaborative grant program

Spotlight on Maryland filed public information requests asking for documentation of BCYF money sent to MOED. BCYF responded to the request by stating it has no such documentation. A request sent to the mayor’s office in August has yet to be completed.

The current Baltimore City budget cut BCYF’s grantmaking budget by $6 million as it sent $7 million to MOED.

Brothers criticized the budget structure of BCYF funds this year.

“BCYF was created to fund and assist grassroots, community-based organizations and was specifically not supposed to fund Baltimore city efforts. I believe many people, including myself, believe that funding Youth Works is not an appropriate use of BCYF funding,” he told Spotlight on Maryland.

Half of BCYF’s board listed board members, including Simmons, either previously worked for, currently work for or were appointed to a position by Mayor Scott.

BCYF previously told Spotlight on Maryland that it mistakenly listed Lisa Molock as a board member who voted on the 2025 grantees in April, which included a grant to her organization. When asked this week to provide a corrected list of board members who voted on the grants, BCYF did not respond.

Spotlight on Maryland is a joint venture by FOX45 News, The Baltimore Sun and WJLA in Washington, D.C. Have a news tip? Contact Patrick Hauf at pjhauf@sbgtv.com and @PatrickHauf on X.

But this otherwise nice and lively neighborhood has at least one problem that residents are fed up with: drug dealing at the corner of Chinquapin Parkway and East Belvedere Avenue. It happens in plain sight and just a few steps away from people’s homes. A handful of young men are regularly parked outside Yorkewood Apartments.

Despite months of complaints, dozens of citations and repeated pleas for a coordinated city response, the conditions persist — raising questions about who is accountable for fixing a problem unfolding both in broad daylight and under cover of darkness. Neighbors want action from the Yorkewood landlord to keep the property clean and secure, from city agencies to enforce the law and housing codes, and from police and violence-prevention officials to deliver a plan for open-air drug markets. The stakes are immediate: family safety, housing stability and whether Baltimore’s enforcement systems work for the people who live here.

“It’s been a problem for years,” said Lorne Matthews, a homeowner near Yorkewood and president of the Glen Oaks Community Association.

Multiple residents in Northeast Baltimore have complained about open drug dealing, overflowing trash and abandoned cars that persist outside Yorkewood.

Councilman Mark Conway represents the area and calls the drug dealers “the corner boys.” He said the apartment complex suffers the same cycle seen across other parts of the city: visible drug activity driving away investment and discouraging people from living there.

“They make people feel uncomfortable,” Conway said.

He believes the ongoing drug activity is one reason Yorkewood has a current vacancy rate of about 60%.

Conway has repeatedly asked Baltimore Police and the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE) for a coordinated plan to tackle the city’s open-air drug markets. He has not received one yet. Penn North and Lexington Markert are two well-known open-air drug markets that are roughly 20 minutes southwest of Yorkewood. Drug dealing and overdoses happen routinely in those areas.

Conway joined residents, police and community members for a walkthrough of the property on Oct. 23. He spoke with Yorkewood’s leasing office to share some of the concerns residents have emailed his team about. He summarized the conversation to Spotlight on Maryland: “They have all these maintenance issues they need to address, the trash issues to address, but they don’t have the revenue to keep up with all the issues they’ve got going on.”

Support, partly in the form of federal funding, could help maintain the complex, Conway said.

Citations and notices stack up

The emails Conway’s team received describe “young men conducting business out front,” being “forced to the ground due to gun shots,” and “overflowing trash piling up for several months.”

City records show three notices and 24 citations since May 2024 at Yorkewood. Most were issued for trash accumulation, failure to obtain a rental license and failure to prevent hazards due to overgrown trees and shrubs.

Local residents told Spotlight on Maryland nobody can get a handle on this property.

“We just can’t get any progress on the issues,” Matthews said.

A nearby homeowner, who asked not to be identified, said the problems extend beyond the apartment complex. “This [trash] is what I see … as long as they have trash like this, rodents are going to spread all over,” the homeowner said. “This property needs to be sold to someone who can do something.”

