(from Seattle PI)

Even before the civil-rights organization was caught up in the Seattle Public Schools' financial scandal, the city had reduced its financial support drastically, killing one big contract and slashing another.

By Jim Brunner

Seattle Times political reporter

It's already been a rough year for the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle.

Even before the venerable civil-rights organization was caught up in the Seattle Public Schools' financial scandal, the city had reduced its financial support drastically, killing one big contract and slashing another.

In January, the city yanked a $500,000-a-year contract for the Urban League's youth-violence prevention work and awarded it to other organizations. The city criticized the Urban League for submitting vague, inaccurate invoices — accusations similar to those raised by auditors in the schools scandal.

The city also cut long-standing financial support of the Urban League's center to help minority small-business owners to get construction contracts, deciding to seek other bidders for the first time in years.

In the midst of all this, longtime President James Kelly stepped down in January, citing health and personal concerns.

The Urban League has been largely silent since the school-district state audit made headlines last week.

Tony Benjamin, the Urban League's acting chief executive, said he's been through a "baptism by fire" and would answer questions at a news conference Wednesday morning. The group has tapped political consultant Cathy Allen for advice.

"We'll address all of that tomorrow," Benjamin said. "Hopefully, it will clear the air."

State audit

Questions about the Urban League's handling of public contracts surfaced in the state audit, which questioned $1.8 million in expenses in Seattle Public Schools' small-business contracting program.

The Urban League was the largest single recipient of that money, receiving nearly $600,000 in contracts that were labeled "questionable uses of public funds" by auditors.

One of the Urban League's big contracts from the city of Seattle was awarded in 2009 as part of then-Mayor Greg Nickels' initiative to tamp down violence after a rash of shootings in Central and South Seattle.

The no-bid contract paid the Urban League about $900,000 for its work over two years.

As part of the program, the Urban League hired outreach staff to seek out troubled youths and try to reconnect them with schools, jobs and counseling.

But this year, under Mayor Mike McGinn, the city decided to put the contract out for competitive bidding. The Urban League submitted a bid, but the work was awarded to the YMCA and Therapeutic Health Services in January, records show.

"Deficient"

A city evaluation finished last month criticized the Urban League's performance on the contract — rating its performance "below requirements" or "deficient" in 16 of 28 categories.

The harshest grades were for sloppy invoices and budget problems — issues similar to those raised by state auditors with the Urban League's work with the school district.

The organization met the city's contract requirements in 10 categories and was rated "superior" in two — including praise for trying innovative approaches to the violence problem.

Mariko Lockhart, head of the city's Youth Violence Prevention Initiative, described the Urban League's record on the project as mixed.

"They had strong staff. I just think the oversight of it was probably not tight," said Lockhart, describing the organization's invoices and other records as "a mess" — especially after the departure of program coordinator Jamila Taylor.

Taylor, who quit the Urban League last fall, now works on the youth-violence-prevention effort with Therapeutic Health Services.

She said she could not explain the Urban League's difficulties but said the youth-violence effort has paid dividends by reaching at-risk kids.

"We were able to do some very important things to help kids stay out of some trouble," Taylor said.

Even before losing its city contract, there was some indication the Urban League was having financial difficulties. "It was always a rush to make sure we turned around their bill as fast as possible so they could meet their payroll," Lockhart said.

When the city late last year declined to pay the Urban League bonuses of several thousand dollars on the youth-violence effort, the organization complained and threatened to go to the City Council or mayor, Lockhart said.

Second blow

A second blow came when the city drastically cut the Urban League's other major contract that supported its Contractor Development & Competitiveness Center.

The CDCC was created in 2002 to help small minority-owned businesses win construction contracts. The city spent about $480,000 a year between 2003 and 2010 on the CDCC, according to McGinn's office.

That was reduced to $100,000 this year, and city departments were encouraged to seek other competitors to do similar work, Deputy Mayor Darryl Smith said.

