The Baltimore Children and Youth Fund has given hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of government grants to a nonprofit organization run by one of its board members, a Spotlight on Maryland investigation found.

Lisa Molock is the executive director of Let’s Thrive Baltimore, a youth-oriented organization that says it provides mentoring, job programs and support groups for Baltimore City children. On her personal website, Molock describes herself as “saving the lives of children in Baltimore City” and solicits donations for Let’s Thrive Baltimore.

In addition to running her own nonprofit, Molock sits on the board of the Baltimore Children and Youth Fund, a nonprofit grantmaking organization supported entirely by Baltimore taxpayer dollars. Molock first joined the BCYF board in early 2022 and currently serves as its vice chair.

Shortly after Molock joined the BCYF board, the fund began dishing out lucrative grants to Let’s Thrive Baltimore. The first grant came in September 2022 and totaled $150,000. The purpose of the grant was to enable Let’s Thrive Baltimore to “incorporate year-round mentoring, violence prevention, and leadership development to encourage and empower youth to create actionable steps, build youth leadership, and increase self-efficacy.”

The grant came from BCYF’s Grassroots Fund. According to a 2022 board meeting document, applications for Grassroots Fund grants are reviewed by an “external panel” before being passed to a “final review” session conducted by BCYF staff and consultants.

Let’s Thrive Baltimore went on to receive additional grants from BCYF following the initial 2022 grant. The nonprofit was awarded three grants from BCYF in 2024 – two for $50,000 and one for $12,500. The $12,500 grant came from the “President’s Fund,” money entirely controlled by BCYF CEO Alysia Lee, according to the fund’s website.

Spotlight on Maryland obtained several Let’s Thrive Baltimore bank account statements via a public records request. The statements show a long list of expenditures from Let’s Thrive Baltimore to individual CashApp accounts, often for $60 to $100 at a time.

The statements also show several expenses for DoorDash, including orders from Safeway, IHOP, Dunkin and Target, charges for a T-Mobile bill and American Express credit card payments. Molock did not comment on the expenses when reached Friday.

Bennice Thayer, the former vice president of finance and administration at BCYF, told Spotlight on Maryland she raised concerns to fund leadership about the 2022 grant award to Let’s Thrive Baltimore. Thayer said she was later told BCYF legal counsel reviewed and approved the grant, but she was not a part of that process.

“That was a conflict of interest,” Thayer said in a phone interview. “I was just told we’re going to go ahead and proceed with them and do business with them.”

Thayer said the 2022 grant award to Let’s Thrive Baltimore led her to begin looking for employment elsewhere. She also said she never had any communication with Molock about the grant, and that Molock “spoke only with Alicia Lee on those issues.”

A BCYF spokesperson said in a statement Molock recuses herself in instances when the board is asked to approve grants to Let’s Thrive Baltimore.

“The decision to provide grants to Ms. Molock’s nonprofit and other organizations she is associated with was made through a transparent and fair process. Ms. Molock, in accordance with our conflict of interest policy, declared her conflict and was removed from any decision-making process involving her organization,” the BCYF spokesperson said.

The spokesperson noted that Molock has acted as a fiscal sponsor for other BCYF grantees. A grant award document obtained by Spotlight on Maryland shows BCYF gave a $10,000 grant to the Pennsylvania Avenue Neighborhood Association in 2023. Let’s Thrive Baltimore acted as the fiscal sponsor for the grant. The grant award was addressed to Molock.

“BCYF’s conflict of interest policy is designed to ensure fairness and transparency in all grantmaking decisions, allowing board members who are also community leaders to serve without compromising the integrity of the process,” the spokesperson said. “This policy has been consistently applied in all instances involving Ms. Molock and her associated organizations.

David Williams, the president of the nonpartisan Taxpayer Protection Alliance, called for Baltimore City to cut off funding for BCYF after learning about the grants to Let’s Thrive Baltimore.

“The news for BCYF keeps on getting worse for the children it’s supposed to serve and taxpayers, as conflicts of interest appear to be coming to light,” Williams wrote in a statement Friday. “A full forensic audit needs to be undertaken immediately.”

Baltimore City is required to send millions in taxpayer dollars to the youth fund every year due to a charter amendment approved by voters in 2016. Disrupting the flow of taxpayer dollars to the fund would require further amending the city charter.

Former Mayor Bernard “Jack” Young, the architect of BCYF, told Spotlight on Maryland Monday he plans to work with members of the Baltimore City Council to amend the city charter and mandate stricter financial oversight of the fund.

BCYF’s spending came under scrutiny earlier this month when Spotlight on Maryland revealed the fund paid for 100 local activists to travel to Alabama in February 2024. The fund used taxpayer dollars to cover travelers’ airfare and lodging. BCYF also dished out thousands of dollars for yoga and breathing sessions at the Alabama event.

The fund defended its travel in a statement, saying trips paid for by BCYF are meant to promote “capacity building” for local nonprofits. Young called foul, insisting BCYF can conduct “capacity building” without traveling out of state on the taxpayer’s dime.

Spotlight on Maryland is a joint venture by FOX45 News and The Baltimore Sun. Got a story idea or news tip? Reach out to Julian Baron on X or via email at jtbaron@sbgtv.com.