Youths are being denied. DOJ charges 47 people with stealing $250 million from pandemic program meant to provide meals to needy children

                                    “We need leaders not in love with money but in love with justice.”

 Youths in communities are denied even basic needs from shelter, water, and food due to fraud and embezzlement.

The focus of the CNN article is on Minnesota.  Fraud, embezzlement, kickbacks are prevalent in all major cities in the U.S., not just South-to-South nations when we think of island nations, the continent (Africa), and other nations globally.  This is a global issue. 

Our credibility and trust are being eroded with our youth that are looking for direction and guidance, and our “leading by example”.  This is the example that we are setting.

For similar types of programs that submitted fraudulent claims, and other federal or state illegal activities that arose during the COVID-19 crisis.  There is still time to recover trust and credibility with our youths, our next generation leaders that are following our example.

CDS

Chair\CEO BEMA International

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/20/politics/doj-minnesota-covid-fraud-scheme-feeding-our-future/index.html DOJ charges 47 people with stealing $250 million from pandemic program meant to provide meals to needy children By Hannah Rabinowitz and Omar Jimenez, CNN Updated 4:41 PM ET, Tue September 20, 2022 CNN)The Justice Department on Tuesday announced charges against 47 people accused of stealing $250 million from a federal program designed to provide meals for needy children during the pandemic. According to the department, the scheme is the largest Covid-19-related fraud uncovered by investigators to date. The defendants are facing a range of charges, including conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering, and paying and receiving illegal kickbacks. The defendants, prosecutors said, set up a network of shell companies connected to the Minnesota-based nonprofit Feeding our Future, to exploit the federal child nutrition program, which is designed to provide meals to children from low-income families. The program was expanded by Congress at the start of the pandemic to allow more organizations to participate. "Feeding Our Future employees recruited individuals and entities to open Federal Child Nutrition Program sites throughout the state of Minnesota," the Justice Department said in a release. "These sites, created and operated by the defendants and others, fraudulently claimed to be serving meals to thousands of children a day within just days or weeks of being formed." ………………………………………………READ MORE at… https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/20/politics/doj-minnesota-covid-fraud-scheme-feeding-our-future/index.html

Charles D. Sharp Chair\CEO Black Emergency Managers Association International            Cornell University Climate Fellow         Deputy Chair, Global Health Security Agenda Consortium Washington, D.C.  20020 bEMA International Cooperation, Collaboration, Communication, Coordination, Community engagement, and  Partnering (C5&P) A 501 (c) 3 organization   “We need leaders not in love with money but in love with justice.  Not in love with publicity but in love with humanity.  Leaders who can subject their particular egos to the pressing urgencies of the great cause of freedom…a time like this demands great leaders.”      Martin Luther King, Jr.