Requiring more competitive bidding for contracts "is the direction we're going" with all city services, Smith said.

"It's difficult for the public to buy that you're not going to work your contracts in that way," he said.

CDCC program

The state audit accused the Urban League of overcharging the school district to fund its CDCC program.

Auditors said the school district was overcharged by the Urban League for services that did not benefit the district — including up to $15,000 a month for "general overhead and administration."

The Urban League didn't document how the charges benefitted the school district, but it stated repeatedly that the money was needed "to keep the doors open," auditors said.

The State Auditor's Office now is examining the CDCC as part of its regular audit of the city of Seattle, spokeswoman Mindy Chambers said Wednesday.

(from SeattlePI)

The Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle and several prominent political figures were among the vendors who received "questionable" payments from a Seattle Public Schools program that is the focus of a criminal investigation.

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

At the Urban League’s September board meeting, the first since June, a state official showed up with a list of things the poverty-fighting organization had to do to keep receiving $2.6 million a year in federal funds.

But the board put off the official and the list for another day, one of the latest examples of the organization’s recent tendency to miss deadlines and avoid dealing with problems.

The to-do list was put together in April and May, but at least four items were months overdue, including one on financial oversight — the heart of the board’s responsibility.

Gary Gobelman, the state official, said to the nine board members present, “It’s important for you to understand this.”

But within five minutes, board Chairman Raymond Specht tabled the item for at least another month, “out of respect for the time of everyone here.” It was 5 p.m., quitting time, according to the agenda.

First he asked whether anyone had any questions about the state’s three-page, 13-item list — three times. Board member Napoleon McCallum replied, “I just got this today.”

A few board members said they thought several of the problems had been fixed. Later, Gobelman, whose job it is to make sure the federal funding is properly handled, said they hadn’t been fixed.

The official said he was “surprised and disappointed” by the experience.

He pointed out that the “issues were out there” for months before the meeting, and that he’d expected the board to dedicate some time to them.

“It’s very important for the board to have an understanding of these issues, and I saw this as an opportunity for the board to have a dialogue,” he said.

It’s also important because the state is one of four Nevada governments in recent months to confront problems with the nonprofit organization’s handling of public money. Since May, Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Clark County have withdrawn or frozen funding because of those problems.

This has a snowball effect among sources of public funding as they begin to compare notes. For example, the Southern Nevada Workforce Investment Board, which receives federal money to help with job training and education, has been considering the Urban League for a grant of about $200,000.

The investment board is taking a close look at the nonprofit organization’s finances before making a decision and plans to meet with its staff to address concerns.

“We know local governments have had fiscal management issues (with the Urban League) in the recent past,” said John Ball, executive director of the investment board.

“We’re dealing with public money ... and this puts the issue on the radar screen for other potential funders.”

At the Urban League’s Sept. 24 board meeting, one item on the state’s list noted that the board was supposed to develop procedures for overseeing the organization’s funding by July 18 and had yet to do so. The procedures were to deal with cash flow, budget approval, appropriateness of expenditures, spending plans, and methods for fixing fiscal problems. Gobelman said the Urban League had sent him a letter saying it would have board Treasurer William Raihl sign a monthly “financial certification form” — but that’s not enough.

“We need a complete picture of the procedures the board will use to maintain oversight,” Gobelman said.

The Sun’s repeated attempts to reach Specht to ask about the meeting and the state’s list, particularly the item dealing with board responsibilities, were unsuccessful.

Gobelman said he wants to meet with the Urban League board’s finance subcommittee before next month’s full board meeting, to “make sure they understand what the status of this is and why they need to be involved.”

In any case, deadlines don’t die, and the Urban League missed another one Friday. The organization was supposed to explain its July payroll in more detail to the state, after its June bill to the state for payroll resulted in $12,000 in disallowed costs. Gobelman said the state will not pay August’s bill, which is likely to arrive any day, until July’s bill is clarified.

