Embattled recovery and reentry nonprofit F5 Project looks ahead after turbulent year

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FARGO — Less than two months after the state attorney general announced sanctions against the F5 Project, with which the organization "can either comply or it can die," supporters of the reentry and recovery nonprofit rallied behind its participants and mission during a buoyant fundraising event Thursday night, at which CEO Adam Martin apologized for the turbulence of the last year while striking an optimistic tone about the group's future.

As several individuals who went from being incarcerated, addicted, sex trafficked and abused to having steady housing, good jobs and regaining custody of their children thanks to F5's assistance told their personal stories of redemption Thursday night, it was difficult to miss the parallels with the storyline playing out now for the organization that saved them.

Lexi Hills / The Forum

In his first public comments since Attorney General Drew Wrigley's Sept. 23 press conference announcing an enforcement action against F5, stemming from a months-long investigation that found evidence of self-dealing, Martin first credited the professionalism of the F5 staff over the last year.

"I can't imagine what it was like with what you had to read in the papers, then come to work ... but you didn't stop. You still showed up and supported the people in the houses, supported the people in the cities that we're in," Martin said. "Nobody left, and that means a lot to me, and it inspired me to to continue to show up every day."

He specifically credited F5's leadership team, including Chief Operating Officer Jenna Mueller, who he said was responsible for helping the organization dig out from a major financial crisis when she was first hired and guiding F5 with a steady, professional hand during the state audit, as well as Chief Development Officer Scott College, who Martin called his "ride or die."

"You could have gone anywhere and done something else great but I'm so grateful you stuck it out with us," Martin said to College.

Lexi Hills / The Forum

Martin also acknowledged the members of F5's board, which was fully retooled during the investigation.

"When I went to them and asked them to be on the board, they obviously knew what was going on, and they none of them questioned it, and they all joined," he said. "Now at every board meeting we have, it's all about making sure we're doing it the right way ... and making sure that we never end up in a situation like we did."

Finally, Martin added an unlikely pair to his list of thank-yous. In January, Forum Communications columnist Rob Port broke the news that F5 leaders had given themselves illegal, zero-interest personal loans.

"I want to thank Rob Port and the attorney general. I mean, I wouldn't have back in January or even as recently as September, but I've come to the realization that had they not done what they did, we probably wouldn't be here today," he said. "God sent people I can't stand to help save this organization and we put the policies and guardrails in place to save it from me and my lack of skill set."

Lexi Hills / The Forum

The acknowledgment led into what Martin said was the most important thing he wanted to say.

"I'm sorry ... I could give you 100 explanations tonight and excuses and try and put it into context and make sense of all of it ... but I'm not going to do that. You deserve a CEO that's willing to stay, keep his head down, and just put in the work," he said.

Martin said he was "a guy who had a good idea," who's made "plenty of mistakes" along the way and was grateful to now be surrounded by a professional and dedicated staff. He said the most important lesson he'd learned this year was that he needed help.

"We fixed it — Jenna fixed it. We have third-party financial controls now, and we have a board of directors, and people who have a background in business, in policies, in data, leading us. We have a great team," he said. "The people who are here now are knowledgeable, they're loving, they're graceful and they're dedicated. And we're going to go to the next level. We're not done."

Lexi Hills / The Forum

In an interview with The Forum earlier this week, Martin said the last year has been a wake-up call for the kind of magnifying glass under which F5 will likely always be.

"I didn't realize how political F5 can be, not by our own doing, but just because of the type of work we do it creates a very heightened response to us, so no matter what we do — when we make a mistake or when we do great things — it's going to be all over the media. It's going to make news," he said.

Martin told The Forum the vast majority of F5's financial backers haven't wavered in their support, and while the organization did lose a handful, it gained more donors than it lost as F5's financial woes and legal troubles played out publicly over the last year. Despite that, he told the crowd Thursday, F5 is not yet completely financially stable.

"We're still digging out of the the dirt from where we used to be. We rely on contracts and donations and grants," he said, adding that one particular program, the Akisni Warrior Lodge located inside the James River Correctional Center had run out of grant funding 11 months ago.

Overall, Martin told supporters, F5 is "in a better place" than it was at the beginning of this year, before the investigation into the group's finances began.

"We're going to continue to move forward," he said. "We will comply, as we have been, and we will not die."

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• DREW WRIGLEY
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• Tasha Carvell

Tasha covers the criminal justice system and North Dakota's congressional delegation for The Forum. She can be reached at 701-241-5527 or [email protected].

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