Yorkewood’s ownership group

In September, Conway’s office sent an email to Yorkewood’s property manager, Pratum Companies, outlining concerns and needed repairs. The company responded days later with a list of promised improvements, including a 30-yard bulk dumpster that will be picked up every other Thursday; gates installed outside the dumpster areas to prevent illegal dumping; a private contractor hired to complete a mass cleanup; and a bulk trash policy and notice provided to residents.

The problems persist.

By the end of the month, Conway’s office received a letter from the Woodburne Heights Community Association describing the loitering and drug activity. The letter mentions, “on any [given] day … at least five sales persons [are] performing drug related sales and other activities.”

Conway says the situation underscores why Baltimore needs a comprehensive plan to address open-air drug markets — so residents aren’t left to face them alone.

Spotlight on Maryland reached out to Pratum Companies asking how it’s ensuring residents live in a safe and sanitary environment. The company did respond.

Pratum Companies also manages Penn North Plaza, located in the epicenter of Penn North’s open-air drug market. The Baltimore Sun previously reported it is home to dozens of low-income seniors, some of whom say they feel stuck spending their golden years in the heart of an open-air drug market.

“I’ve been looking to move out for a long time,” said 83-year-old John Carter to The Sun in August. “I went there because there was nowhere else to go.”

Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott has filed a lawsuit against the Penn North Plaza property.

Spotlight on Maryland reached out to Scott’s office about Yorkewood. In a statement, a spokesperson said the city’s Department of Housing and Community Development is aware of the concerns and is “tracking citations regarding sanitation issues with the building.” Residents are asked to report code enforcement issues to 311 and to report illegal activity to the Baltimore Police Department.

Police do not have records of any police reports or complaints filed against Yorkewood since the start of 2025, other than one call on Oct. 18 for a dog wandering on the property.

Conway plans to ask Baltimore Police and MONSE again for a plan to tackle open-air drug markets at an upcoming council hearing.

Spotlight on Maryland is a collaboration between FOX45 News, WJLA in Washington, D.C., and The Baltimore Sun. Have a news tip? Contact Tessa Bentulan at tbentulan@sbgtv.com.

Schleifer (District 5) told Spotlight on Maryland in an exclusive interview that BCYF should be required to provide line-by-line expenditures to City Hall as if it were a city agency. BCYF operates as a nonprofit with guaranteed Baltimore City taxpayer funding each year through the city charter, including $16 million this fiscal year.

As the Baltimore City Council weighs a bill aimed at bringing more oversight and transparency to BCYF, Schleifer said the proposal doesn’t go far enough. He argues that without access to detailed spending records, lawmakers can’t make informed decisions or ensure accountability. While the pending bill seeks new guardrails for BCYF, Schleifer contends it doesn’t guarantee transparency or protect taxpayer dollars.

“I think that if it’s going to be taxpayer funds, it needs to go through the same process that other taxpayer funds are going to,” Schleifer told Spotlight on Maryland. “When we get money into the general fund and we spend money on roads or we spend money on streetlights or whatever else we’re spending money on, you can see those expenditures. And it doesn’t make sense that this wouldn’t be that same way.”

‘It’s taxpayer funds’

The BCYF bill proposed at City Council last month includes a series of new regulations and oversight of the nonprofit, such as:

• Requiring it to undergo a performance audit conducted by the Baltimore City Comptroller every three years, starting next fiscal year.
• Prohibiting it from funding organizations tied to its staff, board and their family members.
• Restricting the Baltimore City government from taking BCYF funds to back government programs.

The BCYF bill was introduced by Mark Parker (District 1) and John Bullock (District 9). Council President Zeke Cohen, Ryan Dorsey (District 3), Mark Conway (District 4) and Zac Blanchard (District 11) joined as cosponsors.

Schleifer said he supports the bill but wants to add additional oversight.

