NAACP Tells Urban League to Clean Up

‘CLEAN SWEEP' URGED.
LOCAL NAACP LEADERS ADVOCATE OVERHAUL AT URBAN LEAGUE
By Anthony J. Gottschlich, Springfield News-Sun
April 18, 2002

The Springfield chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People on Wednesday called for a "clean sweep" at the Springfield Urban League and Community Center, once a strong ally.

"There's no question there needs to be drastic change over there," local NAACP President James Bray said. "A clean sweep."

Bray's comments came during a visit this week by representatives of the National Urban League, who are here to check into their troubled affiliate, which has lost the bulk of its funding in recent weeks because of contract violations, financial mismanagement and other problems.

"We don't want in any way to harm the Urban League, because Springfield and Clark County need the Urban League and all that it stands for," said Bray, whose remarks were supported by Arnett Hardnick, the NAACP's fair housing chairwoman and mediation coordinator.

"All we are asking, as a national organization, is that the community rally so that the Urban League can remain here with its programs intact (and) that there's accountability from top to bottom so that the community's confidence is restored," Bray said.

Springfield Urban League Chairman Ron Ross resented Bray's statements, saying the NAACP should tend to its own business.

"They can't afford to be throwing stones at people," said Ross, a longtime NAACP member and former local chapter president. "I'm a full-blooded NAACP member, and they should be doing the job like they're supposed to be doing."

Hardnick has mounted an Urban League membership drive in recent weeks and said she has enlisted about 50 new members. She wants to sign up enough new members to force a leadership change at the League, although she isn't sure who the new leaders should be.

"We got to keep it real, and we got to keep it honest," Hardnick said. "And I think the community deserves full disclosure of all financial records — what came in, what went out."

Bray and Hardnick hope local community leaders support their position. Several did on Wednesday, saying a change in leadership is necessary for the League if it is to be effective in the community.

"It's absolutely imperative there's a clean sweep, because I think it's important for credibility that it start afresh," said State Rep. Merle Grace Kearns, a Springfield Republican and longtime Urban League member.

Springfield Mayor Warren Copeland said, "My sense is that the various organizations that provide funding are going to be reluctant to restore funding without that kind of a change. So if the only way we can keep an Urban League in Springfield is for that kind of change to occur, then I think it needs to occur, because I think we need an Urban League."

To date, the Urban League has seen about $391,000 of its funding terminated or suspended this year, including $125,000 from the United Way of Clark and Champaign Counties and $143,000 from the Eastern Miami Valley Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (ADMH) board.

The cuts follow a series of stories in the Springfield News-Sun about the League's problems.

"If they'd done a clean sweep a month ago, it would have offered our board a chance to perhaps go into a rebuilding mode with them instead of terminating our contract," ADMH President Paul VanderSchie said.

City Commissioner Kevin O'Neill and Clark County Commissioner John Detrick agree with the NAACP.

City Commissioner Dan Martin isn't so sure.

"Obviously something's broken down there, and I'm not sure what it'll take to get it back on its feet," Martin said.

City Commissioners Joyce Beverly Casey and Martin Mahoney couldn't be reached for comment.

State Rep. Ron Rhine, D-Springfield, said he will withhold judgment until the national league releases its findings.

"The Urban League has done a lot of good things for this community throughout the years, but to call for a clean sweep? I can't say that," Rhine said.

National Urban League officials declined to comment Wednesday, but are expected to release a statement today.

"There's nothing to report right now," said Leslie Dunbar, the national league's spokeswoman.