OurTupelo

Mississippi Today journalists Adam Ganucheau and Geoff Pender discuss how Mississippi is behind many other states in determining how to spend billions in federal coronavirus-related stimulus funds. 

Listen to more episodes of The Other Side here.

Read a transcript of the episode below.

Adam Ganucheau: Welcome to The Other Side, Mississippi Today’s political podcast. I’m your host, Adam Ganucheau. The Other Side let you hear directly from the most connected players and observers across the spectrum of politics in Mississippi. As you can probably tell, I am on the phone, on the road today, but wanted to have a good conversation today with my colleague Geoff Pender. Geoff, thanks for being here today. 

You know, we were talking about, you know, what the big of this last week was, and you’ve done a lot of writing, not just in the past few days, but really the past few weeks about the unprecedented amount of federal funding the state is going to receive or has received through the federal stimulus packages that Congress have approved. Geoff, I guess, to kick us off sort of how much money we’re actually talking about here. And then I want to talk to you about where the hell state leaders actually are on spending this money or planning to spend this money.

Geoff Pender: Sure, sure. Well, mostly what we’ve been focused on recently is the American Rescue Plan Act. Depending on how you tally it, the state’s going to receive an excess of $6 billion, but a lot of what’s been keyed on is the Legislature’s going to receive about $1.8 billion. Local governments are going to receive directly a total approaching a billion, over 900 million. And then some other agencies are going to get direct money. For instance, human services is going to get an excess of $500 million directly for one example. And as far as where we are, where the state is and spending that money, well, we haven’t really started planning even for this. One thing we pointed out in recent weeks is that Mississippi appears to be pretty far behind most other states. I think the last check I did on it there were at least 32 states that had basically begun spending ARPA funds and then others coming out with plans. I think Alabama within just recent days has announced they’re going to spend a big chunk to try and resolve their prison crisis, but no. Mississippi leaders as far as the ARPA funds, Legislature and the governor appear to be kind of sitting back and waiting to figure out how to spend the money.

Adam Ganucheau: That’s really interesting. You know, what is the timeline, the timeframe in which they have to spend this money? I know that when the CARES Act, way back last year— it seems like a lifetime ago— was passed by Congress, there was a pretty tight deadline on states to spend that first big pot of federal money.

We’re not talking about that pot of money obviously anymore. To your point, we’re talking about the American Rescue Act or American Rescue Plan rather. What is the timeframe in which state leaders have to spend this money? 

Geoff Pender: For the bulk of the money, it’s got a deadline of December 31, 2024, for allocating it.

And a December 31,2026, deadline for actually spending it. That sounds like a long way off. That sounds like a long time, but one thing that should be noted in this even with those deadlines, I mean, it takes some doing. It takes some planning. It takes setting up some infrastructure so to speak to spend billions of dollars, especially billions of federal dollars. If you’re going to do it A, in the best way that’s going to help the state in the best way with some forethought and planning and B, if you’re going to do it properly where the feds don’t show up a year or two later and say, “You misspent this. Pay it back.”

Those are two key issues. And again, you know, a lot of people may not realize, like I said, just the mechanics of spending this amount of money. You know, that’s a big task. We don’t have thousands of extra accountants across all these agencies who can, you know, drop everything else they’re doing and figure this out.

So, you know, it would appear to be, you know, kind of key that the state leaders kind of get on the ball and start trying to get together on how best to spend this money.

Adam Ganucheau: Sure. I think setting it up this way, framing it, thinking about it this way is important. This has never happened before.

I mean, Mississippi, which is the poorest state in the nation by many different rationales and data sets has a lot of problems. We’ve had a lot of problems over the years, you know, funding basic government services. We’ve had more problems, you know, sort of launching new initiatives that are desperately needed, that many other states are doing.

And this is just a critical time. And I think everyone knows that and agrees with that. But, you know, seeing the general lack of action or planning or proposals on this in Mississippi is really just telling, Geoff, especially as you’ve reported it. And I think you mentioned sort of a second ago, relative to other states, Mississippi really does seem to be behind the ball in dealing with and handling this sort of golden once in a lifetime opportunity. 

Geoff Pender: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, one thing I try to keep in mind, I mean, this is labeled more or less as stimulus. We’re in uncertain economic times. Don’t know what the next, you know, six months, even is going to provide for.

