Orange County officials say they are scrambling to understand what’s happening at a county-funded nonprofit led by O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do’s 22 year-old daughter, which the county says has failed to account for millions in taxpayer dollars.
The group suddenly announced last week it would be closing immediately and laying off its employees — including those who staff the county’s Vietnamese mental health support hotline, according to the O.C. chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), which manages the group’s $1.25 million per year subcontract for the hotline work.
Do’s daughter’s group then reversed course, saying its employees would return to work, according to NAMI CEO Amy Durham.
NAMI took action and suspended the nonprofit from its county-funded hotline work late Tuesday because it failed to turn in overdue administrative documents, Durham said in an email.
The backstory
The nonprofit, which has used both the name Viet America Society and Warner Wellness Center, was warned by the county last month that it may have to repay millions of taxpayer dollars that it has failed to account for. The specific money in question, some $4 million, was paid by the county to help feed needy residents using federal coronavirus relief funds.
After waiting nearly a year for proof that the meals had been delivered, county officials gave the group a mid-March deadline. County staff threatened to force repayment if Viet America Society doesn’t account for the money.
Then, last week, the contractors who pay county mental health funds to the group say they got word the group was shutting down.
About the nonprofit
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The Huntington Beach nonprofit, which uses the names Viet America Society and Warner Wellness Center, has been run on and off by O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do’s…
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