Number	23026
Subject	Financial Investigations
Source	Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
State	FL
Year	2006
Publication Date	05/18/2006; 10/08/2006; 10/13/2006; 10/14/2006; 12/10/2006; 12/31/2006
Summary	The South Florida Sun-Sentinel "exposed waste in the Federal Emergency Management Agency's crisis counseling grants, meant to help people overcome disaster-related mental health problems." In Florida, the $23 million counseling program paid for "puppet shows, Hurricane Bingo and yoga on the beach." Only one fourth of the program supervisors were qualified. Also, the Sun-Sentinel found that "other states had used FEMA grants totaling more than $445 million on activities such as gardening workshops, martial arts classes and "Beat Stress with Crafts." As a result of these stories, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General and the state of Florida each launched an investigation, and a bill was introduced in Congress to "prohibit spending the grants on puppet shows and similar activities."
Category	Contest Entry
Pages	90
Keywords	FEMA; Federal Emergency Management Agency; Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General; misuse of federal funds; disaster-related mental problems
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