“Any more transparency we can get regarding the fund, I fully support. I think we should be able to go a lot further,” he told Spotlight on Maryland. “I think the fact that it’s taxpayer funds, we should be able to see line-item expenditures, just like we do at the Board of Estimates.”

BCYF’s latest nonprofit tax forms from fiscal years 2022 to 2024 show it relies on more than 99% of its funding from taxpayer dollars. The documents show BCYF spends about 60% of its money on grants to local charities, with the remaining 40% spent on administrative expenses.

Spotlight on Maryland sorted through thousands of documents obtained in public information requests over the past year that revealed BCYF spent about $300,000 on out-of-state trips for its adult staff and partners since 2024. Specific expenses included $3,600 for three yoga sessions and one “short breathing exercise.” BCYF defended the trips in previous statements that emphasized they helped local nonprofit leaders learn about best practices.

‘Basic accountability’

Councilman Conway said this month that the BCYF bill focuses on boosting transparency.

“This is basic accountability,” he told Spotlight on Maryland earlier this month. “When you’re using tax dollars in any way, shape or form, you want to make sure that there’s some oversight. You want to make sure you’re getting your bang for your buck.”

Councilman Bullock told WBAL Radio on Wednesday that the first hearing for his bill on BCYF will be in December.

“We want to make sure that (BCYF]) is fully transparent, that there are no questions anyone can raise about how funds are being distributed,” Bullock said.

Schleifer told Spotlight on Maryland he “absolutely” thinks BCYF should operate within the Baltimore City government instead of as a nonprofit that’s guaranteed taxpayer funds. BCYF is required to share a financial plan with the Baltimore Board of Estimates, but Schleifer said the documents are vague.

“You might see who some of the employees of the fund are, but you don’t see who the consultants are. And so, there’s a lot of shielding of information,” he told Spotlight on Maryland. “This line item went to consulting, but who are the consultants and what services were they providing? What value did they add to this?”

Mayor Brandon Scott’s office did not respond to a request for comment on whether he supports a requirement for BCYF to share its line-by-line expenditures with City Hall.

Scott told WYPR radio this month that the BCYF bill “as it stands right now has some issues for me.” He said the legislation would limit his office from taking BCYF funds to support city-led programs like it did this year for YouthWorks, which provides paid summer jobs for teens and adolescents.

BCYF previously told Spotlight on Maryland that the bill “jeopardizes” its work but did not specify what aspects of the legislation it opposes.

Schleifer said Scott and BCYF should join efforts to boost transparency through the bill.

“I don’t know why they would be opposed to it,” he told Spotlight on Maryland. “I think you only benefit by bringing more transparency to the fund. It only makes the fund stronger by having those controls and the accountability in place.”

City Council would need 10 votes to overturn a potential veto from Scott. Schleifer’s support marks seven members in favor. The remaining eight members did not respond to a question asking if they have a position on the bill: Danielle McCray (District 2), Council Vice-President Sharon Green Middleton (District 6), James Torrence (District 7), Paris Gray (District 8), Phylicia Porter (District 10), Jermaine Jones (District 12), Antonio Glover (District 13) and Odette Ramos (District 14).

Spotlight on Maryland is a joint venture by FOX45 News, The Baltimore Sun and WJLA in Washington, D.C. Have a news tip? Contact Patrick Hauf at pjhauf@sbgtv.com and @PatrickHauf on X.

The decision highlights a broader accountability gap in Maryland’s network of nonprofit partnerships, where state leaders continue to award public money to groups that operate with little to no recent financial documentation. Taxpayers are being asked to trust organizations whose financial activity is not publicly verifiable — and state agencies have yet to explain how they vet these recipients.

An August decision by Gov. Wes Moore is raising new concerns. At the time, Moore was locked in a war of words with President Donald Trump about public safety. Moore publicly opposed Trump’s plan to deploy the National Guard in Washington, D.C., as well as his threats to put boots on the ground in Baltimore. The governor put his political muscle behind a plan to award $6.1 million in taxpayer funds to We Our Us, a nonprofit he said would use the funds to “engage justice-involved youth in Baltimore City.” We Our Us is part of Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott’s Group Violence Reduction Strategy (GVRS).

