A non-profit that lost its tax-exempt status in 2020 represented itself as tax-exempt in its request for 2025 funding to the City of Pueblo. News5Investigates obtained the application submitted by La Gente Youth Sports (LGYS) through a Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) request. At the end of 2024, News5Investigates uncovered the non-profit had its tax-exempt status revoked by the IRS years ago. As the city looked to make cuts to non-profits in its 2025 budgets, La Gente Youth Sports saw a slight reduction of $2,000 in its funding. Other organizations completely lost funding in the 2025 budget. In August of 2025, Pueblo Mayor Heather Graham hired a non-profit compliance coordinator to vet the organizations the city would be giving money to.The organiztion did not file its Form 990s, which are tax forms non-profits submit to the IRS annually. If an organization does not submit the form for three consecutive years, it can have its tax-exempt status revoked. In an interview last month with Melissa Cook, the non-profit compliance coordinator, she was unaware of the non-profit losing its status. When asked about whether or not she was aware of La Gente Youth Sports losing its status she said "not every organization on the list is a non-profit" but those that were required to do them, she looked at. When News5Investigates pointed out all non-profits are supposed to have Form 990s filed, Cook said "we don't make the determination of, you know, the the legal IRS determination of who needs to submit a 990."The Mayor said 990s were not required as part of the application, only that organizations were required to submit a certificate of good standing by the Colorado Secretary of State. In a second interview last month, News5Investigates showed Mayor Graham a city council meeting where Cook said she looked to see if 990s were filed. The Mayor said that was only the case if the organization submitted them. "I wouldnt say they [the requirements] were different for everybody, we sent out one application that they had to respond to. If they had the information that they could provide back to the city, they did," Graham said. LGYS' application was left blank where there was a place to upload a Form 990. It did say it planned to use the funding it received from the city for program supplies, equipment, and general operating costs like liability insurance and accounting services. Budget documents for LGYS showed it spent $5,000 on accounting services in 2024, it did not specify a firm who it paid for the services. After recieving LGYS application, News5Investigates asked for additional clarification from the city and asked for another interview with the non-profit compliance coordintor. Haley Sue Robinson, the city's Director of Public Affairs denied that request saying in part "weve provided the information youve requested in an accommodating and transparent manner, answered your questions multiple times and will not be providing another interview.News5Investigates also reached out to Zachary Valdez, the Executive Director of La Gente Youth Sports, Valdez did not return our call. RELATED: Amid Non-profit cuts, Pueblo funds non-profit that lost its tax-exempt status__________Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.