ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Monroe County are looking for a new organization to manage the funds for a nonprofit pilot program after the old organization was ousted for financial mismanagement.

The old fiscal agent for the Neighborhood Collaborative Project (NCP) was the Community Resource Collaborative (CRC). In May of 2023, the CRC started getting county funding to disperse to 12 other nonprofits in the Rochester area.

The NCP was a pilot program, and it ran smoothly for several months. But in January, nonprofits reported that they were having trouble accessing their latest checks from the CRC. On Feb. 5, the CRC reported itself to the county for fiscal mismanagement, and fired an employee.

Since then, it’s been under audit, and the funds have been frozen to both the CRC and to the 12 nonprofits to which it was dispersing funds. The CRC dispersed $1.1 million since May of 2023. The county confirmed Friday that most of that money made it in the right hands, but the audit will determine exactly how much was taken and where it was spent. County representatives also said they don’t believe it was spent on luxury items or real estate.

Assistant County Executive Anthony Plonczynski-Figueroa told News10NBC the Requests for Proposals are open now to replace the CRC, so that the county can get money back in the hands of the NCP members.

“We know those services are unique and critical,” Plonczynski-Figueroa said. “They are the unique providers who can provide that to the community, and oftentimes they don’t get the opportunity to do so. […] If we could wave our magic wands, we would do it right away. But we can’t put a definitive timeline on that, as we want to be fair to the audit process.”

Those nonprofits include three “anchor” agencies: Cameron Street Ministries, the Father Tracy Advocacy Center, and SWAN, Inc. at Montgomery Neighborhood Center.

There is currently no timeline for when the audit will be completed. The county is also still determining if charges will be filed against the employee who was fired.

The deadline for requests for proposals is March 15.