Hundreds of Millions of Dollars missing from ThriveNYC a project headed by de Blasio's wife

This past Saturday a thread (linked below) was posted to the mud pit in which it was discovered that a program headed up by mayor Bill de Blasio's wife was unable to account for hundreds of millions of dollars. That thread was then closed due to the large number of off topic and trolling posts by a certain individual who shall remain nameless. In the closing post of that thread, ATS administrator Djarums stated the following:

If anyone would like to restart this topic please do.

This is a legitimate topic that needs discussing.

I'm sorry a soon to be former member took a steaming crap on it.

Can't really salvage this thread, sorry.

I waited over the weekend to see if the original poster of that thread, or any other member, would restart said thread but as of this time no one else has and so here we are.

As I will be including selections from posts I had made in that tread, this will be a multi-part OP, so please wait until all segments are posted before responding, thank you in advance:

Since its inception in 2015, ThriveNYC — the city's sprawling $850 million initiative to address a variety of mental health issues — has operated without much scrutiny or accountability.

With few public metrics by which to measure its success so far, and the broad strokes used by city officials to describe its operations, the city has offered little insight into how it has assessed Thrive's efficacy since it began.

With opaque budget and elusive metrics, $850M ThriveNYC program attempts a reset - Politico

* Chirlane McCray was assigned a $850million budget for her ThriveNYC program

* But records show scheme has failed to keep track of what it spent the money on

* The small amount of data that was collected shows it fell far short of targets

* Despite that, organizers have expanded the budget to $1billion over five years

W here has $850m gone? Bill de Blasio's wife can't account for staggering amount of taxpayer money that the NY Mayor gave her for mental health project - Daily Mail

ThriveNYC - (direct .pdf link)

ThriveNYC - program website

ThriveNYC is funded by the Mayor's Fund:

Directors
Chirlane I. McCray, Chair
Darren Bloch, Vice Chair
Alexis Blane
Lisette Camilo
Matt Klein
J. Phillip Thompson
Lincoln Restler

Officers
Toya Williford, Executive Director
Maya Jakubowicz, Treasurer
Matt Everett, Secretary

Committees

Audit and Finance
Darren Bloch
Alexis Blane
Matt Klein

Governance Committee
Darren Bloch
Lincoln Restler
Matt Klein

The Mayors fund itself is a 501(c)(3) - not for profit organization.

Some form 990s in which Thrive NYC appears:

4a (Code: ) (Expenses$3,322,670 «including grants of $1,464,222« ) (Revenue$) CONNECTIONS TO CARE - CONNECTIONS TO CARE(C2C), A $30 MILLION, FIVE YEAR INITIATIVE THAT IS PART OF THE THRIVENYC PROGRAM LAUNCHED BY MAYOR'S FUND BOARD CHAIR CHIRLANE MCCRAY IN 2015. THROUGH CONNECTIONS TO CARE, WE ARE PARTNERING WITH COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS ACROSS THE FIVE BOROUGHS TO INTEGRATE MENTAL HEALTH SKILLS INTO THEIR WORK BY TAPPING INTO THE EXPERTISE OF MENTAL HEALTH PROVIDERS (MHPS).

THE MAYOR'S FUND TO ADVANCE NEW YORK CITY - (direct .pdf link)

The effort will include work with area churches and ministries, and NYC DOHMH This effort is part of the City of New York's ThriveNYC initiative NYPH will also work with National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) Westchester on educational activities in Westchester County Reducing HIV Disparitiesby AssuringLinkagesto CareNYPHscommunity-based effort targeting racial and ethnic disparities in the prevention and treatment of HIV is led through the REACH Collaborative (Ready to End AIDS& CureHepatitisC)

New York Presbyterian Hospital - (direct .pdf link)

With regards to Chirlane McCray:

Business Positions
Citigroup Inc. Major American bank
• Public Relations Officer (past)
Mack/Crounse Group Democratic direct-mail and consulting firm
• Senior Vice President ('10→?)
In The Office Of
David N Dinkins Former Mayor of New York City
• Speechwriter (past)
William C Thompson Jr NYC Comptroller and Mayoral Candidate
• Speechwriter (past)
H Carl McCall Chairman, SUNY; former NYS Comptroller
• Speechwriter (past)
Other Positions
Maimonides Medical Center Hospital in Brooklyn
• Marketing Officer ('05→'10)
Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City
• Chairwoman (Feb 6 '14→?)
United States of Care Healthcare policy non-profit
• Founder's Council member
Services/Transactions
Anita Dunn corporate public relations consultant; former White House communications director
• a consultant
Family
Bill de Blasio Mayor of New York City
• husband ('94→?)
Friends
Bertha Lewis President and Founder, The Black Institute
• a friend
Leadership & Staff
Rachel Noerdlinger Publicist
• Chief of Staff (Jan 20 '14→?)

