Tacoma Urban League CEO Desireé Wilkins Finch urged the state to send a chunk of Community Reinvestment Project money to a private consulting outfit she founded, and the Department of Commerce was not having it. The proposed award triggered a deeper look at multiple CRP grants in Pierce County, and Finch has been on paid administrative leave since November 2025 while the nonprofit and state officials comb through paperwork. The flap has revived a familiar local question: can by and for funding be handed out without landing in a conflict-of-interest mess, or at least looking like one?
State Blocks Proposed Award
The Department of Commerce told reporters it “discovered a conflict present in the proposed award list” and refused to approve certain payments tied to the Tacoma Urban League’s picks, according to The News Tribune. That list included a $50,000 request involving Rise LWP, a consulting firm founded by Wilkins Finch, which Commerce said posed a conflict of interest. State officials say they are reviewing at least two awards and are working with the Urban League to confirm that the state contract’s rules were actually followed.
Different Channels, Different Rules
CRP money did not all travel through a single pipeline. The Greater Tacoma Community Foundation ran a Pierce County Local Advisory Team, and its Round 1 award list shows Rise LWP as a recipient for $100,000, according to Greater Tacoma Community Foundation. Separately, local reporting notes that the Tacoma Urban League worked under a roughly $1.5 million state contract to distribute a different pot of CRP funds, the pool Commerce has been scrutinizing in recent weeks.
Awards Connected To Insiders Draw Scrutiny
Records obtained by reporters indicate that close to $200,000 in CRP grants went to businesses tied to current or former Tacoma Urban League board members, recent staffers or people who served on selection committees. That tally includes a $100,000 award to Potential Unleashed Consulting and a $50,000 award to eight-twenty-eight, as reported by The News Tribune. Those overlaps fueled community complaints and whistleblower questions about whether the program’s by and for goals and its conflict rules were being taken seriously. The Urban League’s board says it has launched an independent review to tackle both internal and public concerns.
Reaction From Leadership
Wilkins Finch and her representatives reject allegations of wrongdoing and say she followed the guidance she was given while carrying out the CRP contract. The Tacoma Black Fund, an initiative she started that now operates under the Urban League umbrella, notes in its FAQ that she “temporarily stepped back from formal leadership” during the CRP process. Local reporting that recaps the state’s response and her paid leave status appears in coverage that republishes the original News Tribune investigation…