{"id":15932,"date":"2025-10-22T17:23:33","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T17:23:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/15932\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T17:23:33","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T17:23:33","slug":"jacksonville-city-council-president-under-scrutiny-as-employer-receives-millions-in-city-grants-104-5-wokv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/15932\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville City Council President under scrutiny as employer receives millions in city grants \u2013 104.5 WOKV"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Jacksonville City Council President Kevin Carrico is facing tough questions from Action News Jax over whether he benefits directly or indirectly from millions in city grant money being allocated to his employer, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Carrico, who earns a six-figure salary as Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at the nonprofit, said he follows all ethics rules, abstains from related votes, and discloses his employment in official forms. <\/p>\n

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n

Still, the overlap between his public role and his professional one is prompting calls for greater scrutiny and transparency.<\/p>\n

$12M in grants for 2025-2026<\/p>\n

As council president, Carrico plays a key role in shaping Jacksonville\u2019s budget priorities. At the same time, the Kids Hope Alliance (KHA), a city-funded agency with a $50 million budget, has allocated over $12.2 million to the Boys & Girls Clubs for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. That\u2019s three times more than any other organization KHA supports.<\/p>\n

[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Despite KHA\u2019s most recent public report showing the nonprofit receiving only about $3 million, Action News Jax uncovered the full $12.2 million figure through a public records request.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to review that site or anyone with [the Office of General Counsel] to make sure they are accurately reporting that,\u201d Carrico said in response to the discrepancy.<\/p>\n

Salary growth tracks with grant increases<\/p>\n

The funding boost also coincides with Carrico\u2019s rise in pay at the nonprofit. According to state filings, his salary increased from $111,500 several years ago to $149,000, not including the $60,000 he earns annually as a council member.<\/p>\n

KHA\u2019s support for the Boys & Girls Clubs has steadily increased year-over-year:<\/p>\n

Fiscal YearKHA Grant to Boys & Girls Clubs2019-2020$5.27 million2020-2021$7.74 million2021-2022$8.02 million2022-2023$8.65 million2023-2024$9.71 million2024-2025$12.99 million2025-2026$12.36 million<\/p>\n

Carrico joined the council in a 2020 special election, became vice president in 2024, and assumed the presidency in 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith growth [at Boys & Girls Clubs] comes more revenue and a more complex job,\u201d Carrico said, defending the correlation between increased grant money and his rising salary.<\/p>\n

Legal, but ethical questions persist<\/p>\n

While Carrico follows the required procedures, some local leaders argue the situation still raises concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if the money isn\u2019t going directly to his salary, it\u2019s going to other things that frees up money to go to his salary,\u201d Leslie Scott Jean-Bart, an attorney and former member of the Jacksonville Ethics Commission, said.<\/p>\n

Jean-Bart, who also serves as President of the Democratic Black Caucus of Duval County, said the matter deserves closer inspection.<\/p>\n

[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n

\u201cThere needs to be greater scrutiny about how those dollars are spent and how they got those dollars. Are they a step ahead of other nonprofits getting preference somehow?\u201d Jean-Bart said.<\/p>\n

The only other member of City Council who is required to recuse themselves form KHA budget votes is Councilwoman Ju\u2019Coby Pittman, the CEO of the Clara White Mission. That organization received $3,500 from KHA for a summer field trip program. <\/p>\n

Long-standing issues at KHA<\/p>\n

The Kids Hope Alliance, which consolidated functions and programs of the Jacksonville Journey and Jacksonville Children\u2019s Commission in 2017, was created under then-Mayor Lenny Curry and has been under fire ever since. <\/p>\n

Multiple Inspector General investigations and a City Council auditor\u2019s report have documented issues ranging from political interference, questionable management practices, to cronyism. <\/p>\n

Boys & Girls Clubs respond<\/p>\n

In a statement, Paul Martinez, CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida, defended the organization\u2019s integrity:<\/p>\n

\u201cAll grant funding we receive is used in accordance with city, state, and federal regulations, with full transparency and accountability… Our employment practices and grant processes follow strict ethical and compliance standards, ensuring a clear separation between organizational operations and any individual\u2019s role in public service.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan\u2019s office on KHA<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone wants to see a Jacksonville where children, youth, and families succeed. It is the mission of Kids Hope Alliance to oversee the funding and programs that support this vision. We will continue working with KHA leadership and the Board of Directors to review opportunities and challenges as part of our ongoing commitment to transparency and effective taxpayer investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next?<\/p>\n

The KHA Board is set to meet on Wednesday to evaluate the agency\u2019s CEO Karalyn Grass<\/a>, who has been under scrutiny for outside employment and communication issues. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the City\u2019s Taxation, Revenue, and Utilization of Expenditures Commission (TRUE Commission) has called for KHA to appear at its next meeting to explain how grants are awarded and monitored.<\/p>\n

As for Carrico, he wouldn\u2019t object to another elected official being in a similar position.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolitically, if someone had the same situation, would you have a problem with it?\u201d he was asked by Becker.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t have a problem with it. No,\u201d Carrico replied.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Jacksonville City Council President Kevin Carrico is facing tough questions from Action News Jax over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[13654,982,7840,13653,13659,13662,639,969,116,118,117,13661,13664,13652,12982,13651,13656,13657,13663,13660,634,1375,9280,13658,13655,7842,10209],"class_list":["post-15932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-action_new","tag-action_news","tag-ben_becker","tag-boys_and_girls_clubs","tag-carrio","tag-democratic_black_caucus","tag-duval_county","tag-jack","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jacksonville_ethics_commission","tag-kerrio","tag-kevin_krio","tag-kha","tag-kids_hope_alliance","tag-kidsh_hope_alliance","tag-krio","tag-lenny_curry","tag-leslie_scott_john_bart","tag-local","tag-mayor","tag-northeast_florida","tag-ogc","tag-shaq","tag-tanika_hughes","tag-tonight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}