So stimulus money typically I guess there’s also sometimes a desire to get it out there and get to stimulating. Anyway, one thing you mentioned a second ago, too, it’s not like Mississippi doesn’t have a lot of issues or problems or areas that this money could help. We have tons of them.

And again, that, you know, might make the task more difficult and time consuming figuring out how to prioritize things. And another thing on this, the longer time drags on, I mean, certainly I’m sure the Legislature could get together and spend some of this very quickly. Is that a good thing? The more time drags on, does this mean citizens and communities and community groups are they going to have any input on how this is spent? You know, probably the longer things drag on, the less inputs you would see from you know, rank and file Mississippians on how this gets spent. Other states have actually done things along those lines, created task force, brought in, you know, community groups and leaders and everything else.

So you know, again the longer this drags on, the more troublesome that might be. 

Adam Ganucheau: Huge chunks of this money, you know, as you said, I mean, it’s a stimulus. It’s because we are experiencing a time of economic hardship and, you know, what that looks like for real Mississippians is often unfathomable. And we have done plenty of reporting of some of those stories over the last few months during the pandemic. You know, you think about that and you contrast it with knowing that Mississippi state government has long struggled, long struggled with getting money into the people’s hands who need it most.

You know, our charge as journalists, I think our charge is Mississippi and it’s not even just journalists should very much be in the coming weeks and months watching closely how our government leaders from the state level on down to the local level are going to be spending this money and whether or not that money will be reaching the right people. You know, Geoff, I know that last week on this podcast, you and our colleague Anna Wolfe interviewed some people about one program in particular, a childcare program for working people in Mississippi and now that program during the pandemic, especially, has ultimately failed and how there’s all this federal money that could fix it.

You know, that’s such a huge example, big example of what we’re talking about here, how people are struggling because of what has happened over the last 18 is coming up on 20, 22 months since the pandemic started. Times are tough, and it’s going to be interesting to follow this money. 

Geoff Pender: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. That money you mentioned is part of another pot or staunch of this money, over $500 million that’s coming directly to DHS that earmarked for essentially workforce childcare, which is a huge need here. And again, we appear to be behind many, if not most, other states in that really, at least publicly, no one’s announced any kind of plan, the governor DHS on exactly how that could be spent, and you know, one would think that kind of money could really help a program like that. It’s sorely needed. 

Adam Ganucheau: Sure. Sure. Well, Geoff, as always, I appreciate sort of your work and all of these regards, but in following this money and, you know, holding state leaders, local leaders holding their feet to the fire and as they determine how to spend this money, we’ll see what happens.

You know, we’d love to see some action on this sooner rather than later, but so far it’s been largely crickets. 

Geoff Pender: We should note, as far as state leaders go, one at least, Delbert Hosemann has actually pitched kind of at least a general plan for potentially a large amount of this money. He proposes taking the Legislature’s $1.8 billion and setting up some kind of matching program for the cities and counties to come up with a project, take whatever money they’re getting from this, come up with a project and apply to the state for matching money. His thought on that is cities and counties could do bigger, more transformative projects that way. And he’s gone across the state and met with local leaders. I think they were fairly open to the idea.

But beyond that, no one else appears to be on board with Hosemann’s plan. And again, the Legislature as a whole hasn’t even held committee meetings on this. 

Adam Ganucheau: Sure. Sure. Well, very, very interesting times for sure. Geoff, thanks as always for being here and helping us understand it better. And thanks for all your coverage of it. We’ll be following along closely. Thanks for being here.

As we cover the biggest political stories in this state, you don’t want to miss an episode of The Other Side. We’ll bring you more reporting from every corner of the state, sharing the voices of Mississippians and how they’re impacted by the news. So, what do we need from you, the listener? We need your feedback and support.

If you listen to the podcast on a player like iTunes or Stitcher, please subscribe to the show and leave us a review. We also have an email in which you can share your feedback. That address is Podcast@MississippiToday.org. Y’all can also reach out to me or any of my colleagues through social media or email. And as always thank you for your feedback and support.

Subscribe to our weekly podcast on your favorite podcast app or stream episodes online at MississippiToday.org/the-other-side. For the Mississippi Today team, I’m Adam Ganucheau. The Other Side is produced by Mississippi Today and engineered by Blue Sky Studios. We hope you’ll join us for our next episode.

