BALTIMORE (WBFF) — The Baltimore Children and Youth Fund (BCYF) awarded $62,500 in taxpayer money to a nonprofit that employs Mayor Brandon Scott’s wife – a transaction experts say raises conflict-of-interest and transparency concerns within a politically connected grant-making organization.
The grants to Bmore Empowered, where Hana Scott serves as director of operations, were disclosed in BCYF’s latest tax filing for fiscal 2024, which covers July 2023 through June 2024. The couple went public in July 2023 with a pregnancy announcement and got married in August 2024.
The timing of the award and relationship have drawn scrutiny because the mayor’s office appoints a representative to BCYF’s governing board, which votes on who receives city-funded grants. Watchdogs say such ties, even when legal, undercut public confidence in how Baltimore stewards taxpayer dollars…