BEL AIR, Md. — Ramps can make all of the difference if people want to age in their homes, and last year, when Occupational Therapist Keisha Jennings-Eakin heard the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development or HUD would provide grants to pay for such upgrades for low-income seniors, she teamed with the Harford County Health Department to apply for the money.
“On August 6, we were notified that the Health Department had been awarded a one-million-dollar grant for three years to service 275 or more low-income seniors in our county,” said Jennings-Eakin.
More than seven months later, not a dime of the money has been put to use and Jennings-Eakin, who once believed she would be the consultant managing the grant, now, has doubts over whether the health department under a new acting director would even contract with her.
At issue is whether the HUD grant was ever meant to go to a sole source or whether it’s required to put it up for competitive bid.
A group, calling itself the Harford County Caucus of African-American Leaders, has picked up Jennings-Eakin’s cause and is demanding the acting health director and county procurement director both be fired.
“In this case, there’s unfairness, there’s untruthfulness in terms of how this has happened to this particular small business owner, African-American female here in Harford County,” said Caucus President James Thornton.
A spokesperson for the health department says HUD has clarified that the grant must be put up for bid since it involves taxpayer dollars.
That leaves Jennings-Eakin in a position where she must wait to bid on the project, if she hopes to make her dream of helping seniors a reality.
