DHHS cites nonprofit operated by Lt. Governor’s wife for recordkeeping discrepancies

Yolanda Hill Robinson with husband Lt. Governor Mark Robinson celebrating his primary victory on March 2, 2024. (Screengrab from Robinson's campaign YouTube channel)

Balanced Nutrition, Inc., a nonprofit operated by Yolanda Hill, the wife of Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, failed to properly track the number of subsidized meals it provided to its participating childcare centers, according to a 2023 review by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services and obtained by Newsline.

Earlier this month Hill informed clients that she was shutting down her nonprofit because of her husband’s campaign for governor, as reported by The Assembly, saying the demands of the campaign have become impossible for her to continue operating the nonprofit.

But WUNC and CBS17 reported last week that Hill made the abrupt decision as the state was set to conduct a compliance review of her organization. She has since claimed to WRAL that the DHHS was targeting Balanced Nutrition because of her husband.

Hill founded Balanced Nutrition in 2015. The organization helps childcare providers apply for and receive federal funding for kids’ meals under the federal Child and Adult Care Food Program, which is overseen by DHHS.

The DHHS review found that some centers working with Balanced Nutrition reported serving more meals than were actually provided to participants. Agency records provided to Newsline do not indicate how many centers reported the inaccurate figures.

It’s also unclear how many additional meals the centers claimed. However, DHHS cited Balanced Nutrition for discrepancies in its reported figures. The nonprofit helps providers meet program requirements for reimbursement, ensures compliance, and files monthly claims on their behalf, according  to its website.

The DHHS review, which examined five randomly selected centers that Balanced Nutrition worked with, found that Hill’s nonprofit failed to identify violations from some of the childcare centers it was responsible for monitoring, according to documents obtained through a public records request.

In an email to NC Newsline about the DHHS review, Hill disputed the agency’s review of Balanced Nutrition, saying:

“The information you received from NCDHHS, conveniently leaves out that the findings are related to the facilities that we sponsor, they ARE NOT specifically Balanced Nutrition findings. This is not unusual and NO sponsor undergoes a review and there are no findings with their facilities. Those facilities then develop a plan of corrections for those findings which are submitted to the state agency and approved. All of the plan of corrections of facilities that we sponsor completed their plan of corrections and were approved by the state agency.”

DHHS told Newsline that it was “operating under normal federal requirements” in its scheduled compliance reviews for Balanced Nutrition and other organizations in the Child and Adult Care Food Program. The reviews are conducted every two or three years, DHHS said.

The DHHS reviews obtained by Newsline do not specify which of the five facilities had violations. However, a search on the DHHS website of those revealed that multiple violations were identified in 2023 at the Learning As We Go Child Care Center, located in Raleigh.

According to the report, DHHS made an unannounced visit to the facility after allegations surfaced that children were being cared for in an unlicensed space. The audit substantiated these allegations along with other violations, such as inadequate supervision.

Learning As We Go has not responded to an NC Newsline request for comment.

The operator of another of the childcare centers reviewed in 2023 – Fredonia Massey, the director of New Parkers Grove Little Disciples Daycare – said she’s had a good experience working with Balanced Nutrition.

“We have had the pleasure of having Balanced Nutrition Inc. for our sponsoring organization for the last 7 1/2 years,” Massey said.  “Mrs. Yolanda Hill has been great to work with. If I had any questions she would respond promptly. If I was missing anything she would let me know. We are going to truly miss Balanced Nutrition Inc. and Mrs. Yolanda Hill.”

Balanced Nutrition has come under increased scrutiny as Lt. Gov. Robinson campaigns for governor.

“Some of you may or may not be aware that my husband is the Lt. Governor of North Carolina and is currently running for governor of North Carolina,” she wrote in an email to providers. “With that being said, my life has gotten extremely busy over the last few years and those obligations no longer allow me the time to be a sponsoring organization.”

It’s not the first time Balanced Nutrition has been cited by DHHS; none of the violations were significant enough to merit a Notice of Serious Deficiency.

Since its founding in 2015, Balanced Nutrition has undergone three audits: in 2018, 2021, and 2023. According to documents obtained by NC Newsline, the 2021 audit also revealed that the nonprofit failed to correctly classify income eligibility applications for participants.

According to CBS17, last year’s review cited issues such as “timesheets, obtaining prior written approval and completing Income Eligibility Applications.”

Hill told WRAL in an interview last Thursday that her organization has been subjected to unwarranted scrutiny by DHHS due to its connection to her husband. She said that a DHHS employee had circulated Facebook photos of Hill with her husband to other DHHS employees to make them aware of the connection. Hill alleged the employee told colleagues that Hill had misled her about her husband’s identity.

WRAL reported that the employee who purportedly shared the images was at one time in charge of reviewing Balanced Nutrition, but that the case was assigned to a different specialist in March 2023.

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