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Urban League can’t salvage plan to train ex-cons
Urban League board Chairman Steven Brooks, left, and interim President Clifton Marshall appear at a board meeting Wednesday.
Friday, March 27, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Sun Archives
- Will new leader run Urban League like a business? (3-24-2009)
- Lacking leaders, anti-poverty group will try to sort it out (2-13-2009)
- Noting need group serves, state bolsters Urban League (10-29-2008)
- Is Urban League in state of denial? (10-1-2008)
- Urban League finances under fire again (9-23-2008)
- Urban League gets kudos, then reality check (7-10-2008)
Beyond the Sun
After consuming $350,000 in public money, an Urban League project that was supposed to create jobs has collapsed under the weight of power struggles and infighting.
This comes after 22 months of planning and the creation of a separate nonprofit corporation for managing the project, which was aimed at training and hiring former felons and pumping money into West Las Vegas.
But in the past month the project lost its director and half its board of directors while the Las Vegas Clark County Urban League scuttled its business plan.
The opportunities lost also include at least $585,000 in upcoming grants for furthering the project’s goals.
“It was a great idea ... but it’s all fallen apart,” said Rick Tremblay, regional director of the Economic Development Administration, a federal agency that was in talks with the Urban League about a $412,000 grant.
The project hinged on the Urban League creating a corporation called Revive Enterprises Inc. and was launched in May 2007 with seed money from the Nevada Economic Development Fund.
The central idea was for Revive to buy an auto repair shop that would be used for training and as a workplace.
Power struggles have derailed the idea in recent months, particularly since the November naming of Steven Brooks as chairman of the Urban League board, according to several people connected to the project. Brooks, a liaison for Las Vegas City Councilman Ricki Barlow, has denied repeated requests for comment on the Revive situation.
Bob Paisano, chairman of the Revive board, said Brooks wanted to rewrite Revive’s bylaws to take more control of the corporation. Paisano said he was against the idea. Amid that struggle, the Urban League’s board stalled for months on approving the auto repair shop deal. Paisano lamented the morass, calling it “micromanaging.”
The result is that nearly two years after the grant launched, “it’s not any closer to achieving the end goal,” Paisano said.
That was last week. In the days that followed, the Urban League fired Bill Losch, an Urban League employee listed with the Nevada secretary of state’s office as Revive’s sole official in charge of day-to-day affairs. And the Urban League’s interim president, Clifton Marshall, sent a letter to First Choice Business Brokers, the firm brokering the sale of the auto repair shop, indicating that the Urban League had no intention of approving the purchase.
Losch said he was told he was fired for “insubordination,” which to him meant seeking reasons for the stops and starts in the project. He noted that the project’s collapse leaves unresolved questions on three pots of public money.
One holds $20,000 for escrow on the auto repair shop deal, another has $50,000 for completing the purchase, and the third has $16,000 for closing costs, Losch said.
It is unclear who gets this money now — the Urban League, the state or, in the case of escrow, the auto repair shop.
As for Revive, Paisano’s board had lost four members as of Wednesday — including Brooks and La Sonia Burks, a senior vice president of Community Bank of Nevada.
The agenda for the Urban League’s board meeting Wednesday included a report from an ad hoc committee created to make a recommendation on the Revive project’s future. Urban League board member Napoleon McCallum’s report consisted of a recommendation to table the committee due to “discrepancies.” The motion was roundly approved.
The meeting ended with police arriving and clearing out the audience, which included people linked to the failed project.
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One good look at this photo says it all...a small, power-hungry micromanager, unable/unwilling to see the big picture of real progress(despite his expensive-looking eyeglasses),complete with his dejected-looking sidekick, appearing clueless.
Are you kidding me? In this current economy? For real, we have a couple of self-serving, high paid, power-hungry, uncaring, clueless men holding us down again? Too bad it's such small potatoes that Barack can't clean house on this one. Looks like personal gain taking precedence over community gain again.
This kind of small-minded, mentality is exactly why we can't progress beyond our current statistics of growing crime, homelessness, poverty, and despair in our community. And, the taxpayer will continue to pay for this guy's cufflinks while he's standin' round handin' out free bus tickets and food vouchers!
Sad, sad story for Las Vegas. But, it's not surprising. Until we can find a way of not only attracting, but holding onto intelligent, self-less, caring and forward-thinking leaders for our personally corrupt not-for-profit agencies, we don't hold any chance of progress for our community.
Way to go, Urban League of Las Vegas. You've managed to embarass us one more time with your poor, close-minded choices.
Doesn't look like we would have to dig very far down to smell the odor and uncover the roots of injustice. I'm embarassed to admit I'm a Las Vegan after seeing and reading this.
They don't care about helping people. They care about lining their own pockets.
All stimulus money going to urban clowns like these jerks will be squandered away in the same way.
rejco, yamma -- you guys for the most part called it just like it is.
Welcome to bureaucracy. I've spent over a decade in government meetings as a citizen activist and sometime member of one subcommittee or another. The meetings were far more about non-offending PC-type empty words like "facilitate" and "we feel" than getting anything at all accomplished.
