Federal authorities have issued grand jury subpoenas ordering the state to produce extensive records as part of an investigation of possible irregularities in the distribution of tens of millions of dollars in government grants to social service and business nonprofit organizations in Hartford.
In particular, federal prosecutors want “all documents concerning any personal or non professional relationship” between two people who have emerged as major players in the extensive Hartford nonprofit scene, state Sen. Douglas McCrory, D-Bloomfield, and Sonserae Cicero-Hamlin, who operates a nonprofit consulting business through something called the SHEBA Resource Center.
Multiple friends and acquaintances of McCrory and Cicero-Hamlin said that, recently, the two lived together in a $780,000 home in Bloomfield.
The state on Wednesday disclosed the two subpoenas the grand jury served late last week on the state Department of Economic and Community Development and the Minority Business Initiative, the business development program that operates within the department under the guidance of a board of outside advisors.
State records obtained by the Courant show that McCrory sat on the advisory board during a years-long period when it was considering millions of dollars of grants or loans that went to a Cicero-Hamlin business. Among the materials sought by the grand jury are “all agendas and minutes of Minority Business Initiative Advisory Council meetings.”
McCrory and Cicero-Hamlin have declined comment.
While the state on Wednesday was acknowledging that it had received subpoenas, federal agents were in Hartford serving still more.
Among the entities served early Wednesday was the nonprofit Legacy Foundation of Hartford, the mission of which is to eliminate “disparities in health and education by providing substantive academic and experiential learning opportunities to the region’s most underrepresented students.”
Subpoenas have been previously served on still more nonprofits. A subpoena is a request for information, not an accusation of any wrongdoing.
Combined with information provided by people with knowledge of the investigation, the subpoenas suggest federal authorities are interested in determining, among other things, how recipients of state and federal grants were chosen and whether the grants came with conditions, such as instructions for nonprofits to hire certain people or to contract with consultants.
The grand jury also wants “all documents concerning any factual misrepresentation or omissions used to obtain or attempt to obtain grants, loans, or funding of which the recipient is aware.”
The subpoenas to the Department of Economic and Community Development and its Minority Business Initiative seek all records concerning the millions of dollars the state has distributed since 2020 to the well-known nonprofits Blue Hills Civic Association, Girls for Technology, Upper Albany Neighborhood Collaborative, various SHEBA entities controlled by Cicero-Hamlin, the Prosperity Foundation, the Legacy Foundation of Hartford, HEDCO and the YMCA of Greater Hartford.
Federal authorities also want records of all communications between the state officials involved in the grant award process and McCrory and Cicero-Hamlin, as well as official communications with Vickie Galon-Clark, who until recently ran the Blue Hills Civic Association; Mary Young, program director at the Upper Albany Neighborhood Collaborative; Sabrina Tucker-Barrett, president and CEO of Girls for Technology; Howard K. Hill, founder of the Prosperity Foundation; Greg Jones, Legacy Foundation founder; Kim Hawkins, president and CEO of the business support group HEDCO, and Ira Revels, founder of the health nonprofit And Wellness.
In addition to Cicero-Hamlin’s consulting business, the grand jury wants the state agency to produce all records and communications concerning grants and loans involving KTH Advisors, a Hartford consulting firm run by Kevin T. Henry.
The Department of Economic Development distributes government grants and loans to a multitude of groups for purposes that run from economic development to community renewal to historic preservation. Although the Minority Business Initiative exists within the department, it operates under an advisory council consisting, according to its promotional materials, of “community leaders, small business owners, and business development professionals.”
Among the members of the Minority Business Initiative advisory council are McCrory and Hill, who founded Prosperity Foundation and operates Howard K. Hill Funeral Services, in New Haven, Hartford and Bloomfield.
State grant money distributed by the Department of Economic and Community Development is not always awarded directly to nonprofits. In some cases, the department distributes money to one nonprofit, which in turn redirects a portion to another non-profit.
Such a redirection of state money took place beginning in April 2022, when the Minority Business Initiative approved a $300,000 grant to one of Cicero-Hamlin’s SHEBA-related companies.
During the same period, the Department of Economic and Community Development agreed to pay $5 million to the nonprofit Girls for Technology, created to “empower women in tech and entrepreneurship,” which in turn paid SHEBA the first of what were to be two, $1 million installments, records show.
Records produced by the department show that the $1 million was to cover work SHEBA had done as a contractor for Girls for Technology.
The nature of the contract work was not clear from the records and officials at the department were not immediately able to provide an explanation. Officials at SHEBA and Girls for Technology declined to comment or were not available.
State records show that SHEBA received additional funding either directly or indirectly.
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