The post Podcast: What is Mississippi doing with its huge pot of federal funds? appeared first on Mississippi Today.

In this episode of Mississippi Stories, Mississippi Today Editor-At-Large Marshall Ramsey sits down with Sandra Shelson, head of The Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi. Shelson, who grew up in Jackson, began her career as a lawyer but transitioned from traditional law to prevention efforts to help kids.

The Partnership has been a national leader in tobacco prevention since its inception in 1998, developing interactive educational and training programs for youth and adults that focus on long-term behavioral and cultural change. Twenty years after the settlement, tobacco prevalence among middle and high school students has dropped significantly. Lessons learned from tobacco prevention are now being applied to the childhood obesity epidemic in Mississippi, as they continue to work with their partners to improve health outcomes for all Mississippians.

The post Mississippi Stories: Sandra Shelson appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Federal funds comprised 44% of the total state budget in fiscal year 2020 – the last not impacted by COVID-19. For the current 2022 fiscal year, 47.2% of the total funds appropriated by the Mississippi Legislature came from Uncle Sam.

For the current fiscal year, the state has a state-support budget of $6.7 billion and an overall budget of $23.3 billion. The state-support budget refers to the agencies that are funded through general taxes, such as on retail items and on income, and on a few other items. The overall $23.25 billion budget consists of those aforementioned state-support items, and other items, such as the massive amount of federal funds directed to the state for the Mississippi Legislature to appropriate.

But wait, there’s more. The budget also consists of so-called special funds. In short, there are more layers to the state budget than there are to the attire of an Ivy League English professor on a winter’s day.

An argument can be made that perhaps those layers are not that important. But for those who believe in the importance of transparency or of having more than a casual understanding of government, this primer will continue.

While legislators will not return for regular session until January, work on developing a budget for the next fiscal year, beginning July 1, already has started. Before the session begins, both leaders who make up Legislative Budget Committee and Gov. Tate Reeves will offer budget proposals that can be considered by the Legislature when it convenes in January.

The part of the state budget that will receive the most attention and where the Legislature has the most discretion in appropriating funds is the so-called state-support budget.

For the current year, this budget consists of $5.8 billion in general funds and another $881 million in other state-support funds. The general fund revenue is derived primarily from taxes on income and retail items. The two categories account for about 84% of the general fund revenue used to fund such items as education, including the salaries for most teachers, state law enforcement, the state share for Medicaid, higher education and many other services.

Other revenue included in the $5.8 billion general fund are the so-called sin taxes. Casino gambling tax revenue makes up 2% of the total general funds. Taxes on tobacco, liquor, beer and wine make up a combined 4.5% of the total.

The tax on insurance premiums accounts for a surprising 5.6% of the total general fund.

Another about $880 million is added to the general fund to make the state-support budget. That $880 million includes an additional 1-cent sales tax increase enacted in 1992 for education giving the state a total sales tax of 7%. Another large source of state-support funding is the about $100 million Mississippi receives annually from the 1990s settlement of a lawsuit filed by then-Attorney General Mike Moore to recoup government funds spent treating smoking-related illnesses.

Mississippi received about $11 billion in federal funds for the current year for the state Legislature to appropriate to multiple agencies. This includes federal funds appropriated to pay the cost of Medicaid, for the Department of Health, for education programs, for various social welfare programs and for multiple others. The Legislature is limited in how the federal funds can be spent and often state matching funds are required to draw down the federal dollars.

The federal dollars are higher this year because of COVID-19. But as stated earlier, federal funds consistently account for about 45% of total state spending.

The remainder of the budget consists of special funds. These are taxes and fees levied to fund specific agencies. The largest of these special fund agencies is the Department of Transportation that is funded primarily — at least the state’s part — from the 18.4 cents per gallon tax on motor fuel. There are many smaller special fund agencies, such as the Board of Accountancy that is funded through a fee on — guess who? Multiple other professions also pay a fee to operate their regulatory boards.

Laws are in place to direct those special taxes and fees to the agencies they support so the Legislature has little discretion in how those funds are spent. But during economic hard times when state general funds decline, legislators have been known to change those laws to take money from those special funds to help make up for shortfalls in the general fund agencies. Legislators can change the laws to do that. After all, they do make the laws.