Two other items were due Tuesday. First, the Urban League’s financial report was due to the state. The second involved “time studies” — the Urban League has to show the state how employees are spending their time and whether they’re working in activities covered by the grants being billed.

What happens if those deadlines aren’t met?

“Nothing’s been decided on that yet,” Gobelman said.

From the Las Vegas Sun

Urban League sinks under debt

The Hillsborough affiliate dissolves after decades of economic and social services to Tampa-area blacks.

By JUSTIN GEORGE
Published July 18, 2006

---

TAMPA - The Tampa-Hillsborough Urban League will cease to exist, its leaders announced Monday, signaling an end to an 84-year-old institution that has helped thousands in the black community.

"This is a sad day," said Curtis Stokes, vice chairman for the Hillsborough County NAACP. "This is a sad day for black America period."

The decision came a week after Mayor Pam Iorio said the city was willing to talk to the league's mortgage holder to help the group stay afloat and about 2 weeks after the nonprofit organization jettisoned two of its programs to another organization. Both moves couldn't save the Urban League, which has been weighed down by $3.1-million in debt since 2004.

Calls to several people listed as members of the board of directors were not returned except for Warren Hope Dawson, who said, "Every goodbye ain't gone."

But he declined to elaborate, and representatives from the National Urban League and the Pinellas County Urban League didn't know of any talks or plans to resurrect the institution.

"We hate to see any affiliate dissolve," said Ricky Clemons, a National Urban League spokesman.

The Tampa-Hillsborough Urban League's problems began after the city gave it the Centro Espanol de West Tampa building in 1999 as its new headquarters. A $3.1-million renovation of the historic building ballooned $2-million over budget after several unforeseen construction problems surfaced, league officials said. Soon, the nonprofit owed Wachovia, the city, Hillsborough County and the Internal Revenue Service, among others.

An institution that had once helped blacks break down barriers in high schools, hospitals and the police force and was renowned for its job training program began to break down itself. Its staff dwindled from 49 two years ago to one after the league announced the transfer of two state-funded programs to Derrick Brooks Charities late last month.

"In the last 15 months, the (Tampa-Hillsborough Urban League) sounded a clarion call to action in an effort to save the 84-year-old community service agency," interim board chairwoman W. Lois Davis wrote in a statement. "The call went to the community, civic and religious leaders, business and elected officials.

"I want to thank all of those who answered that call and unfortunately, notwithstanding the tremendous effort we fell short of our goal, your efforts were appreciated and will never be forgotten."

In a three-page news release, the Urban League board of directors wrote an account of several last-ditch efforts to save the institution. Mostly, the release seemed to shield board members from criticism while saying the city and county was slow to respond when quick aid was needed.

When the county proposed buying its headquarters two years ago to bail the group out, they said, Davis asked about the offer but never got a call back. (County officials said the offer never became serious because another league board member shot it down.)

League officials acknowledge that the city has helped the Urban League try to find a new owner for its building. But when solutions were proposed, they said, the city never gave the league adequate feedback.

Mark Huey, Tampa's economic and urban development administrator, said the city dropped out of negotiations after Davis told him on April 10 that the city's involvement was no longer needed. Huey had helped put Wachovia and Davis together, and the two sides seemed optimistic about a solution, so the city walked away.

"Lois, I believe, had the best of intentions back in April," he said. "I think she believed it was going to work out, but at this point, it hasn't."

Now the city is unsure of what it'll do as millions of dollars of renovation grant money, funneled through the city, is sunk in the league's headquarters. The city hoped it would find another group to move into the building - until Monday's Urban League announcement.

"All we can say is we will do whatever is prudent to protect taxpayer interests," Huey said, adding that reacquiring the building is now an option for the city.

"I was hoping they could still be there," said state Sen. Les Miller, D-Tampa, a former league board member, who had been working over the weekend to help the nonprofit stay in business.

From St.Petesburg Times

mmmanning@bizjournals.com | 813.342.2473

‘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.

