He waits for the rainy season, when the elderly construction worker is most at his wits end — which is the slow season for his employer, a company that builds swimming pools. Jones cannot afford to turn on electricity or water in his Hattiesburg, Mississippi home right now. Jones says that he has been to the local utility assistance agency countless times, and they keep giving him the runaround. Yet, just three miles from his home, a federal welfare-funded nonprofit paid $5 million cash to construct a volleyball court on the University of Southern Mississippi campus. It claimed it would benefit the poor. How in the world will the volleyball court help struggling families? Oleta Fitzgerald, the long-serving director of the Children Defense Fund Southern Regional Office, said that it would help families get the training and jobs they need. Hattiesburg, a college town with 46,500 residents, has a poverty rate nearly double that of the state, despite having lower unemployment rates. Fitzgerald stated that Fitzgerald was disappointed in the lack of effort to link this money to the families’ needs. The majority of funding for the volleyball centre was provided by the Mississippi Community Education Center, which is a non-profit that gets most of its budget from taxpayer money. It has a five-year sublease agreement with University. Nancy New, the nonprofit’s owner, was a member of the board of directors for the athletic foundation. The Wellness Center was renamed by the university to include office space. Local news reports credited Brett Favre, a former NFL quarterback, with helping to raise funds for the $7 million center. Favre’s daughter is a Southern volleyball player, this year with the beach volleyball team. James Coll, a university spokesperson, stated that the construction was funded by individual donors in addition to $5 million donated by the nonprofit. Mississippi Today obtained the 2017 lease agreement. It stated that the Mississippi Community Education Center rented all the athletic facilities to the university “for various activities that serve the area’s underserved populations.” However, one former employee claimed that this never took place. The university still hadn’t explained the actions of the nonprofit on campus after more than a week. In connection with the state’s largest public embezzlement scandal, the nonprofit is currently under investigation. John Davis, a long-serving official at the Mississippi Department of Human Services, was appointed as the agency’s director in 2016. According to expenditure reports, in 2016, the department began making multi-million dollar lump sum payments for the Mississippi Community Education Center, a nonprofit founded by Nancy New, a politically connected private educator. According to state agency expenditure reports, Davis didn’t report New on how her organization spent the money. The sum is now more than $65million since 2016. They are taking money from the poor and giving it to those who don’t have it. Jones stated that this is what it was. Although New’s non-profit did not provide direct assistance for Jones, it offered classes in parenting and fatherhood, motivational speaking events with retired athletes, and wellness programs like boot camp-style classes led by Paul Lacoste. New Learning Resources Online was a contract partner of the nonprofit to offer online diploma programs to its partners like Phoenix Project. Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today. Report For America. [Read all our coverage of Mississippi welfare.] Agents from the Mississippi auditor’s office detained Davis, New, and four other people in connection to a plot to steal more that $4 million in grants meant for the poor. They have pleaded not guilty. They pleaded not guilty to the alleged theft. This would explain why Human Services only gave 7 percent of all funds to the nonprofit since 2016. The state does not have any accounting to show what happened with the rest. The federal welfare program Temporary Assistance For Needy Families provided most of the money. Each state receives a block grant from the federal government to allow them to use the funds as they please. Only five percent of the $135 million Mississippi spent in 2018 on cash assistance for poor families, which was $7.3 million. Human Services donated six times the amount to Mississippi Community Education Center, or almost $44million, in 2018. This was despite the fact that the state didn’t enforce a state agreement requiring them to submit financial reports. The subgrants nonprofits gave to other entities included public agencies such as public schools districts and community college systems. The state’s outcome reports, which were compiled from the data submitted by each nonprofit, were intended to show how many people they had served. However, these numbers are not correct. Although the Family Resource Center was not charged with any criminal offenses, the state did suspend funds to the group following the arrests. Mississippi Today received several calls from Christi Webb, the director of this organization. Webb did not return multiple calls. New didn’t return multiple calls to her cell phone, and Steve Pickering, the programmatic director of Mississippi Community Education Center, did not reply by Thursday afternoon. U.S. U.S. In late 2019, after Gov. Phil Bryant, a former FBI agent, was appointed to head Human Services. The department then revised its subgrantee manual. It also required a competitive bidding process for welfare subgrants in order to prevent abuse. Human Services issued a video Thursday stating that employees of the agency who reported the fraud are now leading changes to ensure these types of actions do not happen again and money goes to those who need it,” Danny Blanton, spokesperson for the agency, said. The state began to approve fewer families for direct assistance as it didle out more money to subgrantees without any accountability. In 2018, less than 4 percent children were served by the program. Fitzgerald stated that the program helped less than 4 percent of children living in poverty in 2018. Wardette Price Jr. lives just a few minutes from campus and approached Pearl River Valley Opportunity Inc. a few years back to seek help in