Moore cited the award as an example of how “partnership produced progress, and there’s no better case study than Baltimore.”

However, two experts in nonprofit accounting told Spotlight on Maryland it’s unclear if We Our Us is capable of handling $6 million in taxpayer dollars. The organization has not filed a nonprofit tax form since 2022, more than a year past the required IRS deadline.

We Our Us did not respond to questions from Spotlight on Maryland about how the organization is currently serving Maryland and Baltimore City, or why tax forms for 2023 and 2024 are not publicly available.

‘No idea what you’re doing with our money’

Brian Mittendorf, a professor at Ohio State University who specializes in nonprofit accounting, said We Our Us owes the public information about how it uses taxpayer money.

“I’d say the whole package is one that raises a lot of questions about government funding,” Mittendorf told Spotlight on Maryland. “At the bare minimum, being up to date in compliance is necessary for receiving government funding for grants in general.”

Erica Harris, a professor at Florida State University who works on nonprofit transparency, echoed those concerns.

“They’re not paying into our tax system, and so in exchange for that, they’re meant to give us information about how they’ve used our money,” Harris told Spotlight on Maryland. “With the absence of a nonprofit tax return, we have no idea what you’re doing with our money.”

Unanswered question from state officials

Spotlight on Maryland asked Moore’s office if they had access to more recent financial information from We Our Us before awarding it $6.1 million. Moore’s office referred questions to the Department of Juvenile Services (DJS), which issued the contract. DJS then referred questions to the Interagency Rate Council, which did not respond.

DJS provided some context about the award to We Our Us, including that the $6.1 million contract started on Sept. 1 and runs through June 2030. The department also confirmed that We Our Us has yet to receive any money or submit any billing.

“DJS supports a transparent process that includes the rate setting through Maryland’s Interagency Rate Council, publicly issued Expression of Interest, and contract approval through the Board of Public Works,” a DJS spokesman told Spotlight on Maryland.

Limited operation, expansive grant

We Our Us’ last available tax form from 2022 shows the organization had $328,000 in revenue, zero paid employees and a part-time volunteer board. More than 60% of its listed spending was under “other,” with no further explanation of where the money went.

Listed services on We Our Us’ website include acting as mentors to young men, as well as mediators in “helping reconcile conflicts between individuals.”

Both Mittendorf and Harris questioned whether Maryland officials had reason to believe We Our Us could transition from its current operation to managing $6 million in taxpayer funds.

“From the public records, we don’t see any indication that it’s got a track record, that it has an infrastructure in place to use this level of resources,” Mittendorf told Spotlight on Maryland.

“It would be a stretch for that size of an organization set up in that way to be able to use and disperse and really make the best use of a $6 million grant,” Harris told Spotlight on Maryland.

We Our Us did not respond to questions from Spotlight on Maryland about the organization.

The Maryland Secretary of State’s nonprofit database lists We Our Us’ registration status as “not current” and notes its most recent financial year is from 2022. The database states that We Our Us last had $17,407 in total charitable contributions, with $4,469 spent on charitable programs and $33,211 spent on management.

The Baltimore Sun reported this year that the Maryland government admitted they do not track the total amount of taxpayer money it sends to nonprofits.

Additional city funding

Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott announced last year that We Our Us would receive $1 million from the city’s opioid settlement with Walgreens.

A spokesman for the mayor’s office did not respond to questions about whether the city has access to more recent financial records from We Our Us. The spokesman said the grant agreement has not been finalized, so the organization has not yet received those funds.

“The grant agreement will provide fiscal and programmatic oversight of grantees,” the spokesman told Spotlight on Maryland. “We Our Us will only receive its funding after the final agreement is signed and approved by the Board of Estimates.”

Spotlight on Maryland is a joint venture by FOX45 News, The Baltimore Sun and WJLA in Washington, D.C. Have a news tip? Contact Patrick Hauf at pjhauf@sbgtv.com.