STATE AGENCY HALTS FUNDING.
AUDIT TEAM WILL EXAMINE URBAN LEAGUE PERFORMANCE
By Anthony J. Gottschlich, Springfield News-Sun
February 12, 2002

The Ohio Department of Development has frozen its funding to the Springfield Urban League and Community Center pending a departmental investigation into the Urban League's financial troubles, a department official said Monday.

The department's latest grant of $48,400 partially funds the Urban League's homeless shelter, the Craig House at 1417 S. Limestone St.

The department will send an audit team to the Urban League on Feb. 25 to determine how the League is using department funds, said Marlo Tannous, the department's chief legal counsel. The department also will investigate whether any contract provisions were violated, she said.

"If they've misspent the money, certainly we'll ask for it back," Tannous said. "If they have used the money as they have indicated, unless there's some other thing revealed in the audit, we would probably not seek a return of the money."

Any further action depends on what the audit reveals, she said.

Urban League officials, including Executive Director Donna Brino-Blackwell, referred questions to their attorney, James R. Greene III of Dayton.

"I'm a little surprised because the ODOD has not released the funds and they are not scheduled to be released until April, so there cannot be a freeze of something that hasn't occurred," Greene said.

"We welcome their audit," he said. "If ODOD finds something wrong, we'll fix it. If there's nothing wrong, we expect them to follow the law and not doing anything that's adverse to the client populace which we serve. Otherwise, I'll deal with them appropriately."

A Feb. 3 story in the Springfield News-Sun revealed the Urban League had not provided state-required workers' compensation insurance to its employees from Sept. 1, 1996, until Jan. 29 of this year. The lapse violated contract agreements between the Urban League and several of its funding sources. The Clark County Department of Job and Family Services terminated its contract with the Urban League because of the lapse.

The story also detailed audit report findings that included past tax debts to the state of Ohio and city of Springfield and other financial management concerns.

Last July, Brino-Blackwell signed a contract with ODOD affirming the Urban League had workers' compensation insurance and had no outstanding debts with the state of Ohio. The contract stated that any false statements made to secure the grant could be grounds for a falsification charge.

It's too soon to make that charge, Tannous said.

"We just need to do our homework and check all the facts," she said.

Tannous said the investigation could take a couple of weeks. While no funds are scheduled to be released for a while, she said, freezing funding was a precautionary measure in case the Urban League made an early request for reimbursement, as agencies may do.

The Craig House is funded by at least two other sources _ the city of Springfield and the United Way of Clark and Champaign Counties.

The Urban League, a nonprofit, tax-exempt charity at 521 S. Center St., runs a variety of programs designed to help the poor and disenfranchised reach economic and social self-sufficiency. Programs include housing and education, a food pantry and assistance to victims of crime.

"This agency is like any other agency _ they have their ups and downs," Greene said. "But one thing that is clear is that we do need to correct some things, and that is my mandate. The board has retained me to ensure we're in compliance with the law and in compliance with program requirements, and we will get to that point as quickly as possible if we're not there already."

From Best of Cox Award

COUNTY ENDS SUPPORT FOR PROGRAM.
THE URBAN LEAGUE'S FAILURE TO PROVIDE WORKER'S COMPENSATION INSURANCE FOR EMPLOYEES WAS THE LAST STRAW, OFFICIAL SAYS
By Anthony J. Gottschlich, Springfield News-Sun
February 2, 2002

Jean Chepp was disappointed.

The Clark County Department of Job and Family Services spent time and money training a Springfield Urban League employee to manage Project E.C.H.O., an Urban League program at 426 Lincoln Park Circle designed to give ex-convicts _ men and women _ a fresh start, a chance to rebuild their lives by providing job training and other skills.

But when Chepp, a program specialist with Job and Family Services, reviewed E.C.H.O. in November, she found "incomplete record keeping and careless documentation," as well as services that were advertised but not provided _ all of which raised concerns about the program's management and effectiveness.