There are multiple other nuances that make up the budget for the state. But that is an advanced level budgeting that many legislators do not even understand.

The post Here’s how the Mississippi budget works appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Three groups of people are approved to receive a booster dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine at least six months after receiving their second dose, including:

• People aged 65 years and older and residents in long-term care settings
• People aged 18-64 years with certain underlying medical conditions
• People aged 18-64 years who are at increased risk for COVID-19 exposure and transmission because of occupational or institutional settings

Currently, 76,222 third or booster doses have been administered. At this time, the Mississippi Department of Health does not separately report the number of booster shots given. And there is an important difference between what is considered a ‘third dose’ versus a ‘booster.’

Third doses can be either Pfizer or Moderna and are necessary for people with immunocompromised conditions to be considered fully vaccinated.

Presently, boosters can only be Pfizer shots, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and only people who are already fully vaccinated for at least six months can get one.

View our data on booster shots administered so far:

READ MORE:

• COVID-19 Boosters: Who’s eligible and how to get one

• Ask Me Anything: COVID-19 in Mississippi with Will Stribling

The post Data: How many COVID-19 booster shots have been administered so far? appeared first on Mississippi Today.

If you are a journalist with a deep curiosity about how the justice system really works in Mississippi — from policing to prisons, from civil liberties to courts — you might be the reporter Mississippi Today seeks to create a statewide justice beat. 

Mississippi Today’s justice reporter will produce both longform and daily news stories. We expect this person to explore the ways the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact the justice system: Delayed trials, cancelled visitations, outbreaks and vaccine availability are just a few issues facing the state right now.  The justice beat encompasses more than the state’s jails and prisons — this reporter will also cover inequities in the criminal justice system and explore possible solutions and barriers that impede progress.  

The justice reporter will produce stories that support Mississippi Today’s vision and mission, which is to hold elected officials accountable and inform citizens about how the policy and decisions implemented by the state’s powerful affect their lives.

This position will be based in Mississippi. Mississippi Today staff are currently working remotely, but in-person meetings are possible and the office may reopen this fall. The deadline to apply is Nov. 1 at midnight CST.

Expectations:

• Report and write longform and short stories and multimedia presentations about Mississippi legal issues, including legislation, criminal and civil cases, civil liberties, and trends.
• Investigate Mississippi’s justice system, with an eye for racial justice and inequity.
• Closely cover the Mississippi Department of Corrections, building relationships with MDOC staff, justice reform advocates and individuals affected by MDOC systems.
• Report regularly on the pandemic’s impact on Mississippi’s jails and prisons.
• Use a solutions lens to explore grassroots efforts and state programs that are working to improve the lives of those touched by the justice system.
• Develop sources and report in diverse communities, including urban and rural, and engage members of the public in identifying breakdowns in the criminal justice system.
• Proven ability to work independently under deadline pressures.
• Collaborate with the Audience Team to think creatively about formats and tools for communicating justice topics to a broad, statewide audience.
• Collaborate with colleagues on stories and projects — while there will be plenty of opportunities for solo stories, Mississippi Today is a collaborative newsroom that often shares bylines.
• Work with the Mississippi Today politics team to cover how prominent criminal justice issues influence key statewide elections, and cover discussions about criminal justice reform at the state Capitol.
• Help cultivate collegial and productive relationships with other news organizations, with a goal of co-publishing and broadcast partnerships.

It is a plus if you have: 

Experience covering legal/justice issues, with an understanding of how the court system works and how legislation advances.

Experience with filing records requests and working with data is encouraged but not required.

What you’ll get:

• The opportunity to work alongside award-winning journalists and make significant contributions to Mississippi’s only fully staffed, nonprofit, nonpartisan digital news and information source.
• Competitive salary with medical insurance, and options for vision and dental insurance.
• Cell phone stipend.
• 29 days paid time off.
• Up to 12 weeks of parental family leave, with return-to-work flexibility.
• Simple IRA with 3% company matching. Group-term life insurance provided to employees ($15,000 policy).
• Support for professional training and attending industry conferences.

How to Apply:

The deadline to apply is Monday, Nov. 1 at midnight CST. Fill out an application at this link.

We’re committed to building an inclusive newsroom that represents the people and communities we serve. We especially encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply for this position, including women, people of color, LGBTQ people and people who are differently abled.

