From the New York Post,
Labor Department watchdog concerned Minnesota employment agency ‘misspent’ $210M
That’s million, with an “m.” The Post reports on efforts by the U.S. Department of Labor to check up on more than a quarter-billion dollars in grants sent to Minnesota’s Dept. of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).
Labor Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito accused Minnesota of “deliberate obstruction.”
The probe involves “48 federal grants designed to help out-of-work adults get retrained and former prison inmates find work, among other programs.” Specifically,
But four months after “numerous requests” for data on 26 of those grants amounting to $210,898,737, the Minnesota’s DEED failed to provide any.
The state won’t turn over the data because it allegedly involves “private” information. So, what exactly are the feds looking for? From the report (p. 4), the feds are trying to determine, among other items, whether,
- reported participants existed and were eligible for the programs
- participants received the training and services reported
- credentials and employment outcomes were supported
- subrecipients properly documented program activity
- grant expenditures produced the results presented
Sound familiar? In case you didn’t already guess, “subrecipients” refers to DEED vendors, such as nonprofit, hired to do the work under the federal grants. The feds have every reason to believe that problems exist in such arrangements, given the state’s track record.
Let’s start with “did program participants actaully exist” and move on from there.