Clark County is holding back federal money from the local Urban League because a recent review found double billing, problems with receipts and a lack of proof that one of the organization’s programs was actually helping the poor pull their lives together.

At issue is a grant of $67,000 that was to be used to help people who were having trouble paying utility bills or rent. The county found that the Urban League paid only part of what clients owed on their bills. The nonprofit organization then asked those clients to pay back 60 percent and billed the county for the same cases. The Urban League issued no receipts to some clients. At other times, clients got receipts but the organization entered the payments under “miscellaneous income.”

And still another finding: There were no plans for helping clients get back on their feet, a condition of the grant.

The Urban League has to correct most of the problems within 30 days to draw again from the grant, said Shawna Parker, analyst at Clark County Community Resources Management, the division that oversees the federal money.

Parker said the problems with the program are serious, adding there are “concerns about whether the organization can manage the money.”

“There is no accounting or justification of the taxpayers’ money, no assurance it is being used wisely and for the purposes it was intended,” she said. In sum, “the goals of the services are in doubt.”

If the money is cut off, it will be the third time in the past four months that a local government has taken back federal dollars from the Urban League. In all three cases, the nonprofit group failed to meet terms of contracts attached to grants, officials said.

Previously, the poverty-fighting organization had trouble meeting the milestones for a $95,000 grant to help seniors repair their homes. The Urban League failed to spend half the money by January. The organization told officials “the program had fallen apart” and suffered excessive turnover, said Tim Whitright, development manager of the Las Vegas Neighborhood Services Department. So the city extended the deadline to March 31. When that deadline wasn’t met, the city took back nearly $70,000 in late May, “a matter of making sure the funds get out to the community,” Whitright said.

The city is managing nearly $5.3 million in federal Community Development Block Grants this year, but hasn’t had a problem of this size with any other nonprofit organization, Whitright said.

North Las Vegas found the Urban League couldn’t spend $57,000 from the same federal source, also meant for repairing the homes of seniors. North Las Vegas took back its money in June.

Parker also discovered more than $110,000 in unspent money for seniors from a $150,000 grant nearly 15 months old. If the money is not used by Dec. 31, it will also be taken back, she said. Further, the county discovered that the $40,000 spent to date went to one contractor. Federal rules require that the work be bid out.

At the Urban League’s board meeting in June related troubles were on the table as board members discussed the need to prepare a plan for cutting programs. In building up its budget to about $4.5 million during the second half of its four-year history, the organization apparently took on too many grants without sufficient qualified staff to handle them.

Executive Director Ray Clarke said in June that his staff would have the reduction plan ready in 30 days.

On Friday, Clarke had no comment on any plan to cut programs, the county’s findings, or the earlier pullbacks of funding.

Instead, he encouraged taking a firsthand look at “the positive impact that the Las Vegas-Clark County Urban League is having in the community,” adding that he is “very encouraged by the progress (the organization) continues to make.”

From the Las Vegas Sun

Staff at the Minneapolis Urban League has been a buzz about recent budget cuts. One MUL staffer who wishes to remain unidentified says, “I hope the $14,000 that my program is not getting doesn’t affect my job.

It has been alleged that the Minneapolis Urban League will not be getting 4^th quarter dollars from the McKnight Foundation. In a ”leaked” letter to the MUL, the McKnight Foundation will not move forward on a grant request for the Minneapolis Urban League favoring an “operational review.”

Is it time for the Minneapolis Urban League to have a Sigma Six review?” (A Six Sigma is a philosophy that mandates operational excellence. This operational excellence is achieved through tools designed to reduce variations in processes. Six Sigma is also considered as a disciplinary methodology by many companies to meet client expectations. As per the philosophy, Six Sigma is not something else that is required to be done but it is what is required to be done.”)

A call made to the McKnight Foundation about the alleged letter regarding stopped funding for the Minneapolis Urban League, and the Foundation being in favor of an operational review, Tim Hanrahan, Communication Director for the McKnight Foundation says, “We don’t have a set amount we give to any programs but we did give the MUL a $50,000 dollar grant for operating support In 2007, (a one year grant).

In an email sent to the Independent Business News Network (IBNN) from the McKnight Foundation’s communications director, Tim Hanrahan – it reads, “After McKnight’s board of directors approves each new grant; we generally follow with a public announcement of the approval. I can tell you that McKnight’s most recent approved grant to the Minneapolis Urban League was for $50,000 in 2007, to support operating expenses. Beyond disclosing approved grants, however, McKnight simply doesn’t comment about confidential discussions with prospective grantees or community partners. Please let me know if you have any additional questions.”

What does this mean for the Minneapolis Urban League? The Minneapolis Urban League established the relationship with the McKnight Foundation in 1972’s when Russ Ewald was the Executive Director of the Foundation and Ms. Virginia McKnight, the matriarch of the McKnight Family made sure that the community in North Minneapolis and all underserved areas in the Twin Cities were being served by the Foundation. As they continue to do today.

There has been a good relationship throughout the years between the Minneapolis Urban League and the McKnight Foundation. Long time community leaders and activists don’t understand why–with the exit of Mr. Clarence Hightower and the upcoming layoffs in January the Minneapolis Urban League has not committed to a Capital Fundraising Campaign or a Membership Drive to assist in building capacity for the organization. The MUL may be facing difficult funding times ahead.

It has been observed that the Minneapolis Urban League, its programs and employees have worked in silo’s “within the building”, opting for the most part not to include other interoffice groups and programs in an effort to create an inept since of competition that cannibalizes the organizations programs, events and employees. For the most part the institution has become an institution unto it’s self – with consequences that don’t favor a productive community social-service organization delivering education, wealth and independence to their target demographic.

A fine example of this is Mr. Hightower’s going away celebration. While the event was going on downstairs, there was another meeting going on upstairs. In our views we think that Mr. Hightower’s celebration trumped anything else going on.

The second example was when the University of Minnesota–School of Medicine had their liaison for the Quit Smoking program interviewing people at the Minneapolis Urban League. The first group to participate was employees from the Social Wellness Cluster at the Minneapolis Urban League – the reward for taking part in the research was a $50 dollar Target Gift Card. We are not against Capitalism – but at the expense of the community turns into an issue. If it was about making a buck – in some cases the community wasn’t alerted including RFP’s (Request for Proposals) and other “soft-services” that could be completed by the community/business talent pool.

The Minneapolis Urban League, outside of its annual dinner is without a fundraiser this year. If questioned different people in the organization as to why the organization failed to mirror other successful social-service agencies in the Twin Cities and around the country by using marketing and communications to assist in creating an in-house source of new funding streams and build capacity through membership drives, the question went unanswered.

From Independent Business Network