I chaired the Whittier/Phillips After School Enrichment Program that was funded by the State Dept. of Children, Families and Learning up until March 2003 when the legislature cut the program.
We had a volunteer committee that sent out a request for proposals bi-annually for youth serving agencies in the two neighborhoods. There were volunteer parents that were trained to review the requests and make the determinations on which agencies received the funding. When making decisions about funding youth programs etc, it is very important to not let your emotions get in the way of good common sense. It's very easy to let your heart lead your head when it comes to kids. Over the course of time, we learned many things. The first thing we learned is that these are business decisions. Don't let your heart get in the way of your brain. There is a myriad of legal issues wrapped up in serving youth that most people don't even think about. There are important questions that must be answered before a decision to give an agency funding is made. Is this person incorporated as a business in Minnesota? Do they have liability insurance? Are they a 501c3 corporation and legally capable of receiving grant funds under IRS statutes? Can they manage their funds appropriately and do they have financial management mechanisms in place to provide the documentation needed when reporting time is due? Do they require background checks of their employees? Do they get permission slips from parents for the kids they are serving? If they provide transportation for the kids, do they have automobile insurance that covers having passengers? Do they adhere to vehicle safety laws? Does your organization have a system in place to fairly evaluate proposals for funding. What are the outcomes you expect? Will you have reporting requirements? How will the funds be allocated? Who will decide these things in a fair manner? Giving money to someone to "help the youth" is wonderful but there are great responsibilities attached to it. For the safety of the kids, you better make sure you are asking the right questions before you fork out money to somebody with a youth program. In my experience with this program we did encounter more than one scam artist. Some person coming in with a catchy name for a youth program wanting money to help the kids. When we actually did follow up on some of these proposals we found there was no site and the partners they listed as collaborators had never heard of them. In one case, a man and his girlfriend both living together submitted separate applications to run separate youth programs that were supposed to serve over 250 youth from their apartment. Ya right. Surprisingly, they had letters of recommendation from well placed citizens like bank presidents who obviously didn't do much of a due diligence check before they gave them the letters. We had one agency that we did fund in part that we found out was picking kids up off the street with no permission slips from their parents and packing 30-35 kids in a van made for 15 passengers. This agency even requested funds to pay for the exec. dir. pontoon boat on Lake Minnetonka. (He didn't get the funds for that request) He even got a KARE 11 award and some award from the Governor. The KARE 11 video clearly showed a kid packed between the driver and the gas peddle on the floor. It also showed that he was the only adult supervising these 30 kids when they all piled out of the van. Would you want you child transported to and from a youth program without your permission and packed on the floor of the vehicle with inadequate supervision? We had another agency that was driving kids around in a stolen bus with no seats. He was running his supposed program out of a food storage warehouse. Needless to say he didn't get funded even though his program sounded good and he sounded like he really knew his stuff. He had been funded already from a northside collaborative. I guess they didn't check. We had another agency that was supposed to be doing afterschool tutoring for kids. When we did a site visit we found that these kids were really just sitting in the living room of his house watching T.V. and the funds he received were being used to pay his mortgage. He even sued us for discrimination because we didn't give him his last check when he couldn't submit receipts justifying his expense report. He didn't win that law suit. While none of us want to think that "scam artists" or "poverty pimps" exist and that everyone who asks for money to help the "poor kids" is on the up and up, the truth is not all of them are. There are people unscrupulous enough to make up some program with a cute name in an effort to get funding for themselves off the backs of the kids. Unfortunately, they make it bad for everyone. I will say however that the majority of agencies we funded were upstanding vibrant organizations who were really making a difference in kids lives. Agencies like Loring, Nicollet, Bethlehem and the "Homework and Hoops" program. Programs like the Jungle Theater, Intermedia Arts and the Childrens Theater. The parks and the shools like Anderson Family Resource Center, the American Indian Youth Consortium and others offer great youth programs and are more than willing to partner with neighborhoods to do good work for youth. Thank goodness there were more of them than the scam artists. My advice is that if you are handing out money to help the kids in your neighborhood, make sure you know who is getting the check. Make sure they are a company. Ask for financial records and insurance certificates, perform site visits. Talk to previous program participants. Find out what this agency is all about. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out who is on the up and up and who is trying to scam you for money. Just do your homework and don't buy into a sob story or pressure tactics. If they get uppity when you ask questions of them it should be a big giant red flag. Barb Lickness Whittier ===== "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." -- Margaret Mead __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
