The Prince William Board of County Supervisors on Tuesday revoked more than $1 million in pandemic aid from immigrant advocacy group CASA after a county audit found the organization spent nearly $200,000 on items that didn’t qualify for federal funding.
In a bipartisan vote, the board moved to redirect CASA’s remaining relief funds to other organizations and initiatives in need of additional funding. Leaders with CASA, a national nonprofit with a location in Woodbridge that supports immigrant families, in response claimed the county wasn’t transparent enough with the organization on how it was permitted to spend funding.
CASA in 2022 was approved by the board for $2 million in federal COVID-19 aid that could be used to reimburse expenses only for building a “training lab” and supporting “programming start-up costs” at its Prince William County welcome center, according to county documents.
A county audit obtained by InsideNoVa alleges the organization between July 2022 and June 2023 spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on expenditures that were deemed out of alignment with the parameters allowed in an agreement CASA signed with the county.
Expenses included marketing materials and infrastructure costs at unauthorized locations. The group spent thousands of dollars on marketing items such as lip balm, hand sanitizer, drawstring bags, hoodies, lanyards, thermometers, sunscreen, pill boxes and “fidget fun blocks” as well as a personal development English Second Language course for an employee, county documents show.