One managed a bowling alley. Another was a cook. Another, a convicted felon who spent time in prison.

They are among the people the state of Florida relied on as supervisors in a FEMA-funded, $23 million counseling program for hurricane victims.

Team leaders in Project H.O.P.E. (Helping Our People in Emergencies) are “mental health professionals,” Florida assured the Federal Emergency Management Agency in its applications for the counseling grants. Yet, only one in four of those hired met federal educational and licensing guidelines, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel found.

Project H.O.P.E. hired Leon Gillis in November 2005 as a team leader in the Daytona Beach area even though he wrote on his application that he had been convicted of robbery twice, aggravated assault and cocaine possession. He has been arrested 14 times in Florida from 1966 to 2002 and spent more than five years in prison, records show.

Read more at the Sun Sentinel