By Brian Slodysko and Bill Barrow
In his bid to become North Carolina’s first Black governor, (click here) Republican Mark Robinson assails government safety net spending as a “plantation of welfare and victimhood” that has mired generations of Black people in “dependency” and poverty.
But the lieutenant governor’s political rise wouldn’t have been possible without it.
Over the past decade, Robinson’s household has relied on income from Balanced Nutrition Inc., (click here) a nonprofit founded by his wife, Yolanda Hill, that administered a free lunch program for North Carolina children. The organization, funded entirely by taxpayers, has collected roughly $7 million in government funding since 2017, while paying out at least $830,000 in salaries to Hill, Robinson and other members of their family, tax filings and state documents show.
The income offered the Robinsons a degree of stability after decades of struggle that included multiple bankruptcies, home foreclosure and misdemeanor charges — later dropped — for writing bad checks. In Robinson’s telling, the financial turnaround provided by the organization also allowed for his ascent into the North Carolina government....
There are some inconsistencies.
April 11, 2024
By Michael Hyland
By Michael Hyland
...If Mark Robinson (click here) truly wants us to believe that he is THE MAN to properly steer and guide our ship of state for the next four to eight years, he and his people need to clear a few things up with us.
The decision by Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s wife Yolanda Hill (click here) to end the primary work of her nonprofit Balanced Nutrition came as the state was set to conduct a compliance review of the organization this week, documents obtained by CBS 17 show.
The nonprofit, which Hill started in 2015, has been under scrutiny as Robinson campaigns for governor.
Balanced Nutrition serves as a sponsoring organization under the federal Child and Adult Care Food Program, which the state Dept. of Health and Human Services administers in North Carolina. According to Balanced Nutrition’s website, the nonprofit helps childcare providers navigate that program to get access to federal subsidies to help provide meals to children....
The decision by Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s wife Yolanda Hill (click here) to end the primary work of her nonprofit Balanced Nutrition came as the state was set to conduct a compliance review of the organization this week, documents obtained by CBS 17 show.
The nonprofit, which Hill started in 2015, has been under scrutiny as Robinson campaigns for governor.
Balanced Nutrition serves as a sponsoring organization under the federal Child and Adult Care Food Program, which the state Dept. of Health and Human Services administers in North Carolina. According to Balanced Nutrition’s website, the nonprofit helps childcare providers navigate that program to get access to federal subsidies to help provide meals to children....
