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Tampa Nonprofit Faces Scrutiny After Getting Federal Grant

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By CHRISTIAN M. WADE

cwade@tampatrib.com

Published: December 25, 2008

TAMPA - An East Tampa nonprofit organization is under scrutiny from the city after falling short on a plan to create new jobs with a $250,000 federal development grant.

The Corporation to Develop Communities of Tampa, known as the CDC, received approval for the Community Development Block Grant in 2005, pledging that the money would be used to renovate a building on East Hillsborough Avenue and create 100 call center jobs.

But the firm that was supposed to lease half the property, Telesis Solutions Inc., pulled out of the deal and the jobs have evaporated.

Last Thursday, the city council approved a request from the administration to place a lien on the building and imposed other restrictions on the final disbursement of the money, including a requirement that the nonprofit group needs to find a new tenant for the enterprise center within one year and create at least seven good-paying jobs with the money.

"If they don't meet the obligations of the grant they will be required to repay the money to the city," said Sharon West, the city's housing and community development manager.

Executive director Toni Watts said the CDC has been hit hard by the recession.

"It's not easy to create jobs in this economy," she said. "Especially for nonprofit groups."

Watts said the CDC is seeking a new tenant to occupy the enterprise center.

The project's setbacks are among the most recent money woes facing the nonprofit.

CDC is also on the hook for a $700,000 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grant that was intended to create new jobs at a now-defunct steel manufacturing plant.

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