Questions? Email Editor-in-Chief Adam Ganucheau at adam@mississippitoday.org or Managing Editor Kayleigh Skinner at kayleigh@mississippitoday.org. 

The post We’re hiring: Justice Reporter appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Not a Trick appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Nonprofit founder Nancy New handed restaurateur Jeff Good a check for $200,000 and then ghosted.

The idea was for their organizations to partner to create a food recovery and reclamation center. They would take food that groceries and restaurants didn’t want — what people picture as a bruised apple or an ugly carrot — and turn it into ready-to-eat meals for the hungry.

In late 2018 when they conceived the concept, one of Good’s businesses Soul City Hospitality was already leasing and investing in an empty, 16,000-square foot warehouse with that kind of project in mind.

And New, who held a multi-million dollar state contract to spend federal welfare dollars with virtually no accountability, had the cash.

New is now awaiting trial within what officials have called the largest public embezzlement scheme in state history and Good has nothing to show for the deal.

A recent independent audit of the Mississippi Department of Human Services labeled the $200,000 welfare payment to Soul City Hospitality as waste and abuse. It’s a sliver of the $12.4 million in such spending they identified. Officials have made no criminal allegations surrounding the Soul City deal.

Good, owner of three Jackson restaurants, told the accounting firm that after New handed him the check in February of 2019 to cover a one-year lease, “not a hammer was lifted.” His team received no more communication from New’s nonprofit, Mississippi Community Education Center. The nonprofit did not provide paperwork needed for permitting, Good said. New did not place staff in the warehouse. Nothing happened during the lease period.

The building wasn’t in operation then and hasn’t been since.

Good was aware that New and John Davis, then-director for the Mississippi Department of Human Services, had discussed funding the project, an email shows. The department administers several federal grants. But Good told the forensic accountant that he didn’t know the money Soul City received had come from a federal program called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families — the one known as welfare.

“The energy sap was incredible,” Good said of the fallout. “Just imagine the punch in the gut.”

The nonprofit’s inaction and eventual demise was just one setback in a years-long saga involving different iterations of the same food innovation idea.

Good formed Soul City Hospitality LLC in 2014 alongside David Watkins Jr. — son of the Jackson developer who restored the King Edward hotel and was a controversial player in the failed deal to revitalize Farish Street.

Their goal was to create better pathways for Mississippi farmers to get their products into the commercial marketplace.

On his LinkedIn page, Watkins says he’s served as the Local Food Systems Developer for Soul City Hospitality since 2012. Over nine years, the page says, he’s developed and overseen Soul City’s local food initiatives, but those amount to mostly plans: Plans to open a “food & health innovation center”; plans for a “food hub, a processor, a food incubator, and some ‘locally grown’ retail”; and plans for what they called the “Up in Farms Food Hub.”

“The initial cold storage renovation in the warehouse is almost complete, and Up in Farms will soon launch a small pilot. Stay tuned!” his bio reads.

Watkins previously worked as a digital media analyst for global policy think-tank RAND Corporation headquartered in Santa Monica. When Watkins came back from California to his hometown, Good said he started asking questions.

Watkins couldn’t understand the paradox of Mississippi’s food systems: Why businesses like Good’s restaurant, located in an agriculture state, didn’t sell more local food. Why a state known for having some of the richest soil also has some of the most hunger and worst nutrition.

It’s true that farming is Mississippi’s largest industry, employing 17% of the state’s workforce when you count its indirect jobs. But don’t mistake that for a large quantity of human food.

The crops growing in Mississippi farmland are mostly cotton and food for cattle — soybeans and corn.

The few local farmers who grow produce in Mississippi lack distribution and transportation channels, as well as the quality assurance and liability policies retailers need to feel confident in their purchases.

But Good and his partners wanted to see if they could solve the puzzle, he said, “to really try to make a change to the economics of the state.” His business secured a $3,000-a-month lease on the warehouse at the old farmer’s market on Woodrow Wilson in Jackson, property owned by University of Mississippi Medical Center.

The food hub project received a $100,000 grant from the USDA and a $315,000 construction grant from the Delta Regional Authority. Then-Gov. Phil Bryant announced the Delta Regional Authority grant, part of the States’ Economic Development Assistance Program, at a 2015 press event outside the warehouse.

