Mekfira and Abduljabar Hussein were recently sentenced to a combined 97 months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, having obtained about $8.8 million in child nutrition funds. At least seventy-eight defendants have been charged in the investigation into Feeding Our Future. The Minnesota nonprofit organization helped divert $250 million from a federal program: Its sites claimed to have served nearly 90 million meals in 2020 and 2021. Those claims were fraudulent. The ringleader’s conviction and subsequent sentencing in May should have prompted a larger national reckoning.

The social capital divide in America is well documented. Across the country, communities face both social deterioration and economic decline. One tool to help turn around their fortunes is government partnership with nonprofit organizations and faith groups. Those partnerships matter especially where families have few other sources of support. This fraud exploited the way government delivers public services: federal money passes through state agencies to independent local organizations, which may then supervise still more providers.