At 02:46 PM 1/16/2004, Elizabeth Greenbaum wrote:
I checked out the nonprofit status of Urban Ventures. As I posted below, the report from the Charities Review Council shows them having a 501(c)3 nonprofit status with no mention of their religious affiliations. Interestingly, I also found this other web site for Peace Church openly regarding UV as a faith-based agency. Well, well, well - it seems as though they want their cake and eat too and they pick and choose accordingly as to who their audience is and what they reveal - including flyers put through the schools.
EY:
>Urban Ventures doesn't just "discuss morals" - it tries to push their >particular brand of religion on kids who come from diverse religious >backgrounds. Some jewish parents sent their kids to the Urban Ventures >soccer program - only to have the kids to come home - having been served >pork and also having Jesus pushed on them.
Neal K's response:
Did the parents look into the organization beforehand? Was there any misrepresentation on the part of Urban Ventures?
EY: Yes - that's the problem. It's standard operating procedure for UV to misrepresent themselves. I'd actually be interested in getting a copy of the flyer UV sent home with the schools. If I can get a scanned image, I will make that image publically available.
Liz G continues:
As a director of a nonprofit myself (that is personally affected by the flyer moratorium in the schools) I find it appauling that they have gotten away with this for so long. When an organization flagrently misrepresents themselves like this, one can see why us legitimate nonprofits are so tightly scrutinized - one rotten egg makes everyone question if we've all gone bad - thanks loads Urban Ventures. I hope the attorney general is looking into this.
While I don't like UV - are there laws that they have broken with this? I'd certainly encourage people to write the AG to encourage investigation.
Peter McLaughlin has an item on his website bragging about large county loan for Urban Ventures soccer fields. I've always wondered why he would support an organization like this with county tax money.
<http://www.co.hennepin.mn.us/countyboard/district4/d4events.htm>http://www.co.hennepin.mn.us/countyboard/district4/d4events.htm
Homefield Soccer
Art Erickson, President of Urban Ventures, joins Peter McLaughlin at the
construction site of Homefield soccer fields which will serve over 300
urban youth this summer. The county loaned Urban Ventures $500,000 to start construction. The loan was paid back on time.
=======================================
I'd like to hear more about the terms of this loan. What type of interest rate did Urban Ventures get on this loan.
When this issue came up before, Senator Linda Berglin cited McLaughlin's strong support for UV to justify her support. I posted Berglin's and Neva Walker's correspondance on this subject.
http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/msg10924.html
Eva Young
Near North
Minneapolis
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Blog is up:
http://lloydletta.blogspot.com
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