The Hope Florida Foundation is the charity arm of Hope Florida, an initiative ran by Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis to connect struggling Floridians to nonprofit resources. ¹

In April 2025, the Republican-controlled Florida state legislature launched an investigation into the foundation and questioned whether it improperly functioned as a passthrough for $10 million in Medicaid funds to contribute to a political committee opposing recreational marijuana use. ^{2 3}

Background

The Hope Florida Foundation is the charity arm of Hope Florida, a welfare assistance program spearheaded by Casey DeSantis in her role as the state’s First Lady during the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). ^{1 1} Casey DeSantis launched Hope Florida on September 9th, 2021. ⁴ On August 25th, 2023, the Hope Florida Foundation was created as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit to support the Department of Children and Families in a role that is “exclusively charitable,” according to its articles of incorporation. ⁵

The nonprofit charity arm is associated with the Florida Department of Children and Families. ⁶

Joshua Hay, chairman of the Hope Florida Foundation Inc., is the founder and CEO of Indelible. His company has had more than 30 contracts totaling more than $119 million with state agencies, including the Department of Children and Families, since 2021. ⁷

A joint-legislative committee approved the transfer of $20.7 million in unspent COVID-19 federal housing assistance funds to the Hope Florida Foundation. ⁶

In August 2024, the Florida Department of Children and Families did not publish the foundation’s tax documents, fiscal plan, code of ethics, mission, and results as critics said it was legally required to do annually. ⁵

Amid controversy, a spokesperson for Ron and Casey DeSantis said they played no role in the foundation. ⁵

Activities

Hope Florida Initiative

The Hope Florida initiative is intended to connect eligible residents with churches and other charities across Florida that offer alternative services meant to replace government cash assistance programs. The Florida Department of Children and Families oversees the initiative. ⁸

In August 2022, almost a year after its launch, Casey DeSantis wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal explaining that as a mother of three young children she was motivated to create the initiative: “I poured my heart and soul into finding better ways to help our state’s struggling parents and their children.” She added, “I also understand government’s role must be limited, accountable and nonexclusive.” She said that uniting communities is a better path to prosperity than “more bloated bureaucracies.” ⁹

As of May 2025, the Hope Florida initiative website said it served more than 100,000 Floridians and helped more than 25,500 Hope Florida participants to reduce or eliminate reliance on public assistance. Hope Florida says it has 42 locations across the state for individuals to receive in-person assistance from a “Hope Navigator” and a Hope Florida bus for deployment in cases of emergency. ⁴

In defending the program in April 2025, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and other administration officials said the initiative has helped transition 30,000 people off government assistance and saved Florida taxpayers $100 million. ⁵

Hope Florida calls its experts “Hope Navigators” with the job of working with individuals to identify their immediate barriers to prosperity and “engage all sectors of the community to be a crucial part of the solution.” ¹⁰ It asserts that “more government is not always the best solution to the problem.” ¹⁰

Controversy

In 2024, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration and the health care firm Centene Corporation, Florida’s largest Medicaid contractor, reached a $67 million settlement. A $10 million portion of the settlement ended up going to the Hope Florida Foundation. ^{1 3}

In October 2024, the Hope Florida Foundation board was formally notified of the $10 million in funding, more than 10 times what the charity raised the previous fiscal year. The board was also briefed on an application for a $5 million grant from Secure Florida’s Future. ⁵

That same month, the Hope Florida Foundation gave $5 million to Secure Florida’s Future. Also in October, the foundation issued a $5 million grant to Save Our Society from Drugs. ⁵

The two organizations that got $5 million each in grants from the Hope Florida Foundation later contributed a total of $8.5 million to Keep Florida Clean, a political committee dedicated to defeating Florida’s recreational marijuana ballot measure in November 2024, known as Amendment 3. James Uthmeier, the former chief of staff for Gov. Ron DeSantis, controlled Keep Florida Clean. ¹ In 2025, DeSantis appointed Uthmeier as state attorney general. ³

Jeff Aaron, attorney for the Hope Florida Foundation, said money from the Centene settlement was not sent to political committees, and he said he was “confident nothing was illegal.” A spokesperson for Gov. Ron DeSantis‘s (R) Florida Freedom Fund political committee said it was “absolutely false” that any of the Centene settlement funds went to the campaign against the marijuana amendment. ¹

In April 2025, the Republican-controlled Florida legislature launched an investigation into whether the $10 million was improperly used to fund a campaign against the recreational marijuana ballot measure. ³

Joshua Hay, chairman of the Hope Florida Foundation Inc., told the state House Health Care Budget Subcommittee under oath in April 2025 that “mistakes were made.” ⁷

The House probe ended in the last week of April 2025. Florida state Rep. Alex Andrade (R-Pensacola), chairman of the House Health Care Budget Subcommittee and a DeSantis critic, said the U.S. Justice Department should investigate the matter. Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez (R-Miami) said the legislature could resume an investigation of the matter in the next session. ¹¹

1. Vassolo, Martin. “The Hope Florida controversy, explained: Why Casey DeSantis’ program is under scrutiny.” Axios. April 11, 2025. Accessed May 3, 2025. https://www.axios.com/local/miami/2025/04/11/hope-florida-casey-desantis-donation
2. ^[1] Vassolo, Martin. “The Hope Florida controversy, explained: Why Casey DeSantis’ program is under scrutiny.” Axios. April 11, 2025. Accessed May 3, 2025. https://www.axios.com/local/miami/2025/04/11/hope-florida-casey-desantis-donation
3. Manchester, Julia. “DeSantis faces growing storm over Hope Florida controversy.” The Hill. April 23, 2025. Accessed May 3, 2025. https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5261542-florida-gov-ron-desantis-hope-florida-scandal/.
4. About Us. Timeline.” Hope Florida Foundation. Accessed May 3, 2025. https://hopeflorida.com/about-us/timeline.html
5. Associated Press. “Hope Florida: A timeline of how a DeSantis-backed state charity was accused of wrongdoing.” WESH. April 28, 2025. Accessed May 3, 2025. https://www.wesh.com/article/hope-florida-timeline-desantis-backed-charity-accused-wrongdoing/64611867
6.  Sarkissian, Arek and Fineout, Gary. “DeSantis’ Hope Florida scrutiny deepens amid new revelations on $10M payment.” Politico. April 11, 2025. Accessed May 3, 2025. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/11/desantis-hope-florida-scrutiny-deepens-amid-new-revelations-on-10m-payment-00287358
7. CBS Miami Team. “Hope Florida Foundation chair admits ‘mistakes were made,’ lawmakers demand answers.” CBS News. April 16, 2025. Accessed May 3, 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/hope-florida-foundation-chair-admits-mistakes-were-made-lawmakers-demand-answers/
8. Sarkissian, Arek. “Inside the Hope Florida controversy — and what it means for the DeSantises’ future.” Politico. April 29, 2025. Accessed May 3, 2025 https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/29/inside-the-hope-florida-controversy-and-what-it-means-for-the-desantises-future-00314289
9. DeSantis, Casey. “Florida Helps, Then Gets Out of the Way.” Wall Street Journal. August 10, 2022. Accessed May 3, 2025. https://www.wsj.com/opinion/florida-helps-then-gets-out-of-the-way-desantis-government-community-children-family-parents-nonprofit-11660162169
10. “About Us.” Hope Florida Foundation. Accessed May 3, 2025. https://hopeflorida.com/about-us/
11. Manchester, Julia. “Questions remain even as state’s Hope Florida Foundation probe ends.” May 3, 2025. Accessed May 3, 2025. https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5280343-hope-florida-foundation-investigation-desantis-questions/