Waste of the Day: Youth Grants Mismanaged
Topline: A San Francisco nonprofit that advocates for youth victims of crime did not show “proper stewardship” of $705,448 in grants it received from the Department of Justice in 2024 and 2025, according to a new report from the DOJ’s inspector general.
Key facts: Huckleberry Youth Programs has received DOJ grants since 2014, but the recent audit found that its accounting records are “inaccurate and unreliable.” Data errors and spreadsheets that made no distinction between federal and state grants made it impossible to determine what exactly the federal funds paid for, and put the grants “at risk of misuse.”
The nonprofit claimed that it helped 346 children using the federal funds, but that was an overestimate. Huckleberry included children that were helped with the use of city and private funding in its total, making it unclear how many children were supported by the federal grants alone.
Huckleberry Youth Programs did not keep timesheets for its employees who were paid with federal money. The nonprofit also allowed its director to both approve purchases and sign the checks to pay for them, which the report says increases the risk of fraud.
The group also bought gift cards for underserved youth but kept them in unlocked boxes where anyone could have accessed them.
The audit did not find evidence of fraud or misuse of the federal funds; only poor accounting that could have created the conditions for fraud to occur.
The California Governor’s Office agreed with all of the audit’s findings.
Search all federal, state and local salaries and vendor spending with the world’s largest government spending database at OpenTheBooks.com.
Background: The nonprofit’s tax filing shows it received $6.2 million in government grants in 2025. It raised $4.9 million from other sources.
The nonprofit’s executive director earned a salary of $222,421.
Summary: Huckleberry Youth Programs is doing important work in the Bay Area, but it must also demonstrate the ability to track its expenditures of public funds.
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com