Good and his partners also took out almost $700,000 in private debt to renovate the coolers, offices and production space, and in 2017, they opened the Up in Farms Food Hub.

The produce company, which Good said staffed about 20 people, lasted one season.

It failed.

You name the problem, Good said, they encountered it. Farmers couldn’t reap the supply they thought they could, either due to the weather or not having enough farmhands. A lack of cold storage meant food went rotten. They faced worm infestations.

Down the supply chain, Good’s team struggled to sell the produce to local grocery stores or restaurants, in part because of the inconsistency. Retailers generally want to rely on a slate of products, and Up in Farms couldn’t deliver.

“So what we learned is there’s a reason nobody does it. Because it’s really hard,” Good said.

The group shut down the operation and closed the facility in 2017, but they maintained the $489-a-month lease with UMMC (who had agreed to reduce the initial lease amount after the construction improvements).

Enter Nancy New.

The Up in Farms Food Hub “had not worked well,” the latest audit report states, “and, in the fall of 2018, MCEC had approached them with the desire to rent the warehouse space and collaborate to achieve the objective of MCEC.”

Mississippi Community Education Center had recently started receiving tens of millions of welfare dollars from Mississippi Department of Human Services to run a state-sanctioned program called Families First for Mississippi.

Under the leadership of then-Gov. Phil Bryant and his appointed welfare director Davis, multiple state agencies began sending people in need — the homeless, those applying for food stamps or seeking a job — to Families First.

But past employees told Mississippi Today that nonprofit leaders never provided the support, or in many cases the funding, necessary for the programs to succeed. Millions of their grant dollars flowed instead to pie in the sky projects run by the famous or politically connected, Mississippi Today’s reporting has revealed.

To begin the new food project, New and Watkins signed a $16,620-a-month sublease — 34 times what Soul City was paying for the lease with UMMC.

The parties agreed the funds would be used to pay off the debt Soul City already incurred in construction and to make additional upgrades to the facility, Good told Mississippi Today. Soul City would act as a facilitator. New’s nonprofit was supposed to supply a project leader. The partners also envisioned using the space for a small-business incubator, workforce training programs and nutrition education.

Watkins declined to speak with Mississippi Today for this story, saying Good would speak for the group.

The team’s project pitch listed dozens of other state agencies and organizations as partners, with their own planned roles once the project got off the ground: The Mississippi Department of Human Services Division of Workforce Development, USDA, Valley Foods, Unified Brands, UMMC Sanderson Department of Obesity Metabolic Diseases and Nutrition, UMMC Grant Writing Department, Community Foundation of MS, the Mississippi Department of Corrections, the Mississippi Development Authority, Hinds Community College, Refill Café, Mississippi Department of Ag & Commerce, Central Mississippi Planning and Development District, Mississippi State University, Up in Farms Food Hub, Southern Artisan Training Institute, Southern Christian Services (PALS), We Will Go Ministries, Midtown Partners Prosperity Center, WIN Job Center, Barksdale Reading Institute, Voice of Calvary, Hope Credit Union, New Way, Mississippi Center for Excellence, Springboard to Opportunities, Stewpot Community Services, Boys & Girls Club of Central MS, Hinds Behavioral Health Center, Methodist Children’s Homes, Henley-Young Juvenile Justice Center, Hinds County Human Resource Agency and others.

Auditors said that they found no emails from Davis about the Soul City project, but an email between the other private partners says there was a “meeting with John Davis at MDHS,” where “Nancy and John tossed around some funding ideas” for the project. The only state agency employee copied on this email was Mississippi Development Authority’s Joe Donovan, whom Good said has long helped him connect with business opportunities. Donovan used a personal email to talk about this deal. He did not return a call to Mississippi Today on Thursday evening.

Soul City Hospitality also represented that the state had approved the project for $1,000,000 in state bonds, which it would not have to repay, that could be drawn down for additional construction on the building.

Instead of making monthly payments on the farmer’s market property, New paid for a years-long sublease upfront.

“According to the interview conducted of the Soul City representative, Jeff Good, he was surprised when after the contract was signed, he was handed the check for $200,000,” the audit reads.

A memorandum of understanding drafted two months before the beginning of the lease shows the original plan was for Families First to make a lump sum payment of $523,000 that would pay off Good’s company’s debt.

