Why Should Delaware Care?
The Police Athletic League of Delaware, which serves hundreds of children in New Castle County, is one of dozens of nonprofits that are regularly funded by taxpayers. Up until last year, it also was one of a handful of organizations led by a lawmaker. Today, its youth operations face issues after the state froze its latest round of grants.
Two months after former-House Speaker Valerie Longhurst quietly resigned from the Police Athletic League of Delaware, two county police officers are overseeing the cash-strapped and taxpayer-funded organization through a budding financial crisis.
In a presentation Tuesday to the New Castle County Council, those officers laid out the challenging path ahead for the community center organization as it faces a criminal investigation, and an audit that could force it to pay out hundreds of thousands of dollars it likely does not have.
They also noted that the PAL of Delaware, as it’s known, laid off staff and in past months even closed one of its three facilities for several days.
Despite the turmoil and the lean staff, New Castle County Police Lt. Angela Dolan told the county council that the nonprofit’s free youth programs are continuing for hundreds of kids during the new school year.
She described a litany of activities, including a basketball league, a flag football league, a soccer clinic, a Lego league, a book club, and an art club, among others. Then she expressed dismay over what she feared could be the organization’s future.
“When you see these kids come in and love what they’re doing and what they’re being exposed to, it’s really hard to think that this could end,” said Dolan, who is serving as the interim executive director of the PAL of Delaware.
Dolan shared the comments after her boss – New Castle County’s police chief, Col. Jamie Leonard – made his own presentation to the county council. In it, he revealed that the PAL of Delaware is facing an audit from a company contracted to scrutinize the organization’s use of federal dollars distributed during the COVID pandemic.
In 2024, the PAL of Delaware received a record-high $5 million from taxpayers, as well as hundreds of thousands more in 2025. The money included $1.5 million from the federal government that then-Gov. John Carney’s office had distributed to the PAL of Delaware as part of his office’s COVID relief efforts.
Now, the nonprofit could be forced to pay back as much as $700,000, Leonard told the New Castle County Council.
“The potential exists for that to be a very cumbersome liability that would be placed on the PAL,” Leonard said.
Leonard said he expects to receive an update from the auditor “within the month.”
The audit adds to a criminal inquiry the Delaware Department of Justice is conducting into how the PAL of Delaware has spent taxpayer dollars.
Left unsaid throughout Leonard’s presentations was any mention of Longhurst by name, who served as the PAL’s executive director until last August and as Delaware’s Speaker of the House until one year ago.
In one bright spot, Leonard told the county council that state officials had recently released taxpayer grants to the PAL of Delaware that they previously froze in July.
In August, one lawmaker told Spotlight Delaware she pushed for the pause in the distribution of the $500,000 in grants after Longhurst provided “inconsistent information,” about the amount of money the PAL needed.
‘Cash-flow problems’
The audit and criminal investigation into the PAL of Delaware began after Spotlight Delaware reported in August that Longhurst resigned after the nonprofit’s cash reserves had dwindled over the previous year.
Following her resignation, Leonard became chair of the organization, replacing previous board chairman Brian Moore. Dolan then became the PAL of Delaware’s interim executive director, replacing Longhurst.
In an interview in August, Leonard said the PAL of Delaware had “cash-flow problems,” though he said an accountant would have to perform a detailed financial analysis to determine whether anyone had acted inappropriately.
“Here are the brass tacks … the operating expenditures outpaced the revenue,” he said then.
The PAL of Delaware is a separate entity with separate governance from the Police Athletic League of Wilmington and the Police Athletic League of Dover.
Like those other organizations and similar ones across the country, the PAL of Delaware operates athletic, arts and academic programs for children throughout the year. It does so at community center locations in Hockessin, Delaware City and suburban New Castle – settings that put children in contact with law enforcement.
The nonprofit also has been an integral piece of Delaware’s political landscape, with elected officials regularly making public appearances at its locations.
And, up until last year, it also was one of several prominent Delaware organizations led by a state lawmaker.
That ended a year ago when Longhurst – then among the most powerful politicians in Delaware – surprisingly lost her seat representing the Bear area to now-Rep. Kamela Smith, a Democrat.
Asked during the presentation Tuesday when the PAL of Delaware will hire a permanent executive director, Leonard said it first needs to “clear up” its issue around the audit.
“Our ultimate goal is to have that all work itself out, then to advertise that position,” he said.
