This story was originally published by The Modesto Focus.
The meteoric rise in recent years of Legacy Alliance Outreach, a nonprofit once idolized by elected and civic leaders in Modesto and Stanislaus County and backed by millions of dollars in public money, stands in stark contrast to its dramatic fall.
Since being dismissed from multimillion-dollar government grants in March, Legacy Alliance and its founder, Michael Baldwin Sr., have come under FBI investigation, he and others confirmed.
Baldwin told The Modesto Focus that he and the nonprofit are victims of racist envy of Legacy’s profound success among marginalized communities in uplifting former inmates and society’s downtrodden. He and a new executive director said Legacy continues to offer help with volunteers despite running out of money to pay staff.
“I’ve done the best I could,” Baldwin, 54, said in an Oct. 20 interview. “They can investigate all day long. They’re going to find out we’ve done a lot of good. Sure, we had growing pains and in some areas we were not as sharp, but they’re definitely not going to find anything criminal.”
Meanwhile, a county-sponsored walk-in center for people leaving custody called The Hub opened Oct. 20 at 707 14th St., a short walk from the county jail and courthouse in downtown Modesto. It’s partly meant to fill a void of services for the formerly incarcerated since Legacy Alliance’s fall from grace, and in time will also serve as a gateway to mental health, substance recovery, housing and job services, county officials say.
The FBI did not return messages seeking comment. Stanislaus Sheriff Jeff Dirkse said his people are not involved in the probe, and Modesto Police Chief Brandon Gillespie said he won’t comment.
Legacy Alliance’s meteoric rise in Modesto
Not long ago, Baldwin and Legacy Alliance were nonprofit darlings of local law enforcement agencies and community groups impressed with the organization’s uncanny ability to reach and reform people on society’s fringe. Legacy landed several government contracts worth millions of dollars, while Baldwin was feted at community events and lauded in the media. Agencies across California and beyond considered modeling their own programs on the rising star in Modesto.
Baldwin’s personal redemption story seemed to resonate. Convicted of attempted rape by force, he had spent 26 years behind bars, the last 18 leading restorative justice programs involving 10,000 inmates. Upon his release, Baldwin vowed to develop the kind of services that weren’t around to help him, he said.
In 2021, Baldwin began leading Modesto Police Department’s Race and Cultural Relations Coaching series, a 19-week awareness program bringing officers and community members together. By September 2024, 41% of Modesto police officers had gone through Baldwin’s training, The Modesto Bee reported.
Baldwin increasingly found himself in the spotlight. In late 2021, he spoke at a Kwanzaa social. In 2022, he was recognized at Christian Love Baptist Church’s Martin Luther King Jr. birthday observance, and in 2023, Baldwin was the keynote speaker at another MLK event at west Modesto’s King-Kennedy Memorial Center.
Big government contracts came Legacy’s way.
In 2022, the nonprofit was awarded $811,800 to provide reentry services in a crime-reduction partnership with City Hall, Modesto City Schools and El Concilio. The same year, Modesto leaders approved a $295,500 three-year extension of Baldwin’s race coaching series.
County leaders in June 2023 decided to create a local pilot version of Father Boyle’s famed Homeboy Industries reentry network in Los Angeles, and in March 2024 approved giving Legacy $1.6 million to run it. Local restaurant owner and philanthropist Ann Endsley gifted Legacy a building just off Highway 99, at 104 Calaveras Ave., that would become the nonprofit’s headquarters, a project valued at $25 million to $30 million, The Bee reported in late 2024.
A falling out with Modesto and Stanislaus County
The walls came crashing down earlier this year when Modesto and Stanislaus agencies administering various contracts uncovered financial discrepancies, several sources said.
The Modesto Focus spoke to and reviewed more than three dozen people and source documents for this story. Multiple associates and former employees of Legacy Alliance Outreach said they fear reprisals and asked not to be identified. They do not appear in this report except where their witness serves to corroborate information presented by others. Interviews with Legacy principals confirmed they’re thinking about suing.
“While fulfilling our oversight duties,” Stanislaus Public Defender Jennifer Jennison said in an email, “our team identified irregularities and took immediate steps to investigate and escalate the concerns.”
A March 19 letter terminating Legacy’s contract was signed by the county’s purchasing agent. “The County is informed and believes that Legacy Outreach Alliance has requested reimbursement of costs in a manner not consistent with the Agreement,” it reads.
