Second grant to Associated Black Charities was “a duplicative error” by Nick Mosby’s office
The Board of Estimates will strike the $150,000 spending item from the agenda at tomorrow’s meeting, a spokesman for Comptroller Bill Henry says
Above: Nick Mosby on his last day in office. (CharmTV)
Associated Black Charities won’t be getting that extra $150,000 after all.
Late this afternoon, the Comptroller’s Office announced that the grant award, set for Board of Estimates approval Wednesday morning, was “submitted twice in error” by outgoing Council President Nick Mosby’s office and is not a second agreement for ABC.
“This item will be withdrawn from the agenda at tomorrow’s meeting,” said Geoff Shannon, a spokesman for Comptroller Bill Henry, whose office prepares the agenda from submissions by city departments.
For days, the $150,000 grant was listed on page 8 of the board’s agenda. It was re-posted yesterday in the President’s Memo and Agenda that is distributed to city officials.
According to Shannon, the agreement was a duplicate of the December 4 grant to ABC that the board did approve.
“Our office is reaching out to ABC to make sure they understand they will not be receiving a grant tomorrow,” Shannon said.
Mosby did not respond to a request for comment.
The two agreements had separate identifying numbers, but otherwise used the same language to describe ABC’s “proposal of services for funding,” The Brew pointed out today.
Both proposals included no budget, no breakdown of staffing or overhead costs, and no specific goals other than mentioning three workplace development programs ABC sponsors.
“By investing in these areas, we aim to empower individuals and strengthen the economic foundations of our communities,” the statements concluded.
Earlier this year, Nick Mosby was the keynote speaker at an Associated Black Charities teen literacy summit. More recently, Marilyn Mosby was excused from home detention to attend an ABC-sponsored screening of a film about the death of Freddie Gray. (X)
City Council “Priority” Funds
The funds come from an obscure spending platform called “City Council Priority Projects” that lets council members hand out grants to community-based groups of their choosing.
There is no record-keeping requirements for the grants, no public disclosure and no coordination with city agencies.
Before his term ended earlier this month, Mosby had divvied up the largest amount of priority funds – $1.4 million.
They were allocated to groups ranging from a for-profit video gaming shop ($160,000) to a youth education program whose co-owner contributed to his campaign committee ($250,000).
Mosby and his ex-wife, former Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, have had frequent contacts with ABC over their political careers.
Currently, ABC is part of the campaign to pressure President Joe Biden to pardon Marilyn Mosby. Her sentence of home detention, following jury convictions of perjury and mortgage fraud, has been fraught with controversy over her frequent demands to go on business trips.
More from The Brew
• Nick Mosby hands out $1 million to favored businesses and nonprofits on his last day in office (12/4/24)
• BOE set to give Associated Black Charities another $150,000 from an obscure Council fund (12/17/24)
• Marilyn Mosby heads to Texas on her new job while under home detention (12/16/24)
• Marilyn Mosby’s job status at a California nonprofit is questioned by judge (11/13/24)