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In August, the GA Voice learned that Fulton County is demanding YouthPride repay more than $18,000 of a 2011-2012 $40,000 FRESH grant for not providing mental health/counseling services as promised. The county is currently taking legal action against YouthPride to get the money back.
Cynthia McRae, District 6 administrator of the Fulton County Housing & Human Services Department oversees FRESH grants. The YouthPride grant began on July 1, 2011, and ended June 30, 2012. When YouthPride filed its final quarterly report on July 9, 2012, it showed the agency spent $21,296.92 of the $40,000 grant and served 42 of the required 62 Fulton District 6 residents required to be served, McRae said.
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.
After being fired from a well-paying restaurant job, Lance Berlin, who is transgender, was unsure what to do. Then he took a hike up Stone Mountain with members of JustUs ATL.
“That’s when I decided to get involved with the community,” said Berlin, 25, who believes he lost his job due to his gender identity.
Now working at a Midtown gay bar, Berlin has made organizing with JustUs ATL a major part of his life. He feels the organization is critical for all youth, especially for trans-identified youth like himself.