Anita Lopez objected to $15,000 in county funding for El Barrio Latino Art Festival, citing concerns about previous funding to Nuestra Gente.
TOLEDO, Ohio — Nuestra Gente will receive $15,000 from Lucas County taxpayers – despite objections from Commissioner Anita Lopez.
Lopez voted against the funding Tuesday, saying she believes the organization has not provided sufficient documentation showing how prior public funding was spent. The funds are earmarked for Nuestra Gente’s El Barrio Latino Art Festival.
Commissioners Lisa Sobecki and Pete Gerken voted to approve the funding despite Lopez’s concerns.
WTOL 11 reached out to Nuestra Gente Executive Director Linda Parra for comment on Lopez’s claims, as well as Sobecki and Gerken, to ask why they supported the funding. We have not heard back from Parra or Gerken.
In a statement sent to WTOL 11, Sobecki, the president of the Board of Commissioners, did not address Lopez’s concerns that the organization did not account for how it spent past funds.
“The purpose of this year’s Economic Development Partnership Agreements is to provide funding that supports events that enrich our community. The Barrio Latino Art Festival is a longstanding community event that I’m honored to support. That’s why I brought this item before the board today, and I stand by my vote,” said Sobecki.
Lopez said she wants organizations that receive taxpayer money to document how the money will be spent with receipts and a budget.
WTOL 11 confirmed Nuestra Gente received $65,000 of taxpayer money in 2023 from the Lucas County commissioners’ general fund, or community fund.
Emails provided to WTOL 11 by Lopez show that on Friday, May 29, Lopez asked the Mental Health Recovery Services Board (MHRSB) for an update on Nuestra Gente and whether it completed its grant requirements in the last two fiscal years. Lopez said the money from MHRSB is separate from the commissioners’ fund. Scott Sylak, the executive director, said in a reply email that MHRSB “has not provided Nuestra Gente any financial support since MHRSB canceled its ARPA contract in early 2024 for non-compliance.” WTOL 11 reached out to Sylak for more details on the email, but has not heard back.
Chief of Staff & Director of Government Affairs Michael Hart emailed Lopez in August of 2024, stating that the commissioners also gave $65,000 to Nuestra in 2023 and said that she (Nuestra Gente Founder and President Linda Parra) “has not provided sufficient detail to demonstrate that the proposed project has been completed.”
WTOL 11 confirmed via online records that Nuestra Gente, a 501 (c)(3), is in compliance with the Ohio Attorney General’s Office; however, Lopez says the organization is not in compliance, since the list of board members on the AG’s website is not an accurate or up-to-date reflection of current board members. Lopez said she began looking into the organization after citizens brought concerns to her in 2024-25.
“I investigated some of these matters and brought them to the attention of the mental health board. And so, regardless of whether they might be doing some good things in the community, every nonprofit has to submit the proper legal paperwork and financial records to document where those dollars are going,” Lopez said. “And I’m actually advocating for state law to be passed that mandates board members to go to training, so they understand their legal responsibility over the dollars of nonprofits. I’ve talked about this consistently that I’d like mandatory training for our board appointments. I think we don’t have enough checks and balances on where our taxpayers’ dollars are going.”
WTOL 11 reached out to Parra for comment but has not heard back at the time of this publication.
