Taxpayer-funded Somali-led Ohio nonprofit helping ‘families in fear’ of ICE raids

A Central Ohio nonprofit that is allegedly dedicated to assisting immigrant and refugee families has drawn scrutiny for its near-total dependence on government funding.

Our Helpers, an organization founded in 2014 by Hodan Mohammed, who was born in Somalia, reported receiving almost all of its contributions from government sources in recent years, according to IRS Form 990 tax filings.

Financial records show a dramatic surge in funding followed by sharp declines. In 2021, contributions and grants totaled approximately $150,000 based on prior filings.

Revenue then jumped more than sevenfold to $1,047,441 in 2022, with $1,045,991 — more than 99% — coming from government grants and private contributions at just $1,450.

Contributions dropped to $185,410 in 2023, all from government grants with no private donations. The pattern continued into 2024, with further reductions in contributions and grants, while maintaining a heavy reliance on public funds.

Schedule B of the 2023 Form 990 provides a detailed schedule of these government contributors. Additionally, the 2023 filing appears to include revised 2022 government-grant figures compared with the original 2022 return, though no public explanation for the adjustments has been provided.

Our Helpers allegedly provides free services to immigrant and refugee communities in Franklin County, including employment assistance, language support in Somali, Arabic, and Swahili, youth programs, workforce development, case management, mental health resources, and food distribution. The organization serves Columbus’s entire immigrant population, including those from Somalia.

According to WCMH-TV, the nonprofit is delivering food to immigrants who are not leaving their homes to go to the grocery store amid Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in the Columbus area.

“Everyone is welcome here, and we’re going to make sure that it’s not going to be an easy task to attack the people that we love and support,” Our Helpers CEO Dorothy Hassan told WCMH-TV.

“We are solely operating on the goodness of donations from local community members and their manpower,” Hassan added, according to the report.

This wasn’t the only time when Somali immigrants from Ohio relied on the government.

In 2024, a Somali-American entrepreneur and community leader, connected to Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, faced a personal income tax lien, while maintaining direct business ties to a nonprofit serving Somali immigrants, funded by the Ohio government, according to a review of public records by Ohio.News.

Farxaan Jeyte, appointed by DeWine to the New African Immigrants Commission shortly after losing the 2023 Columbus City Council District 5 race to incumbent Nick Bankston, owns a company that received significant payments from the Somali Community Association of Ohio (SCAO), a nonprofit that the City of Columbus and the Ohio Department of Education support via their grants.

Ohio.News reached out to DeWine’s office regarding his connection to Jeyte, but didn’t receive a response.

On its website, SCAO stated that it delivers essential services, including English classes, employment assistance, housing support, legal aid, and youth programs, to Somali immigrants in central Ohio.

SCAO reported in its 2023 tax filing a payment of $104,947 to The Mix LLC, a company owned by Jeyte through his entity Somperu LLC.

The Mix LLC shares the same Morse Road address as Columbus Global Home Health Services, owned by Nuro Omar, who also operates Global Childcare Center.

Columbus Global Home Health Services has not posted on its Facebook page since 2018 and has a defunct website.