LittleSis

McCray is a consultant for Dunn who was a senior advisor in the Obama campaign.

One of the board members of the Mayor's fund if Darren Bloch:

...Recent roles included serving as the Executive Vice President for the Empire State Development Corporation;...

Press Release

Empire State Development, the state’s main economic development agency, partnered with SUNY to form NY CREATES -- or New York Center for Research, Economic Advancement, Technology, Engineering and Science. The new organization filed its certificate of incorporation with the state last month and plans to file for 501(c)3 status, according to an ESD spokesperson. Since shortly after the indictments of Kaloyeros and other top Cuomo aides, associates, and donors, ESD was charged with overseeing the nonprofits associated with SUNY and the governor’s extensive economic development programming. It was a move announced by the governor in response to the scandals involving some of his signature projects.

After the November 2016 indictments of Kaloyeros, former Cuomo top aide and campaign manager Joseph Percoco, and others, Fort Schuyler and Fuller Road became synonymous with corruption, leading to the effort to rebrand and reorganize.

State-Backed, Scandal-Plagued Entities Seek New Chapter

to be continued

Highlights of ThriveNYC’s accomplishments during the first four months of Fiscal 2019 under Close Treatment Gaps include:• DOHMH...

PRELIMINARY MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORT

The above relates to this:

DOHMH did not effectively administer certain financial aspects of the contract. As a result, CUCS overbilled DOHMH by about $1.06 million during the year ended June 30, 2013. The overbillings include $1.05 million of improperly claimed personal service expenses and $11,889 of unsupported or inappropriate non-personal service costs.

The improper personal service charges included about $829,000 that was based on unsupported average annual salaries and related fringe benefits instead of actual employee compensation costs incurred by CUCS. For example, a QFR listed $45,774 as the average annual salary for eight social workers, whose average annual salaries were actually $36,806. Thus, on an annual basis, CUCS overbilled DOHMH $8,968 ($45,774 - $36,806) for each of the social workers.

New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
Administration of the Contract With the Center for Urban Community Services

Original ATS thread:

NYC Mayor's Wife Can’t Account $850 Million He Gave Her For Mental Health Project - by xeunchen

With that, the OP is now complete, please discuss.

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

Thank you SO much for the resurrection and it was too bad about he who shall not be named screwing a perfectly good thread up..

This is a HUGE issue that we should all at least take the time to dig into.

I have some time to play with it and will start poking around and see what I can find.

$850 million that HAS to have a paper trail just missing... is just crazy.

Let's see what we can dig up!

To be fair the other thread was in the mud pit and this one is not.

Like they say when you go there you get muddy.

So much info to digest here.



Most important is that there is no way to confirm that any money is missing. One can easily assume that operational cost and other expenses were paid over the 4 yrs of operation. They have just failed so far to produce any paper trail for expenses.

There may not be any money missing or they may have done some super shady stuff and with what is available to the public right now there is no way to know.

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

Thank You 😎

Looks like NYC is dirty !! 😊

a reply to: UncleTomahawk

Sloppy "Accounting" always indicates corruption 😊

originally posted by: xuenchen
a reply to: UncleTomahawk

Sloppy "Accounting" always indicates corruption 😊

Oh! so you do work for the irs...

Thought so.

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

I must have missed the Sat. thread you referenced.

There is a lot to digest here, but well worth looking into. All these damn slush funds funded by taxpayer money controlled by high stakes players among the political elite should get close scrutiny. It's just too easy to set up programs that get these funds, and have you noticed:

SO MANY OF THE WIVES ARE INVOLVED AND THEY ALL USE THEIR MAIDEN NAMES OR SOME PREVIOUS NAME.
(Yes, I put that in all caps on purpose.)

NOTE: Jerrold Nadler's wife, Joyce MILLER, is/was/may still be on the Board of Directors of Empire State Development.

Joyce Miller
Appointed May 4, 2010
Additional Position(s): Tier One Public Strategies, CEO

a856-gbol.nyc.gov...

a reply to: Lumenari

You're quite welcome!

Looking around a bit, I've found the following:

ThriveNYC is not an organization. Led by McCray, who cannot hold a paid position in the administration due to nepotism laws, Thrive is a “mental health roadmap.” It encompasses 54 mental health-related projects that are being housed across 20-plus city agencies.

