Community Health and Empowerment Through Education and Research Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
273662468
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2016, Form 990-N 2011
Location
Silver Spring, MD, USA
Phone
3015893633
Rating
64
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Community, Neighborhood Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$871,050
Expenses
$810,307
Assets
$489,742
Liabilities
$18,722

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Kent Sovine (Executive Director)
  • Mary Jacksteit (Board President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Kent Sovine (Executive Director): $162,092 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

CHEER convenes, connects, and collaborates with neighbors and partners to uplift strengths and cultivate agency for healthier, safer, and thriving communities.

What it reported doing in 2024

Healthy Long Branch employs community members as community health workers to promote health and access to health care. In FY 2025 CHWs provided case management to 780 residents at the County's Silver Spring hub. This included enrollment help in SNAP, arranging prenatal care for pregnant mothers, providing access to health care and making other referrals as needed. CHEER enrolled 321 households (646 people) in SNAP, 387 households (1,277 people) in Qualified Health Plans or Medicaid, 301 households (454 community members} in free private health insurance, and helped 445 households in other ways. CHWs' partner with local schools to ensure healthy nutrition and fitness for eligible children by providing weekly produce and bi-weekly fitness and nutrition education to youth and their families who screen positive for food insecurity and where the child or parent has a diet-related disease. This food is medicine program served 200 people in FY 2025. During FY25, CHEER transitioned from a food box pickup to a free choice food distribution model where residents shop for nutritious foods at mobile markets located at two local schools and the Farmers Market. This program served about 1,200 people. CHEER also provides monthly vouchers to 50 participants to be able to shop at one of two local cultural grocery stores.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 89% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 63
  • Transparency & Controls: 60
  • Accountability: 69
  • Sustainability: 42
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 68.6%; rating input score 69
  • Program expense ratio: 73.7%; rating input score 74
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 7%; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.6; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 20%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.8% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 15.7% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 18% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 68.6% of revenue deployed · 73.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 6 filed program accomplishments · $597K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $162K · 7 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes executive pay
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2017 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 28/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 55/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 55/100.