“For Soul City, the financial arrangement would provide us with the debt relief we so desperately need: the promissory note holders paid back, and the bank debt covered via the sublease,” Good wrote.

Good said he didn’t remember this initial pitch, but that by the time an actual agreement between Soul City and New’s nonprofit was signed, it was the month-t0-month sublease discussed in the audit.

The audit says that even though the New nonprofit never took possession of the warehouse, Soul City did not return the lease payment because the business incurred costs as a result of the the deal: it’s monthly lease with UMMC, the debt service for previous improvements, and things like insurance, utilities and pest control.

The cash-up-front deal resembled a similar large lease payment Mississippi Community Education Center made with welfare money when New signed a $5 million sublease with the University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation for the university’s athletic facilities.

The welfare money went to pay for the new volleyball stadium on campus — a project pushed by former NFL quarterback Brett Favre, who himself received $1.1 million from the nonprofit’s welfare grant and whose daughter played volleyball at the USM. (Favre promised to repay the money in 2020 but he has yet to return $600,000).

New justified the $5 million deal by stating in the lease, approved by the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees, that her nonprofit would use the facilities to conduct programming to “benefit the area’s underserved population.” Even though the lease didn’t serve the poor, and was unallowable under federal welfare rules according to the forensic auditors, it was not included in the report as “waste, fraud or abuse.” They similarly did not address the payment to Favre.

Documents show Families First used the the property it leased at USM one time for a 2018 “Healthy Teens Rally,” one of the governor’s initiatives, and otherwise abandoned the concept.

The food hub lease also resembles a six-year, $9,500-a-month lease New signed on a horse ranch owned by the Marcus Dupree Foundation, which purported to provide “equestrian activities for underprivileged children,” Mississippi Today first reported. The recent audit also failed to address this purchase. The property appeared to be the private residence of Dupree, a former football player, and there’s no record of New’s nonprofit providing services there.

Likewise, shortly after signing the Soul City lease, New pulled away from the project to focus on opening a new Families First resource center inside the old renovated-hotel-turned-government-office on State Street (after director Davis had moved his executive office to a fancier building in the heart of downtown).

The resource center at the new office purported to address hunger. It conducted canned food drives, raised money to buy Turkeys for veterans around Thanksgiving, and housed a physical food pantry containing mostly canned green beans and corn.

The morning before Nancy New’s arrest, then-Families First operation coordinator Will Lamkin explained a hypothetical situation to Mississippi Today. Let’s say a visitor to the center was panicking because the gas company threatened to cut off their service over a $40 past due bill.

“Well, I can’t give them $40,” Lamkin said. “But I can give them $40 worth of food.”

In the same center, New’s staff created a mock farmer’s market, next to a fake bank and a second-hand clothes closet set up to look like a store.

Multiple former employees told Mississippi Today that Families First based its programming — such as these interactive displays mimicking life for the so-called productive citizen — off principles and beliefs about what people in poverty need, not scientific research or evidenced-based models.

Up in Farms, an offshoot of the Soul City Hospitality parent company, helped stock Families First’s mini market with fresh, plump produce for the September 2019 ribbon cutting, which provided ample photo ops. But the food bins mostly sat empty after that.

Up in Farms still has some presence in the food-justice space. Last year, it received a $75,000 donation from Dole Packaged Foods reportedly to run its Farm-to-Table Training Center and provide 1,000 meals to those in need. It has partnered to host mini farmer’s markets at the local Boys & Girls Club.

The Up In Farms website is currently down and it hasn’t posted to Facebook since 2018.

WAPT reported in June that Good’s restaurant company, Mangia Bene, was partnering with Dole and the Boys & Girls Club of Central Mississippi, who also gets welfare grants directly from the state, “to launch the Up In Farms Food Hub.”

The report said, “the goal of this proposed Woodrow Wilson location is to gather all the locally grown foods and produce and distribute it to people in need.”

Editor’s note: Managing editor Kayleigh Skinner’s husband Terry Sullivan was a staffer for the Up in Farms project before Mississippi Community Education Center’s involvement. Skinner took no role in the reporting, editing or publishing of this article.

Several members of Mississippi Today’s board of directors founded or hold leadership positions in some of the organizations listed as potential partners in the Up in Farms/MCEC partnership.