...

With each of the projects, 31 of which previously existed before McCray’s 2015 announcement, the aim has been to address the stigma-laced culture around mental health as well as general barriers in accessing mental health care across the city’s five boroughs. In the two-plus years since McCray announced Thrive, her political profile has boomed and the city has published dozens of metrics meant to indicate the initiatives’ successes.

The above emphasized bit plays an important role later on in the article.

A fairly significant amount of the money has gone to advertising:

The first lady and others involved in thrive said the numbers are a testament to advertising campaigns around the city. Nearly $15 million of Thrive’s overall funds through 2019 are dedicated toward media campaigns. However, some have questioned whether basing the program’s success on the number of people who reach out is most telling as to whether people are actually being connected to the care they are seeking.

Part of the issue seems to be that there is no real way to determine if there are actual successes:

Yet, some metrics are difficult to ascertain. Though the city outlined a number of benchmarks for 34 initiatives in the year-two update, there are missing links between how lump sums in budgets trace to each of these metrics. For example, NYC Safe, which is run by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, is geared toward supporting people with mental illness who are more likely to exhibit violent behavior. The program has $22 million earmarked toward its development.

...

The link between how the $22 million is being employed and how money links to each of these metrics is not available.

So, what has McCray been doing?

The Fund, a non-profit organization, facilitates partnerships between the city and private stakeholders to implement programs advantageous to New Yorkers and, at times, experiment with initiatives that could become part of what city government does. McCray’s role has drawn criticism from some concerned that the appointment creates an expectation from private donors that the mayor will treat them with favor. McCray has waved those off.

...

Tax filings for the fund between 2014 and 2016 list McCray working one hour a week.

One hour a week? Man, she has a better schedule than our congress critters.

Remember that emphasized portion earlier in the article?

In mid-March, McCray packed her bags and boarded a flight to Puerto Rico to travel the region and assess the mental health climate in the territory following hurricane Irma. In the weeks leading up to her trip, McCray was showing up more frequently at public events. The mayor featured her at press conferences, where she often invokes Thrive.

Rumors began to spread that McCray was prepping to expand her future political aspirations. She didn’t dismiss the idea. McCray actually said it was on a list of things she’s considering. But, in order to get there, she said she needs to focus on the work that currently has her name on it—the most prominent being Thrive.

So it looks to me like she is using this program (which has unclear and not easily measurable goals) as a springboard to further political aspirations.

Now ‘Resetting,’ Chirlane McCray’s $850 Million Mental Health Program Has A Lot Riding On It

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

First name, fast sweep...

Alexis Blane

First Deputy Counsel - Mayor of New York City

Member of Council of Foreign Relations

Worked briefly at CrowdJustice

Democrat with a Twitter Account...

Listed as an author at Just Security

Just Security currently focusing on all things anti-Trump...

Alexis Blane was born on 01/22/1980 and is 39 years old.
Alexis Blane currently lives in Brooklyn, NY; in the past Alexis has also lived in Charlotte NC and New York NY. Sometimes Alexis goes by various nicknames including Alexis R Blade, Blane Alexis and Alexis R Blane. Alexis's personal network of family, friends, associates & neighbors include Alexis Blane, James Blane, James Blane, Janet Blane and Peter Rudebeck.

Odd link to her possibly being a Universal Life minister.

Next name...

a reply to: xuenchen

I bet it was just lost in the washing machine.

I always lose billions that way.

From the article I linked in my previous post:

Two-thirds of the sum comes from city dollars. A combination of federal grants and private donations fund the $24 million Connections to Care program, also under Thrive, and Medicaid reimbursements back the shelter-based treatment for people who are homeless.

Poking around a bit in regards to Connections to Care, we see the following:

The Connections to Care (C2C) program, a $30 million public-private partnership under the federal Social Innovation Fund, with oversight from the C2C Collaborative, aims to address this problem by reaching up to 40,000 New Yorkers over five years by encouraging formal collaborations between community-based organizations (CBOs) and mental health providers (MHPs). In the C2C task-shifting model, mental health specialists equip non-specialist direct service staff at CBOs with the skills to deliver nonmedical mental health services while also facilitating referrals for more intensive care, if needed. By the end of the first year of C2C implementation, CBOs had contracted with MHPs, and together they developed operational plans, and delivered C2C services to over 4,000 CBO clients.

