Starting in 2026, Ernest Stellingwerff will take over as interim executive director for Hastings-based nonprofit Rise Up Recovery. Stellingwerff will be taking over for former Executive Director and Founder Tiffany Neuharth as she steps away to lead Lionheart Recovery, the clinical treatment organization that started last year.
Rise Up Recovery is a recovery community organization that provides peer recovery support services, recovery housing, advocacy and community education.
Stellingwerff has been with Rise Up Recovery for three years, starting as the house manager for Providence House, one of the nonprofit’s recovery housing options, before moving to a teaching and development role. Stellingwerff previously led the recovery coach academy that taught peer recovery services that “provide support, guidance, and advocacy to others navigating their own paths to recovery,” according to Rise Up Recovery’s website.
“Initially I was uncertain,” said Stellingwerff about taking up the title of interim executive director, but eventually agreed.
Stellingwerff is expected to hold the title for at least three months before either becoming the permanent executive director or the board finds a different candidate.
Looking forward to the next year, one of the key issues for the nonprofit is navigating the political environment in Minnesota as fraud, especially within social services, has become a major issue within the state.
Transparency and accountability are top of mind for Stellingwerff in taking over the reins of the organization.
“We need to be that much more disciplined when managing what we do and how we document it,” said Stellingwerff.
Fraud in social services within the state, from Medicaid to housing to pandemic-era subsidies, has become a focus in politics far beyond St. Paul.
The Feeding Our Futures fraud, which involved billing the federal government for reimbursement for serving meals to children, was called “the largest pandemic fraud in the United States,” by former US Attorney for Minnesota Andy Luger in 2022.
It is currently estimated that fraudulent services provided by Feeding Our Futures totals $250 million, according to court documents in the conviction of Aimee Bock, Feeding Our Futures founder and Salim Said, a Twin Cities restauranteur involved in the scheme.
“The defendants falsely claimed to have served 91 million meals, for which they fraudulently received nearly $250 million in federal funds. That money did not go to feed kids. Instead, it was used to fund their lavish lifestyles,” said current US Attorney for Minnesota Lisa D. Kirkpatrick.
Last month, federal prosecutors announced a slew of charges across several ongoing investigations into fraud within the state involving Medicaid reimbursement for housing and a St. Cloud autism center.
These cases further caught the ire of the federal government prompting a halt in federal child care assistance grants from the Department of Health and Human Services last month.
While Stellingwerff is open that the increased scrutiny and accountability for nonprofits is “probably a good thing,” recent changes have already affected Rise Up Recovery.
First and foremost, the government grant that provided a major source of income for Rise Up Recovery over the last three years was not renewed, leaving the financials for the nonprofit uncertain.
“We do have some challenges on the financial side of things,” said Stellingwerff.
Businesses and individuals have also become more hesitant in donating in recent months as well, according to Stellingwerff.
“There has been a drop not just in grants, but people have been cautious about giving,” said Stellingwerff.
Moving forward, a goal of the nonprofit is “diversifying funding,” said Stellingwerff. How exactly that might look is unclear. Stellingwerff mentioned a range of options from further cooperation within the community to leveraging new services that could both provide employment to those in recovery while providing income to the nonprofit to simply bake sales.
Despite those hardships, Stellingwerff sees the increased focus on documentation, accountability and transparency as a way to “increase controls” for the nonprofit in order to “prove integrity and drive improvement.”