In a recent interview, county CEO Jody Hayes said his people are still in the process of reviewing records.
“Once completed, we will take whatever actions are appropriate,” he said.
A former Legacy Alliance employee said soon after being paroled, he initially worked eight hours a day, sometimes more, but was paid for five.
“When you’re fresh out of prison after 27½ years, you’re on eggshells, you don’t want to ruffle feathers,” Jackie Lorona said. “You’re coming out to nothing, so you’ll take whatever they give. Michael had some people believing he was a god. You don’t question God.”
Another former employee said Legacy submitted invoices for trainings that were never held. Baldwin told staff there was no money for training, and staff later learned that training money had been built into the grants, said the employee, who asked not to be identified, saying they and others had been threatened.
Two former members of the nonprofit’s board of directors said they initially were enamored with Legacy’s mission – helping those leaving custody get a foothold in a society that too often turns a cold shoulder. Neither saw evidence of wrongdoing, they said in separate interviews. But both quit in frustration after repeatedly asking for and being denied basic financial information, they said.
“The numbers were incomplete and not adding up,” said former board member Matthew Mason. “The board consistently and repeatedly asked for financials and never got them. At the same time, we were told that that wasn’t (the board’s) responsibility, but to act like a fundraising committee for the organization.”
The other former board member, asking to remain nameless, shared similar concerns.
Transparency for nonprofits essential for public trust
Guidestar, a database providing nonprofit information to the public, advises nonprofits to foster goodwill by embracing openness: “Share stories about your impact and be transparent about how decisions are made. Regular updates help members feel connected to the cause, reinforce the value of their contributions, and build trust.”
Baldwin acknowledged gaps in his operation.
“Part of running Legacy, I had no idea how to do. The county said they were going to help me do those parts,” he said, “but they never helped, they just copied my ideas. In a lot of ways I feel (I was) utilized to flush out ideas and show it could happen.”
Baldwin said a well-dressed Black man drawing accolades apparently rubbed some in power the wrong way.
“When people became envious, I became a target,” he said. “To dress like I do and drive the cars I drive, I’m too fancy for our county, I’m supposed to not be flashy. There’s a lot of overt and covert racism in our county.”
After city and county administrators canceled Legacy’s funding, Baldwin turned for help to Nick Hill III, a Bakersfield entrepreneur with decades of experience improving businesses and nonprofit organizations. Hill said he found problems when he dug into Legacy’s books.
“The controls were off when I got there. I couldn’t get a P&L (profit and loss) or balance sheet or make heads or tails out of their finances. So I went all the way back from scratch, and I was able to get it all straightened out,” Hill said.
Funds for Legacy’s most lucrative contracts originated with the Board of State Community Corrections and had been awarded by Stanislaus leaders. Hill and Baldwin received documentation from BSCC, they said, citing wrongdoing found in a county-sponsored audit as the basis for terminating the funding.
But when Hill and Baldwin met with county leaders and asked to see the audit, none was produced, they said.
“They created a false narrative to take the grants away,” Hill said. “They took everything away without due process or discovery or giving us a chance to respond.”
Legacy – which once found jobs and housing for scores of people with criminal backgrounds, in addition to running youth mentoring programs and a clothes closet – now has no money, Hill said. With a few volunteers, the nonprofit continues to offer classes building skills in anger management, emotional regulation and conflict resolution, Hill said.
Hill’s experience includes resurrecting an Elks lodge in Kern County and running an entrepreneurial program that has awarded $10,000 grants to 27 recipients, he said. He emerged from semi-retirement to take on Legacy Alliance’s cause, commutes to Modesto once or twice a week, and recently put in $14,000 of his own money to keep Legacy’s lights on, Hill said.
“I assist struggling nonprofits. I advocate for people. That’s what I’m doing,” Hill said. “Michael feels betrayed. When someone is in prison for 26 years then starts a program like this, of course there are going to be errors. It doesn’t mean these things are criminal. And Legacy has changed the lives of so many people.”
Many Modesto, Stanislaus testimonies back Legacy
A parade of Legacy supporters spoke during the public comment portion of the Stanislaus Board of Supervisors’ April 15 meeting, many sharing moving testimony of the nonprofit’s value.
Amelia Riveira Solomona said she lived for years in a tent along the highway before meeting Baldwin at a food giveaway.
