I didn’t spend seven years of my life working at Western Montana’s largest emergency shelter and soup kitchen to get rich, I was actually trying to help people. When you’re genuine with this goal of helping people, the work can take a toll, as it did with me. That’s why I chose to acknowledge my burnout and leave my position as the Homeless Outreach Coordinator in 2016. After a shorter stint helping people at an Area Agency on Aging, my goal has turned to exposing individuals and organizations making disingenuous claims about helping people who struggle to help themselves.

Cue Dr. Surajit Khanna and his Returning Youth Initiative.

I traveled to Hamilton on Monday, August 19th, to make a current assessment of Dr. Khanna’s Montana impact. It’s been over a year since I spoke with either Kari Anderson or Valli Anderson, a mother/daughter duo who are the only real things I’ve been able to nail down about Dr. Khanna’s Montana activities so far.

When I entered the building at 239 N. Second Street in Hamilton, it was Valli who greeted me. Were there any “returning youth” around getting services? No, it was just Valli, so I asked her how things were going since I last spoke with her at the Taco Johns during the free coat giveaway.

Valli Anderson appeared to be nervous as she tried telling me about what they WANTED to do with returning youth by getting them job training, clothes, blah blah blah. I stopped Valli’s spiel and reminded her of our previous interaction, and that it didn’t appear that much was happening here in Montana, but that I read about her trip to Florida last year. Here’s what Flagler News reported (emphasis mine):

Cutting the ribbon on what is no doubt a trend-setting organization dignitaries and supporters gathered in Daytona Beach on Thursday, March 30 to officially open the doors of the Returning Youth Initiative, Inc.

Southeast regional director Gary Scarano welcomed the organization’s founder, Dr. Surajit Khanna, in from New York, and general manager Valli Anderson in from Montana, for the ribbon cutting, surrounded by retired Brigadier General Ernie Audino, representing U.S. Congressman Michael Waltz, Volusia County Council Chairman Jeff Brower, and ambassadors from the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce.

When I asked if it was fun hobnobbing with Green Beret Congressmen like Michael Waltz, all I got was nervous laugh. Then I asked Valli about the rapper, Overtime. “You know Overtime?” She asked. “No, and he doesn’t seem to know Dr. Khanna, isn’t that weird?” Valli didn’t have an explanation why a Montana-based rapper would be denying any knowledge of Dr. Khanna, as this email response to my inquiry about Dr. Khanna clearly indicates:

To jog Overtime’s memory, I sent him this screenshot from an X account attributed to Returning Youth Montana. As of this writing, Overtime hasn’t responded.

Online searches and sending emails is NOT what I value about doing local journalism, which is why I traveled to Hamilton in the first place. I wanted to see for myself what an organization making claims about helping “returning youth” was actually doing, not just directly from someone like Valli Anderson, but from neighbors as well. That’s why I stopped into a hair salon and a real estate office, but neither location had anyone that could say they’ve seen people using the space at 239 N. Second Street. Interesting.

Next I stopped at City Hall and had a delightful chat with the clerk, who gave me several leads of service providers to check with. After writing the info on a sticky note, we talked about Yellowstone and the little party local officials got when the show was directly lobbying them to increase the Hollywood tax credit.

It seemed quite appropriate to be discussing a FICTIONAL show during my search for proof that Dr. Khanna’s Returning Youth Initiative is in any way a real effort to actually help people and NOT some kind of con to get money or, possibly, something darker.

The next day I did a little more follow up research by calling a number connected to the Returning Youth Initiative that I found on Facebook. The first call was eventually answered by a man, but he quickly hung up on me. I called back and, wouldn’t you know, it was VALLI ANDERSON who answered this time. When I started telling her how challenging it was to find evidence that they have actually helped anyone, Valli hung up on me as well.

Do you want to know more about Dr. Khanna? How about his bid to be a justice of the United States Supreme Court? You know, the kind of totally achievable ambition one finds online at PR dot com. I wish I was kidding.

A group of young adult advocates officially announcing today “Dr. Surajit Khanna Seeking nomination for Justice of U.S. Supreme Court” at the press conference organized by Returning Youth Initiative. This press conference is hosted at Washington D.C and will be broadcasted on Zoom and YouTube.

Since the establishment of the Supreme Court, there have been a total of 116 Justices to sit on the bench. However, in the 235 years of the Supreme Court’s existence, there has never been a Justice who was solely focused on improving the futures of post-incarcerated juveniles and young adults. Dr Khanna, however, wants to create an exclusive platform within the Supreme Court to provide proper justice to juveniles and young adults and to protect their civil rights as per the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution. With stronger reinforcement of the Declaration of Independence, predominantly the 14th amendment, we can ensure protection of rights for our citizens.

Dr. Surajit Khanna came to the United States of America as an adolescent in pursuit of further substantial education in architecture. Instead, found himself stripped of his honor and made to feel inadequate. Dr. Khanna’s hardships launched the ambition to strengthen his voice to help others overcome obstacles and understand their rights as an individual and citizen. By being a “voice for the voiceless,” he advocates for individuals to be seen and to create a safe atmosphere where America’s youth have an ally for support. These individuals are at the forefront of our nation; therefore, it is time we focus on correcting laws that directly affect our youth, specifically our troubled youth. We provide them with the justice needed to become civilized in their communities to obtain more empowerment within themselves. The confidence and perseverance of our youth will further lead to an impactful contribution to economic developments throughout the nation.

Dr. Surajit Khanna Seeking Nomination for Justice of U.S. Supreme Court. PR.com. May 22, 2204.

I put in several calls and sent out some emails to see what else I could determine about the legitimacy of Dr. Khanna’s Returning Youth Initiative. Did the Ravalli County Sheriff’s Office have any affiliation? I called, left a message, and got a voicemail from a Sheriff Deputy the following day saying NO, there was no affiliation to the Ravalli County Sheriff’s Office. How about the Congressman in Florida? I have called several times and left several messages, but as of this writing I haven’t gotten a response. I even emailed a man in North Carolina who works at the UNC AIDS Research Center because his name is on a property associated on Montana Cadastral with Dr. Khanna.

The man said the property was a rental and thanked me for the heads up. The one person I did manage to find and speak with, a man who actually met Dr. Khanna, told me that, while seemingly well-intentioned, nothing has since happened, which makes Dr. Khanna, in this man’s estimation, “one step” from being a conman. Since I spoke to this person on background, I’ll leave at that.

I tried alleviating Valli Anderson’s clear concern that attention from my writing will amount to anything by assuring her that Montana has no substantive oversight to worry about, so the worst case scenario from my scrutiny will be some raised local eyebrows, a hilarious original ukulele song, and possibly, hopefully, future collaborators putting the breaks on giving away their good names and professional faces to Dr. Surajit Khanna if he’s not going to actually do anything to help returning youth like he claims.

What is my ultimate takeaway after scratching the surface of this apparent Khanna Con? My ultimate takeaway is that Dr. Khanna is simply taking advantage of what a state like Montana offers him, and that’s plenty of well-meaning people who are willing to show up for a photo-op, lending a sense of credibility to a man who is, at best, doing nothing to help the population he claims to be helping.

Thanks for reading!