Strong City Baltimore - a non-profit which has been dogged by problems with its management of grassroots organizations’ funding - said Friday it will keep its acting CEO, announced new leadership for its board of directors and said it has teamed with an outside accounting firm.
Reginald Davis, who has been chief of staff and acting as CEO since last March, will remain in that role. He has been guiding the non-profit through the process of trying to reconcile its accounting.
Strong City was managing the finances of more than 150 small programs, with assets totaling $14 million as of 2019, but ran into trouble they blamed on rapid growth, staff turnover and delays in getting grants from the city. Partner organizations said the problems had been ongoing for years and caused some to shut down. The Inspector General’s office launched an investigation.
In a news release, Strong City indicated it is still trying to unravel those problems, saying as part of its efforts to “address issues that placed strain . . . on their fiscal sponsorship program,” they had retained The Goldin Group, a Bethesda accounting firm.
Strong City said the accountants will “embed with the organization’s finance team to serve as Strong City’s CFO.”
“We are clarifying a vision for how change will move this team, our clients and Baltimore’s communities into a stronger future,” Staci Summers, who was announced as the new vice chair of Strong City’s board of directors, said in a statement.
The organization has also tapped attorney Anwar Young to lead its board of directors. Young is an attorney at the law firm of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP and also serves on the board of directors for the Alpha Phi Alpha Charitable Foundation.
Summers’ background has been focused on international development, cross-cultural communication and urban life, according to the release.
Inspector General Isabel Cumming said Friday that her office does not comment on investigations. Grassroots groups have previously confirmed the existence of the investigation.