“In my years on the streets, I lost hope in people, but something in his genuine approach reached me,” she said. “Joining Legacy Alliance Outreach was a turning point in my life. I came in raw, with little self-governance and a heart burdened by trauma, but I began to heal.”
She moved into a shelter, then transitional housing, regained custody of her children and recently married, she said.
Arturo, who only gave his first name during public comment, said he carried pliers to remove his rotted teeth when he was living on the streets before coming to Legacy. Now he’s housed and graduated from a trucking academy, he said.
Darnell Green said he was born and raised in Modesto and spent 27 years in prison before “brick by brick, rebuilding myself” with the help of Legacy, whose staff he joined to help at-risk youth.
“It’s bad out there, but I’m out there every day in the neighborhoods, sharing my testimony and bringing them home,” he said.
After serving 13 prison sentences, Raul Rivera said he heard voices while smoking meth before Legacy “gave me the tools I needed, a place to grow at my own pace.”
Donald Doetsch was incarcerated twice for a total of 44 years, he said, before Legacy’s help to battle addiction “made life easier, better, more productive and meaningful.”
In all, 21 people sang Legacy’s praises that day. Some said Baldwin had rallied them to defend against vague rumors. Baldwin appealed for renewed support to continue providing critically needed services.
“We see ourselves as God’s hands and feet,” he told supervisors.
In an Oct. 17 interview, County Supervisor Terry Withrow said all are innocent until proven otherwise.
“What Michael Baldwin was doing was working, and with no money he’s still doing stuff,” Withrow said. “I haven’t given up on Michael Baldwin yet. His program is all about second chances. Maybe we need to give him a second chance. I just want the guy to get a fair shake. Either he’s clean or he’s not.”
A component of the FBI investigation appears to focus on Baldwin’s romantic relationships, Hill and Withrow said. One Modesto woman, Nastajah Brown, wrote in The Black Wall Street Times of an experience she said she had with him in a July 2024 first-person Voices piece titled “Safe Spaces Shattered.”
Agents served search warrants in the spring and August at Legacy’s Modesto offices on McHenry and Calaveras avenues, at Baldwin’s home, and at the home of a Legacy employee, Hill said. They seized documents, laptops and cell phones which have not been returned, he said.
Replacement reentry help on the way for Modesto
All interviewed by The Modesto Focus said services formerly provided by Legacy Alliance Outreach, particularly reentry support, are direly needed.
In 2022, Modesto had 766 parolees, and 2,014 adults and 137 youths were on probation, said a city grant application seeking reentry dollars for Legacy, among other partners. Aggravated assaults in Modesto in 2019 were more than twice the state average, the document said.
During Legacy’s spiral, the agency that detected financial “irregularities” – the Stanislaus Public Defender’s Office – began putting together an alternate plan to fill the void.
Assisted by Withrow, District Attorney Jeff Laugero, county social services administrators, a Modesto Junior College representative and others, Jennison designed a drop-in center for people leaving jail or prison. Court-ordered classes have started on site.
The Hub will help those whom Legacy no longer can, said Jennison, sharing her “career-long desire to be able to assist clients not just with their criminal cases but with the underlying causes that led them into the criminal legal system.”
Visitors soon will receive legal help for court cases, warrants and more without an appointment, Jennison said. They’ll also be connected to help with housing, jobs, mental health and recovery services – and reentry programs, she said.
Several agencies will staff Hub desks to provide immediate help, including Friends Outside, the renowned reentry program based in Stockton, Jennison said. The Hub’s first community event – an expungement clinic to help former offenders erase criminal records – is scheduled 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Nov. 7, and walk-ins are welcome.
The Hub is informed by Partners for Justice, a national organization hired by Jennison to help her build a Client Support Program helping the accused with not just criminal defense, but other aspects of life. In its third year, the program now employs 10 client support specialists and four social workers.
Any overlap with Legacy is yet to be seen.
“I believe it’s healthy for us to have competing organizations,” Baldwin said. “Why not compete to help people, not to destroy people? Instead of disparaging my name and Legacy’s, how about we wage a healthy competition? Not to defame each other or put each other down, but to save peoples’ lives.”
Garth Stapley is the accountability reporter for The Modesto Focus, a project of the nonprofit Central Valley Journalism Collaborative.