The post They took welfare money to turn ugly produce into meals, but fed no one appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Since the pandemic began, Mississippi has received a windfall of cash from the federal government for K-12 education, though millions remain to be spent.

The state received $46.9 million in federal stimulus funds for education in January of this year, $31.3 million of which was for independent and private schools in the state. The Mississippi Department of Education distributed that money, called Emergency Assistance to Non-Public Schools, to 51 schools.

The remaining $15.5 million, from the second round of the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) fund, will be spent at Gov. Tate Reeves’ discretion. Despite an impending deadline of January 2022, it has yet to be distributed.

"The Governor is reviewing the final projects, and we'll be excited to announce them once they've been finalized," said Bailey Martin, Reeves' press secretary.

The GEER funds are just one pot of federal money public education in the state received over the course of the pandemic. 

Since March 2020, Mississippi has received around $2.5 billion in Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds to address the impact of COVID-19 on schools. The money came in three streams.

At least 90% of that total goes directly to school districts, and the remainder, a total of around $237 million, went to the Mississippi Department of Education. The department has spent $2 million so far, mostly on technology efforts, according to spokeswoman Jean Cook. 

The rest will be spent on health screenings for students, teachers and staff; addressing learning loss or providing additional supports to close learning gaps; mental health support; among other purposes. Carey Wright, state superintendent of education, recently requested and was granted emergency procurement status for about $89 million of the funds to more quickly enter into contracts by federally imposed deadlines.

The department advertised it is dedicating $3 million to provide educational technology, mental health services and supports, sanitization, summer learning and afterschool programs among other services to districts with pre-K classrooms. 

READ MORE: Mississippi launches telehealth, teletherapy pilot in schools as ‘a way to keep kids learning’

Schools spent the first round of ESSER funds to aid cleaning and sanitation, upgrading HVAC equipment, hiring school nurses, offering after-school and extended school year programs and a myriad of other efforts to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on students.

The Mississippi Department of Education is still reviewing school districts’ applications for the second and third rounds of funding, according to Cook. Districts have spent a total of about $41 million of the $652 million they received from the second stream of ESSER funding, which came from the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021 (CRRSAA) passed in December 2020, said Cook.

The post Schools, state slowly spending federal COVID-19 money appeared first on Mississippi Today.

As lawmakers and many voters wait to see when Gov. Tate Reeves will call a special legislative session on legalizing medical marijuana, a group is planning six rallies across the state on Saturday to urge him to do so pronto.

The “We Are the 74” Facebook group, with nearly 15,000 members, has rallies planned for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday in Biloxi, Hattiesburg, Hernando, Jackson, Pascagoula and Tupelo calling for a “Special Session Now!” according to their page. The group was formed after voters in November passed a medical marijuana program through a ballot initiative, but then the state Supreme Court shot it down on a constitutional technicality. The 74 refers to 74% of voters that chose the Initiative 65 medical marijuana program over an alternative placed on the ballot by lawmakers.

Many in the group, according to their posts, have become angry that Reeves hasn’t called a special session yet, and their hashtags and memes include “#TimesUpTate” along with others that cannot be printed here. Medical marijuana proponents also frequently hammer Reeves on his social media posts about other issues. Reeves has only said he would likely call a session soon.

House and Senate negotiators dickered most of the summer on a plan to replace the medical marijuana program the high court shot down. Reeves had said that if lawmakers could reach an agreement, he would call them into special session to pass it.

READ MORE: Agriculture commissioner bashes medical marijuana bill, says he won’t participate

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and House Speaker Philip Gunn informed Reeves on Sept. 24 that an agreement on a draft bill had been reached and they believe they have the votes to pass it. But Reeves has not said when he might call a session. During a press conference on Sept. 29, Reeves said he expected he would call lawmakers into session “sooner rather than later,” but would not speculate a date or whether he’ll also let legislators tackle pandemic pay for nurses or other COVID-19 measures Gunn and Hosemann are proposing. He said at the time there were still details to work out on the marijuana measure.

Many in the We Are the 74 group and other advocates of medical marijuana have also voiced displeasure with particulars of the Legislature’s draft proposal. It includes both a sales tax and excise tax on medical marijuana, limits on the amount of the drug that can be dispensed and on THC levels that some criticize.

READ MORE: Analysis: Time for lawmakers, governor to fish or cut bait on medical marijuana

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