This is what was purchased versus what could be bought with federal funding for the Temporary Assistance For Needy Families program. This program helps families who are in poverty and prevents them from becoming poor. Here are the details: Child care versus volleyball: The Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation was paid $5 million by the Mississippi Community Education Center through a lease to build the new, state-of the-art volleyball stadium. Mississippi Today reported this first. Although the nonprofit stated it would use the facilities to provide programming for the underserved community, the organization has only used the university facilities once. According to Economic Policy Institute, the average cost of child care in Mississippi each year is $5436, Five million dollars could have covered a year of child care for 920 families with low income so they could work. According to the audit, Ted DiBiase Jr. received $3,147 487 from Mississippi Community Education Center, Family Resource Center of North Mississippi for various leadership training and motivational courses. According to U.S Energy Information Administration, that amount could have paid an average $138.63 electricity bill. This audit was done 22,704 times. Famous quarterback endorsements against diapers. With $1.1 million in welfare funds that the nonprofits paid Brett Favre to speak at events he didn’t attend, Mississippi could have bought roughly 3 million diapers. That is about one year of diapers for 1,145 mothers. According to the National Diaper Bank Network, diapers cost an average of $80 per month. The National Diaper Bank Network reports that diapers are vital for babies’ health. However, 57% of parents who depend on child care (most of which require diapers to be provided) reported that they missed four days of work or school because they did not have diapers. According to the audit, luxury vehicles were purchased over transportation stipends. The Mississippi Community Education Center purchased three vehicles — a 2018 Armada and Silverado Chevrolet Truck, and a Ford F250 — for its founder Nancy New, and her sons Zach, totaling $166.318, TANF provides transportation stipends between $200 and $300 to low-wage workers in order to get to work. The state could have paid 655 stipends to 55 workers if the News had spent the same amount on their vehicles. Flora horse ranch rent versus rent to low-income families Mississippi Community Education Center paid 3711,000 toward Marcus Dupree’s Flora ranch loan. This was not counting the $198,846 Dupree received in salary. The state could have paid a rent payment for a 2-bedroom apartment of the same size ($750) to avoid eviction for 494 families, based on the amount it paid for his mortgage. The Mississippi Community Education Center paid Paul Lacoste’s Victory Sports Foundation $1309,183 to run a boot camp-style fitness program. Lacoste also charged participants a fee to participate, according to the audit. According to Feeding America, Mississippi could have spent $1.3 million to purchase 446,820 meals at an average cost of $2.93 per meal. Basic cash assistance versus questionable spending Mississippi spent only 5 percent of TANF on basic cash assistance in 2018. This is about $170 per month for a family with three children. They can use this money to purchase essential items such as toiletries, school supplies, and cleaning products that cannot be purchased using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits (formerly known as food stamps). About 3,500 families receive cash assistance, which is 6 percent of Mississippi’s poverty rate. The cash assistance could have reached 46,078 families if Mississippi had spent $94million. That’s 42 percent of the families who are in poverty. You can find all our coverage on welfare in Mississippi here.