finding a place to call home to bring his daughter, Child Protection Services. “I was in tears… I begged them to help me.” “You’re on a waiting list,” he stated. Price, who is disabled, hasn’t seen his daughter for five years. According to the 2019 “Out Of Reach” report by National Low Income Housing Coalition, Hattiesburg’s average two-bedroom apartment costs $768 per month. A full-time worker would need to make $14.77 per hour. This is more than twice the minimum wage. Angela Todd, a downtown resident, wondered if the abandoned building on 7th Street could be renovated to shelter the homeless. “How many beds can you imagine they could fit in there if it was renovated?” She said $5 million could have gone towards a lot more stuff. Todd was able to receive $144 per month in direct cash assistance when she was young, years ago. She receives only food assistance today, but due to a miscommunication in her recent recertification she stated that she doesn’t believe the state will issue her benefits next months. Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today Report For America In November 2016, Human Services paid the largest lump-sum welfare payment ever recorded — $4.9 million to Mississippi Community Education Center. The entities operated under a subgrantee arrangement of $1 million initially, but the nonprofit would get at least $13 millions in advance payments when the agency issued a new contract. Mississippi Today learned that vendors who work for the welfare program typically submit claims for reimbursement rather than receiving upfront payments. This arrangement is unusual. Davis signed a $21.5million subgrant agreement with the non-profit in October 2017. She then sent $3.5 million to the nonprofit on Oct. 20, 2017. Six days later, New had paid $5 million in cash upfront to the University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation for all of her athletic facilities. She was a member of the foundation board in the 2016-2017 years. She was a member of the foundation board during the 2016-2017 year. “They came in to teach classes such as financial literacy to college students, but that was all.” Representatives of five other local non-profits, including the Boys and Girls Club and the Boys and Girls Club, told Mississippi Today that they hadn’t heard the nonprofit offered programming at University athletic facilities. Blanton stated that no one knows anything about family outreach at university athletic facilities. Blanton stated that “Nobody had any knowledge about a volleyball centre.” He also said that the RFP process is not necessary. Coll stated in a statement, that the Wellness Center agreement was approved by the University and outside counsels, the attorney general’s offices and the Institutes for Higher Learning board. Coll stated that it was unlikely that Mississippi Community Education Center would remain a partner. The statement stated that the Southern Miss Athletic Foundation was looking forward to engaging with state agencies and leaders to discuss how the Wellness Center and other athletic facilities could be used for the benefit of Mississippians. The development of the volleyball center sheds light on Nancy New’s relationship with former NFL star Brett Favre and her non-profit. Favre was featured in a January Associated Press article about the new volleyball center. It’s difficult to get people to give money for volleyball. He said that the $8 million facility he was opening will be “as good as any in Southern Mississippi.” According to New’s indictment, the Mississippi Community Education Center also gave $2.15million of Mississippi welfare money and PreSolMD to Prevacus, a medical device and concussion company. According to Prevacus news reports and releases, Favre was an investor in Prevacus and sat on its advisory committee in 2014. She also publicly supported the company. According to the company’s website, a nasal spray that stimulates brain cells after brain injuries, using neurosteroids to decrease swelling, was developed. According to SpineMark Corporation’s Facebook post, PreSolMD was due to be released in December. It is a similar cream that prevents concussions. Favre, who has suffered concussions throughout his career, raised concerns about the long-lasting effects of common sports injuries and recruited other prominent athletes to support Prevacus. Favre’s agent Bus Cook also served on Prevacus’ advisory board. Prevacus founder Dr. Jake Vanlandingham and PreSolMD founder Dr. Jake Vanlandingham didn’t respond to multiple calls or text messages sent by Mississippi Today. Shad White, the State Auditor, continues to investigate the welfare program he calls a “sprawling conspiracies.” He said he knew of these connections but couldn’t comment on the direction of investigation. Jody Owens, Hinds County District Attorney, is the one prosecuting the case. He said that Mississippi Today is interested in any cases where money meant to help the poor was used for another purpose. Officials from the university, including spokesperson Coll, and athletic director Jeremy McClain did not return multiple phone calls or respond directly to questions about the funding of the volleyball center or the presence of Mississippi Community Education Center on campus. Jon Gilbert, the athletic director at the time, was one of the few people who “would have had the most direct involvement” in the lease agreement. Coll stated in an email that Coll, now director of athletics at East Carolina University, directed any questions to Coll. Leigh Breal signed the agreement for the athletic foundation. He did not return messages or calls. According to the Internal Revenue financial form, Mississippi Community Education Center had revenue of $26.7million in government grants in 2017. This is an increase from $13million in 2016 and $2.5million in 2015. Fitzgerald stated that it is difficult to believe that someone could have received such a large increase in resources and political patronage. Fitzgerald also said that the governor would not have known. According to the financial report, the organization also ran a $5million bingo operation through which it reported a loss of $23,099 The website of the nonprofit lists a Northpoint Bingo office in Iuka.