The president and CEO of a shuttered anti-poverty nonprofit embezzled thousands from the organization and used it for personal expenses, including a $6,000 family dinner and $11,000 on a relative’s tutoring, according to federal prosecutors in California.
Howard Dixon Slingerland, 53, who served as head of the Youth Policy Institute in Hollywood, Los Angeles, from 1996 until he was fired in September 2019, is accused of “intentionally misapplying” more than $600,000 in grant money and using it to pay for unauthorized expenses and lying on his tax returns, according to a news release from the U.S Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
The nonprofit, which worked to end poverty in Los Angeles’s poorest neighborhoods through health and wellness, job training and youth development programs, closed in October 2019 shortly after hiring an interim CEO, according to KTLA.
Between January 2015 and February 2019, Slingerland, who had check-signing authority over the organization’s bank accounts and was the guarantor of the nonprofit’s credit card, used at least $71,533 of the institute’s funds on personal expenses, the release says.
He is accused of spending more than $14,000 on a personal property tax bill, $6,000 on a family dinner in New York City, nearly $11,000 on tutoring for a family member and nearly $2,000 on a computer and software for his home.
In July 2019, he spent $401,561 the organization had received from a federal grant on “unauthorized” payroll payments, the release says, while also using $201,466 in federal grant money to “illegally” pay off the organization’s credit card, which he had used for some personal purchases.
Slingerland’s attorney said in a statement that his client “takes responsibility for the mistakes he made” in managing the nonprofit’s grant funds. He also takes responsibility for “choosing to (misapply) funds in 2019 in order to cover salaries and costs to keep the cash-strapped nonprofit afloat and its employees working while awaiting payment from the U.S. Department of Education for services delivered,” the statement says.
“Mr. Slingerland is grateful that many of the programs and services previously provided by (Youth Policy Institute) continue to exist and flourish under the leadership of other nonprofits in the Los Angeles area,” the statement says. “Mr. Slingerland remains in the non-profit sector with a personal mission to improve services and opportunities for children and families in need.”
He hid the money he embezzled from the Youth Policy Institute on his tax returns by under-reporting his income by more than $100,000 for each tax year from 2015 through 2018, the release says.
Slingerland owes around $147,398 in unpaid taxes, according to prosecutors.
Slingerland has agreed to plead guilty to counts including “conversion and intentional misapplication of funds from an organization receiving federal money” and “subscribing to a false federal income tax return,” the release says. He has not yet entered a guilty plea.
Once the plea is entered, he could face up to 10 years in federal prison on the “conversion and intentional misapplication of funds” count and three years in federal prison on the income tax return count, the release says.