YouthPride did not provide services to LGBTQ youth as promised as part of a $40,000 grant from Fulton County during 2011-2012 — and now the county government is demanding some of its money back.
Cynthia McRae, District 6 administrator of the Fulton County Housing & Human Services Department's Office of Grants & Community Partnerships, told GA Voice Friday that YouthPride failed to provide the services of the $40,000 F.R.E.S.H. grant awarded in 2011-2012.
YouthPride, existing in an apparent limbo because it still does not have a complete board of directors after at least two years of puzzling leadership, was officially evicted by Fulton County marshals June 28 from its most recent location west of downtown Atlanta in the Ashview Heights neighborhood.
YouthPride is a nonprofit dedicated to serving LGBT and questioning young people, but has struggled with funding and leadership. Questions over who serves on YouthPride’s board, and whether the organization is in compliance with its bylaws that require a five-member board, have lingered since GA Voice began asking about YouthPride’s leadership in the wake of the organization’s desperate plea for funds in late 2011.
The most recent eviction process began April 30, according to documents filed in Fulton Magistrate Court, after three months of unpaid rent.
The most recent tax return for YouthPride lists board members who say they were not involved with the group at the time, echoing ongoing questions about leadership and accountability at the Atlanta-based LGBT youth agency.
The handwritten tax return, which is riddled with crossed-out numbers, is for the YouthPride fiscal year that began Oct. 1, 2010, and ended Sept. 30, 2011.
The return was stamped received by the IRS on Sept. 18, 2012. It was filed by YouthPride Executive Director Terence McPhaul, who dated his signature May 30, 2012.