Local group urged for MASH operation

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Tuesday, April 2, 2002 | 8:42 a.m.

The city of Las Vegas should seek a local organization that is already working with the homeless to take over MASH Village when its present backers leave in October, a broad-based group of agencies that work with the homeless said Monday.

The Southern Nevada Homeless Coalition's steering committee issued its recommendation after the Rev. Joe Carroll's announcement Friday that he was giving the city six months' notice before leaving the downtown shelter.

Carroll made the announcement from San Diego, where he directs a larger organization that helps the homeless. He said the decision was made for economic reasons and that the Las Vegas shelter was drawing $1 million in subsidies from the California parent organization.

But many homeless advocates said Carroll never developed local support for the shelter in its eight years of operation, a factor that influenced the coalition's recommendation.

"I think we're talking about a range of services that can be expanded and taken over by organizations that are already out there, have been around for awhile and enjoy local support," said Gus Ramos, chairman of the coalition.

"This way, whatever organization is chosen can hit the ground running."

The coalition's seven-member committee -- which acts on behalf of 79 agencies, organizations and advocates that work with the homeless -- recommended against having the city take over the shelter.

It also said that closing the shelter altogether is not a viable option.

"The city hasn't been in the business of doing this work in the past," Ramos said. "This is really community-based work, and the city can play a role in making policy and providing funding."

As for closing what is now the city's largest nonprofit agency providing shelter and other services to the homeless, Ramos said losing the services there would be like "losing a platoon in the war against homelessness, when we're already seeking reinforcements."

The recommendation was made without input from MASH Village Executive Director Ruth Bruland, who resigned from the steering committee Monday morning.

"I wanted to avoid the appearance of me influencing any decision reached now or in the near future regarding MASH," Bruland said.

She said the coalition needs to function as an advocacy group ensuring there is no gap in services to the homeless brought on by Carroll's decision, and that she will provide any technical or financial information needed to assist in reaching this goal.

In a related development, Dean Collins, MASH Village's vice president of development, announced his resignation Monday, saying he was leaving to direct a nonprofit foundation that works on researching juvenile diabetes.

Collins was hired a year and a half ago to raise funds for the debt-ridden homeless services agency. He worked with a 40-member board formed during the same period to raise $700,000 in 2001 -- more than Carroll's organization had been able to raise locally in the previous five years, Collins said.

"But it was too late, since the hole was too deep to begin with," he said.

Collins said he had been considering the move in recent months due to a personal interest in helping find a cure for the disease because it occurs in his family.

"Frankly, I'd like to do something a little less controversial and where I can hopefully make a mark," Collins said.