Berkeley paid roughly $607,000 to a nonprofit and its subcontractor for a state-funded youth cannabis program, but a local evaluation and city records indicate that large chunks of the work never occurred. The one-million-dollar Prop 64 grant was partly returned to the state after the program missed targets and failed to deliver the promised ad campaign or peer-led trainings. City staff say they reviewed invoices and withheld some payments, yet the outcome has fueled fresh calls for tighter contracts and stronger oversight.
County evaluators found core deliverables unmet
According to a local evaluation published by the Board of State and Community Corrections, Berkeley Youth Alternatives and its subcontractor failed to meet many of the contract’s central objectives. Evaluators reported that the peer-educator component never produced training for other students. They also found that BYA reported serving 48 counseling clients over three years, even after the city had already negotiated counseling enrollment targets down from an original range of 75 to 180 students to a lower…..