The release of an independent audit into millions of dollars that flowed through the now-defunct Blue Hills Civic Association in 2024 and 2025 by the Department of Economic and Community Development found $2.4 million in state and federal pass-through dollars were unsupported, ranging from money that was missing to funds given to for-profit entities for no discernible reason.

Much reporting coverage focused on the Society for Human Engagement and Business Alignment (SHEBA) and over $1 million in unsupported and unaccounted-for funds, and its founder, Sonserae Cicero, who has a personal relationship with former Sen. Doug McCrory, D-Hartford, which is the subject of a federal subpoena. 

But SHEBA was not the only entity that had hundreds of thousands in unaccounted-for or unsupported spending of tax dollars. The audit examined $6.5 million that passed through BHCA to other entities, mostly nonprofits, in 2024 and 2025, and found over $2 million in unsupported funds. 

The two worst offenders were designated “Tier 1” status and included SHEBA and Outreach Realty, which has rebranded as RH Realty Services. RH Realty received a total of $225,000 through BHCA. 

According to the audit and their interview with owner Roberta Hoskie, RH Realty claimed the funds were used to support “the organization’s homeownership program, including assisting families in preparing for homeownership, sustaining operations, and supporting staffing through one full-time position and multiple part-time or contracted roles,” but auditor Emilie Deveraux found much of the money went toward operating costs for what appears to be a normal for-profit real estate company.

A significant amount of that $225,000 in grant dollars was spent on general administrative costs for the business, food, travel and vehicle expenses, insurance, technology, and cash withdrawals. Ultimately, the audit concluded that “$192,130 of expenditures could not be validated for allowability or business purpose.”

Of the organizations designated Tier 2 – meaning they primarily lack documentation for how grant funds were spent – some of the most significant findings involved the Upper Albany Neighborhood Collective (UANC) and the Prosperity Foundation, whose board chair and president, Howard K. Hill, served on the Minority Business Initiative board alongside McCrory and voted to send $300,000 in funds to SHEBA.

UANC itself acted as a pass-through entity, funneling hundreds of thousands from BHCA to community programs in the Upper Albany area in Hartford. The organization received a little over $2 million over two years, but documentation of how those funds were obtained and spent was shoddy, as “Subrecipient selection and funding decisions were influenced primarily by existing relationships and external referrals, including involvement from legislators.” 

However, it appeared most of the grant funds used directly by UANC, while not perfectly documented with receipts, were in line with grant requirements and reports. Most of the subrecipient community partners, likewise, had some accounting issues, but otherwise unsupported funds were relatively minor, often a little more than $100, except for, again, SHEBA.

Of the total $1.03 million in unsupported costs largely associated with UANC’s subrecipients, at least $630,000 was attributable to SHEBA through its internship program, where $30,000 was unaccounted for, and $600,000 to the SHEBA Resource Center that purportedly supported the internship program, of which $514,928 was spent on payroll.

“Although UANC indicated that both the Resource Center and Internship programs utilized the funds appropriately and that the intent of the agreement was fulfilled, sufficient supporting documentation was not provided to substantiate this conclusion,” Deveraux wrote.

Of the $1.1 million provided to The Prosperity Foundation, “A substantial portion of costs, particularly payments to consultants and third-party organizations, including $450,000 in pass-through funding could not be substantiated with adequate documentation or evidence of how funds were ultimately used.”

The auditor also highlighted $60,000 that was sent from the Prosperity Foundation back to BHCA, which raised “concerns regarding fund flow and oversight. That discrepancy, along with $771,000 in unspent funds, was reported during an initial audit released in January 2026. 

Previous reporting by Inside Investigator found The Prosperity Foundation grew very quickly between 2020 and 2024 as state and federal money began to pour into nonprofits during the COVID era. The Prosperity Foundation lost $500,000 in a wire transfer fraud and funneled $486,000 back to BHCA as part of their grant making.

Although much smaller in scale, BHCA was also used to send grant money to for-profit businesses, the purpose of which eluded auditors.

One hundred thousand dollars provided to a café that subsequently went out of business was used for operational costs despite claims of “community outreach activities” of which there was no evidence; $75,000 went to a for-profit restaurant to support the businesses operations, equipment purchases, and construction, as there was “no evidence of nonprofit designation, charitable programming, or structured community-based initiatives;” and $25,000 to a dental practice that didn’t have a website and spent more than $22,000 on payroll and rent with the rest of the funds not supported with documentation.

According to the audit, DECD’s guide to grant management indicates that for-profit entities can receive grants, but “such eligibility must be explicitly permitted by the grant program and requires that funds be used solely for programmatic activities that provide a direct public benefit, separate and distinct from the entity’s normal business operations.”

BHCA dissolved after the loss of $300,000 in a wire transfer scam, but the fallout from that loss and questions raised about McCrory’s relationship with both SHEBA and BHCA have raised further questions about other entities that were supported by taxpayer dollars and led to a series of changes in how nonprofits receive earmarks. 

House and Senate Republicans exerted pressure on Gov. Ned Lamont and majority Democrats to include additional safeguards around earmarks, including a press conference in which Republican leadership in the House and Senate called attention to numerous nonprofits that did not appear to have websites or business registrations, but were still receiving funds through the budget process.

Those changes included nonprofits having to indicate what the funds will be used for and increased reporting requirements, but stopped short of requiring an individual lawmaker’s name be tied to the request; reporting by Inside Investigator found at least one lawmaker’s sister received earmarked funds for her new nonprofit organization.

McCrory lost a primary challenge to remain in the Senate following the scandal. He has denied any wrongdoing, and SHEBA appears to have ceased all operations. The federal investigation is purportedly ongoing.

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