"I thought we did a good job training the contractor, and I thought, ‘Is this something that was really misunderstood? Are they taking this seriously?'" Chepp said. "I was just wondering if I had not made myself clear."

Janine Miller, program manager for E.C.H.O. (Ex-Offenders Can Have Opportunities), refused to comment on the program, as did Urban League Executive Director Donna Brino-Blackwell.

The Urban League sponsors a bevy of programs designed to lift the poor and disadvantaged from a life of poverty, crime, drug addiction and other troubles. A story in Sunday's Springfield News-Sun detailed the charity's financial troubles, which the Urban League attributed to cash flow problems, fund-raising difficulties and other challenges. Job and Family Services, whose latest contract provided $74,000 for the E.C.H.O. program, gave the Urban League six weeks to get the program's paperwork in order. But by the time the Urban League submitted the revisions, which Chepp said still contained some errors, it was a moot point.

Job and Family Services terminated its contract with the Urban League on Tuesday, after learning the nonprofit organization hadn't provided workers' compensation insurance for its employees since 1996, a requirement of state law and the contract.

"They signed the contract with various assurances in there, one of which was that they had this coverage, and they didn't," said Job and Family Services Director Bob Suver. "So that shows they misrepresented themselves when they signed the contract, and that was just kind of the final straw."

The termination is effective Feb. 28.

It is unclear how many organizations fund the E.C.H.O. program or whether it can survive in light of the cuts. Local churches and the Clark County Sheriff's Office have supported the program in the past.

Brino-Blackwell assured Suver in a letter Tuesday that the Urban League had made arrangements to pay the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation and that it was now covered by the insurance and in compliance with the contract.

Too late, Suver said.

"There's about three different places in that contract that says they have (workers' compensation) and will continue to have it," Suver said. "They didn't do either and they signed the contract, so I don't appreciate that."

Workers' compensation is a basic requirement, he said, and if the Urban League couldn't provide that, "How could I believe they could accomplish being successful with Project E.C.H.O. clients in getting them employed and on a successful path?"

"So it just totally blows their credibility that they could have any hope for that success," he said.

Project E.C.H.O. began in 1999, and Job and Family Services began funding it in January 2000 with an 18-month, $113,000 contract.

The program was designed to help about 25 ex-criminal offenders and their families who are on public assistance and looking toward a life of self-sufficiency. Services include G.E.D. preparation, computer literacy training and job referrals.

The contract was renewed in July last year for $109,000, but amended to $74,320 because of state cutbacks. The county also implemented a new rule during that time, one requiring its contractors, instead of county departments, to determine the eligibility of program participants.

That's why Chepp reviewed the program in November _ to see how Miller and others were performing that task, she said.

"The staff seemed very helpful and committed to serving the customers of the Urban League," Chepp wrote in a Dec. 11 memo to Brino-Blackwell. "When talking with Janine about Project E.C.H.O., I sensed a commitment to her clients and a desire to help all of them reach self-sufficiency."

Among Chepp's concerns in November:

• E.C.H.O. staff did not provide services to families of ex-offenders, despite contract requirements.
• Staff had not provided job-readiness training for clients since June.
• Inconsistencies in quarterly reports and monthly invoices to Job and Family Services.
• Of 10 sampled cases, not one was determined to be eligible for the program, because the eligibility forms were incomplete.

The problems with ECHO were unique, Chepp said.

"I visited three other contractors and essentially they received pretty favorable reviews," she said.

Job and Family Services funds its contractors on a reimbursement basis. As of Dec. 31, the department had reimbursed the Urban League $41,553 for the last half of 2001, Chepp said.

Suver said that because of state budget cutbacks, resources are limited, but Job and Family Services would consider funding other programs similar to E.C.H.O.

"We still see a need for some job training and placement help for ex-cons," he said, "and we'll be open to considering where we can put some resources toward that."

From Best of Cox Award