Connections to Care (C2C)
The Perspectives of Leaders at Community-Based Organizations That Are Integrating Mental Health Supports

Lumenari, if I recall correctly, you pointed out in a post relatively recently to be wary of these Community-Based Organizations and linked the operation of these kinds of things to Obama and his Organization For Action.

I'm going to have a look around in regards to C2C and see if anything hinky shakes out.

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

And a quick FYI if anyone is digging...

Empire State Development (ESD) is the umbrella organization for New York's two principal economic development public-benefit corporations, the New York State Urban Development Corporation (UDC) and the New York Job Development Authority (JDA).The New York State Department of Economic Development (DED) is a department of the New York government that has been operationally merged into ESD.

So if looking around keep the other names in mind...

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

Lisette Camilo

Commissioner of the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS)

Lisette Camilo is 42 years old and was born on 05/19/1976. Previous to Lisette's current city of Bronx, NY, Lisette Camilo lived in Washington DC.Lisette's political affiliation is currently a registered Democrat. Lisette is now single. Other family members and associates include Elena Torres, Cheryl Church, Sallie Church and Hector Torres.

Columbia Take 5 interview... Interview

Spoke in 2014 at New York Law School.. subject New York City Procurement Law

Left Twitter in 2014

No Facebook page

Low online profile

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

Mayor's Fund Twitter Account

Mayor's Fund Facebook Page

Mayor's Fund official site

Mayor's Fund Staff

Toya Williford, Executive Director
Irfan Ahmed, Senior Programs and Policy Manager
Daniele Baierlein, Director of Development
Fred Begley, Director of Finance & Operations
YooRae Choi, Development Associate
Chris Kelsaw, Finance Manager
Jorge Luis Paniagua Valle, Chief of Staff
Cesaryna Pena, Special Assistant
Leah Prestamo, Director of Programs and Policy
Tatjana Richardson, Development Manager

Great write up always Jaded. I've been working through the weekend and haven't been around much. I saw the original thread last week and couldn't believe it.

Also great job Lumenari, the two of you have been doing an unbelievable job researching this subject.

I enjoy looking deep into things like this, so if either of you need a person or subject looked into, let me know and I'll put in the work. I'm pretty good at finding people's address, phone numbers, and donor's. Please don't hesitate to ask as I'm off tomorrow and feeling manic.

a reply to: 772STi

Thank you and a helping hand on fleshing out the people involved would be awesome.

Most are going to be normal types but you never know...

If you would like to hit the mayor's fund staff that I just posted and poke around at your leisure it would be awesome... I'm just looking for some low-hanging fruit on the board of directors tonight.

Glad to see some real research for a change !!!

Keep digging but use a titanium shovel 😎

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

An oddity...

Matt Klein (Director, Mayor's Fund) currently runs NYC Opportunity.

History

The Mayor's Office for Economic Opportunity, NYC Opportunity for short, was formally announced in May, 2017.

Our office evolved from its origins in two separate but related mayoral units – the Center for Economic Opportunity and HHS-Connect. The Center for Economic Opportunity began with a primary focus to develop and test new anti-poverty programs. The initial program and poverty research agenda was established with the creation of the 2006 Commission for Economic Opportunity.

However, this came up as well...

Opportunity NYC wiki

Opportunity NYC was an experimental Conditional Cash Transfer program (CCT) by the Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg. Announced in April 2007, it was the first CCT program to be launched in the United States or any other developed nation. Its initial phases were funded by a number of private partners including The Rockefeller Foundation, Robin Hood Foundation, the Open Society Institute, Starr Foundation, AIG, and Mayor Bloomberg's own Bloomberg Family Foundation. The program is being evaluated by MDRC, a nonprofit research firm, using a random assignment research design. Opportunity NYC is administered by Seedco, a nonprofit community development organization. The program ended on August 31, 2010.

There is a 4 year overlap between when Opportunity NYC ended and the Commission for Economic Opportunity began.

Then in 2017 they integrated the Commission for Economic Opportunity and HH-S Connect and renamed it NYC Opportunity.

Odd there...

a reply to: Lumenari

I'm looking in Toya Williford and found an article that referenced her name from nynmedia.com. No bombshell but interesting first person reporting of Chirlane McCray and her behavior.

Negative publicity has dampened the Office of Strategic Partnerships’ efforts to highlight the $400 million it has raised for city-affiliated nonprofits since 2014. A New York Times story earlier this year revealed that Chirlane McCray, the mayor’s wife, has missed many meetings as chair of the Mayor’s Fund, which has seen administrative costs rise while fundraising has decreased in recent years.

It also says Toya Williford replaced Darren Bloch, I'm going to look into him first.