PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced today that Cambria County Area Agency on Aging (CCAAA) has agreed to pay $122,461.53 to resolve claims arising from CCAAA’s administration of community service grants funded through AmeriCorps.
In 2016 and 2017, CCAAA administered an AmeriCorps Foster Grandparent Program (FGP) grant, which places seniors in school and community settings to serve alongside youth with exceptional needs. This program provides a small hourly stipend, based on the hours served, to the volunteers providing valuable community services to underserved children. AmeriCorps awards CCAAA grant funds to pay the stipends as well as some or all of the grantee’s administrative costs to operate the program.
From 2016 to 2017, CCAAA allegedly failed to properly administer the AmeriCorps grant by directing its FGP staff to double or triple volunteer hours on timesheets and thus pay inflated, unearned stipends to volunteers. Volunteers were also allegedly awarded “bonus” hours for service activities that they did not perform.
In addition, CCAAA allegedly charged unrelated, unsupported, and misallocated costs to the grant and inflated travel (mileage) costs attributable to grant funds. After receiving a complaint, CCAAA engaged its auditors to review the expenditures, and that review identified some of the above improper practices that diverted AmeriCorps funds. Nevertheless, CCAAA failed to timely notify AmeriCorps of the findings or return the misspent funds, as required.
“It is important for participants in federally funded programs to be transparent and honest about how those funds are used. When a grant recipient misuses funds, the beneficiaries in need, such as underserved youth here, are deprived of the opportunities those funds are meant to provide,” said U.S. Attorney Romero.
“CCAAA’s decision to use its grant to pay Foster Grandparent volunteers for hours that they did not serve deprived the community of services intended for its benefit. The non-profit’s inability to account for federal funds violated the trust that the public places in AmeriCorps Seniors grantees,” said Stephen Ravas, AmeriCorps’ Acting Inspector General. “We thank the U.S. Attorney’s Office for its partnership in protecting the integrity of national service.”
This investigation was conducted jointly by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and AmeriCorps’ Office of Inspector General. Assistant United States Attorneys Anthony St. Joseph and Paul W. Kaufman handled the investigation and settlement.
The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.