Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard stepped up efforts to distance herself from the cancer foundation bearing her name after the Illinois Attorney General’s office banned the nonprofit from raising money and indicated the latest paperwork it filed with the state failed to provide basic information.
In an appearance last week on a prominent national webcast, Henyard, who is also the Thornton Township supervisor, told former CNN host Roland Martin that she doesn’t “have a foundation” and doesn’t know anything about the state intervening in the operation of the Tiffany Henyard Cares Foundation.
“If someone uses my name to push their charity or if you say ‘this is [a] Tiffany t-shirt’ people gonna buy it,” said Henyard, who appeared on the #RolandMartinUnfiltered webcast amid news reports that she is under FBI investigation. “People make money off my name … ”
Henyard’s current efforts to dissociate herself from the foundation is in stark contrast to the time she spent in 2022 promoting the foundation and raising money for it, and her close personal and professional ties to the foundation’s leadership.
Henyard did not return phone calls and emails this week seeking comment.
But last year, Henyard told Illinois Answers Project and FOX 32 Chicago that she is “the face of the foundation” but also “my face is nowhere” near the operation or its leadership, which consists of people who work for her in south suburban government, including her boyfriend, according to court records. A new filing in a separate court case alleges the nonprofit has paid him to serve on the board but doesn’t specify how much.
Henyard also vigorously promoted the foundation during a trip to Springfield that lasted more than a week in October 2022. The trip aimed to support a bill to help cancer victims, but the bill was never filed, and the State Legislature was not in session.
During the journey, Henyard rode an electric bicycle with the phrases “Super Mayor” and “Tiffany A. Henyard Cares Foundation” on the bicycle’s frame. Along the way she promoted T-shirts and sweatshirts for sale that displayed the name of the foundation and her signature.
“Again if you want to be part of our movement, the Tiffany Henyard Cares Foundation, you can go to THCares.org and you can donate today,” she said in a video filmed during her trip.
Even after submitting some additional paperwork to the state last week, the nonprofit remains barred from fundraising. The Illinois Attorney General’s Office says the nonprofit must produce such information as expenditure and revenue reports as well as a letter from the IRS certifying its status as a tax-exempt organization if it wants to fundraise again.
The scant paperwork that was submitted shows the foundation raised exactly $13,000 to date and has recorded no expenses.
Shortly after the foundation registered with the state in 2022, Henyard voted with the Thornton Township Board to give the nonprofit $10,000, and the township and village spent more than $11,500 on expenses related to the trip. Records also show Henyard authorized a separate $17,000 payment from the township for 1,000 white hoodies and T-shirts. An invoice for the clothing was submitted one day after the paperwork for Henyard’s foundation was submitted to the state.
The latest paperwork indicates that a Chicago area businessman named Victor Osaque took over the job as the nonprofit’s registered agent from Dolton Village Manager Jason Freeman, just days after Illinois Answers reached Freeman at village hall to ask about his role.
Osaque, who is listed on the paperwork as a consultant, told Illinois Answers when reached for comment that “this is not supposed to be what I signed up for.” He said he needed to consult with his attorney before speaking further.
State records show that in addition to working for the nonprofit, Osaque filed the business registration with the state on behalf of a clothing store and restaurant in southeast suburban Glenwood that are owned by Henyard’s boyfriend, Kamal Woods, who traveled with her during the trip to Springfield.
Woods is listed as a director of the Tiffany Henyard Cares Foundation and worked as the Thornton Township Youth Program director, which paid $76,923 in 2023, records show.
According to a petition for child support in an ongoing divorce case between Woods and his wife, Henyard is Woods’ “paramour.” The filing states that Woods earns “a highly lucrative salary — in excess of $100,0000 per year” working at the township in addition to his side gig providing private security for local government.
Woods “earns income serving on the board of trustees of his paramour’s purported non-for-profit, [the] Tiffany Henyard Cares Foundation,” but is reluctant to report his income “from all sources as a result of his connections with a paramour who is being investigated by the FBI for, upon information and belief, public fraud and financial malfeasance,” according to the court filing.
Woods hung up on a reporter when reached for comment.
