Southeast Raleigh community leader charged with embezzling nearly $100,000

A Southeast Raleigh community leader faces criminal charges of embezzling money from a non-profit group she once led, which is now struggling to remain open.

Raleigh Police charged Kia Eugenia Baker, 41, on May 14 with felony embezzlement of $99,564 from The Resiliency Collaborative, a Raleigh-based group that helps students of color. IRS filings show that Baker had been listed as the group’s co-executive director.

The group’s website now lists the other co-executive director as its interim executive director.

“In March of 2024, we learned that some funds were missing from The Resiliency Collaborative’s (TRC) accounts,” Nikki Boyd and Melanie Hemphill, the co-chairs of the group’s board, said in a statement Thursday. “We took immediate action, including asking an employee to resign, securing our accounts, filing a police report and hiring a new professional CPA to review all of our accounts and finances.

“The police have since shared with us that the former employee admitted to stealing money from TRC. Court records show she has turned herself in.”

Group wants a more ‘equitable’ Wake County

The arrest warrant says the money was embezzled Dec. 19, 2022. Baker was released from the Wake County jail on a $10,000 unsecured bond.

Baker could not be immediately reached for comment Thursday.

Baker grew up in Southeast Raleigh and now lives in Knightdale. From 2015 to 2021, she was executive director of Southeast Raleigh Promise, a non-profit group trying to break the cycle of inter-generational poverty in the area.

She would later join the Resiliency Collaborative, which describes its mission as partnering with youth who are black, indigenous and other people of color “to strengthen their sense of identity, belonging, and purpose so they can create a healthier, more equitable Wake County.”

Group seeking financial donations

The Resiliency Collaborative says it intends to work closely with law enforcement and the Wake County District Attorney’s Office to recover as much of the misappropriated amount as possible. But for now, it’s asking for the community’s help to continue offering its programs.

“As you can imagine, this has been incredibly difficult for all of us — and we are doing everything in our power to keep our doors open so we can continue serving our youth and families,” the board’s co-chairs said in the statement.

The group is asking the community to make donations through its website (https://trcnc.org/donate/). It’s also asking people who’ve been helped by their programs to share their experiences with potential donors.

“We know that together, we can continue offering our youth a safe, welcoming environment in which to learn, grow and build their futures,” according to the group’s co-chairs.