The San Francisco Community Challenge Grant program — whose former director is now facing criminal charges – is “deeply flawed’’ and relied on apparently fabricated scores in the screening process this year, according to a new audit by the city controller’s office.
Due to widespread irregularities, the controller’s audit concludes that the best way to ensure fairness is to take back $2.5 million in challenge grant money awarded in 2023.
The audit was launched after director Lanita Henriquez and former city official Rudolph Dwayne Jones were charged in August with misappropriation of public money, bribery, and financial conflict of interest. Jones is accused of bribing Henriquez to help secure grants to entities he controlled.
Henriquez insists she did nothing wrong.
The audit cites alleged “misrepresentations” by Henriquez, who is on leave from her post while awaiting trial. The city administrator has suspended Jones and his firms from doing business with the city.
The audit found the 2023 grant screening results “cannot be relied upon because the former program director misrepresented key aspects of the process, which also lacked adequate controls and proper documentation.”
Specifically, although there were three scores provided for all of the 28 grant applications, one of the “purported” screeners had actually declined to take part in the program, the review found.
City Challenge Grant applicants must submit proposals with documentation of the work involved, including bids, budget and proof of insurance, among a detailed list of requirements, the audit noted. The recipient must provide a 35% match for funding and the city’s program director is required to make visits to verify the work.
The program also oversees grants from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, Public Works and Recreation and Parks Department.
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The audit found Henriquez “falsely stated” that grant screening relied on three panelists, when in fact only two screeners were involved, including one the auditors found had a disqualifying conflict of interest. The other screener apparently didn’t actually review all the applications, the audit found.
Another impropriety found by the audit was a forged letter that had been submitted in one grant application. The questioned letter, purportedly from an official with the city’s Housing Authority, was filed in support of an application from an entity controlled by Jones, according to the audit.
Without more documentation, the audit found it was impossible to determine how the grant applications were actually reviewed.
“In light of what we found and the fact that Henriquez’s scoring sheet shows three scores for each of the applications, it appears that many of the recorded scores are invalid,” the audit found, “either because they came from a panelist who had a conflict of interest that should have disqualified their participation or because the scores were fabricated.”
