Hope Florida launched in 2021 as a program to connect Floridians in need of social and financial help to private sector groups, faith-based organizations and nonprofits, weaning them off government assistance.

Directors of the Hope Florida Foundation cut a Zoom board meeting short Thursday morning after online trolls began spewing racial slurs, Nazi symbols and pornographic imagery on the open call, derailing the foundation’s first public comment since its executive director stepped down Wednesday amid a slew of ongoing legislative controversy.

  • athairmor@lemmy.worldEnglish
    52·
    1 day ago

    Hope Florida is run by DeSantis’s wife has been involved in shady dealings.

    The meeting marked an attempt by the board to provide clarity as House Republicans probe a $10 million donation that Hope Florida, a charity and welfare program spearheaded by First Lady Casey DeSantis, received from a Medicaid settlement in October. Lawmakers are now investigating whether the foundation funneled those millions to political campaigns against the failed ballot referendum to legalize recreational marijuana.

    The foundation’s executive director, Erik Dellenback, announced his resignation a day after legislators grilled the foundation’s leaders about the donation funds during a House budget committee meeting.

    The Tampa Bay Times reported that Hope Florida split the $10 million evenly between Secure Florida’s Future and Save Our Society from Drugs — organizations that promptly poured a collective $8.5 million into Keep Florida Clean, a political action committee created to defeat Amendment 3 and run by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ then-chief of staff James Uthmeier.

    From the Tampa Bay Times article:

    Weeks after the DeSantis administration steered $10 million from a Medicaid settlement to a charity spearheaded by the first lady, the Hope Florida Foundation sent $5 million apiece to two separate organizations that gave millions to a political committee waging an anti-marijuana campaign championed by the governor.