This article describes why government is generally incapable of accomplishing anything real for the people it serves. Bloat is one good description.
yamma summed it up -- "Looks like personal gain taking precedence over community gain again."
I have said it before and I will say it again. Anything that Ricky Barlow has a hand in is either mismanaged or out right crooked. This guy (who hits women by the way) is just a puppet of O. Goodman. Carving out a niche for himself where he can use his position to abuse his office and take bribes from whom ever he can. We will see him in the news before too long being arrested again or indited for corruption.
These people should be indicted.
bureaucracy [byoo-rok-ruh-see]:
administration characterized by excessive red tape and routine.
Looks like a case where the pure definition couldn't have said it better.
When will people realize that when trying something new, sticking to the same tired routine won't work. This project obviously could have, and would have, worked if left to the people that truly cared about it's success and the success of the community it was helping. Instead, leave it to the pencil pushers and gum-flappers to tank a difficult, positive program in favor of no program at all.. sad to say the least.
Only hope is that the community takes notice and speaks out. Why waste the work that was put in? Someone should be allowed and encouraged to pick up the reins and get this moving back in the right direction... forwards.
i've heard about ricki barlow, the abuser and suspected crook. now, he's sending out steven brooks, as hired help? doesn't look like he fell too far from the same rotten tree. c'mon, vegas, we can do better than this.
I was invited to comment on this article by a 3rd party and find it very interesting.
In 1986 I was sent to prison in the UK for my part in a bar brawl, my wife was pregnant at the time with my youngest son who was born whilst I was imprisoned, on release (after 7 months) I could not cope easily with life and felt great shame and rejection by everyone that saw me, I had to pick myself up and restart my life. I was from a very poor background so there was not much knowledge in my close family on how to escape the poverty trap or indeed cope with a crisis, we were from a working class area and all we knew was how to turn up at the factory gates and sweat for a minimum wage. I decided to start a small enterprise and use my welding skills to feed my family, only this time I would be the boss, what I quickly learnt was that it was hard to find anyone from a professional services background that I could trust, they all claimed to want to help but inevitably I ended up paying a fat bill for what I now know to be substandard advice and service, it was a cruel world and with my massive internal feelings of guilt and shame almost impossible to cope with, I needed someone to believe in me as I did not think I should be punished for the rest of my life for a moments madness, I needed a chance to prove that I could make something of my life. It came from a strange avenue and its what I think you should know, the "system" in the UK was so rigid that I could not get through the red tape and bureaucracy to even bid on any contracts that were worth having and coupled with the "stigma" of being an ex-con life was impossible, in 1993 I met a Mr Bill Losch who liked what he saw in me, I was invited to the US to discuss my ideas on improving the engineering of and manufacturing techniques of a very difficult mining process, Bill fought tooth and nail to support me through an his involvement with a huge US corporation and eventually my ideas revolutionized the whole process, the corporation bought my small company and my family achieved financial independence and we moved up a class in British society, our kids enjoyed private education and have broken the link from the world I was brought up in. Bill ensured I got to travel the globe and implemented the ideas and strategies in the emerging markets of China Russia and Poland along with technical support to the European manufacturers in Germany, France Italy and Holland, the Australia's, and South Africa.
JG - continued
I left the company in 1999 to pursue my love of sailing the oceans and sailed from the UK to the Caribbean in 2003, I live a simple life now as a business coach and simply pass on what I learnt in a language that any novice can understand, I have personally coached over 1200 small business owners and give them the hope and understanding that one day "your chance will come" your Mr Losch will arrive one day and see something in you that you did not see yourself. My current work is with "wanna be entrepreneurs " in a neglected and run down part of the UK suffering from massive structural unemployment as the old industries of coal mining and steel making disappear, from this scrapheap of humanity we are finding "diamonds and geniuses" every day and my role is to help them find their passion and then see if they can make a living from that passion, its not uncommon for the coal miner to discover that he is a gifted photographer, or the carpenter to discover his passion for cooking. In 15 months I have personally took over 300 people of all ages, creeds and abilities through my simple process of understanding the basics of business and trading, it has a remarkable effect on them all and many go forward with much greater "choice" and hope in their lives, my work makes me feel privileged and proud and I am respected by all my peers.
This was only possible for a couple of reasons,
1, I had the belief deep inside myself that I could become better than what I was perceived as.
2, And more importantly, once someone (Mr Losch) believed in me also, then the magic began and the rest is history.
jg - continued
It seems to me that the gift and purpose of Mr Losch has come into some conflict and I feel saddened that the whole group involved failed to remain in dialogue, it is never easy to get a group working in harmony, it takes great skill and courage to keep everyone happy and working with passion to a common goal or outcome, I know because its what I battle against every day with the UK government rules and regulations.
All great leaders have courage and never pass up an opportunity to take things forward, I feel there is a common goal amongst all those involved in the Vegas project and it starts with your ideal client, "the guy who has been released and needs someone to trust" someone who will be non-judgmental and give him the chance to restart his life, someone who knows that he is going to falter as he reconditions himself back into society, someone who will say "sure you made a mistake, but we understand that, we all make mistakes" this guy needs to see the evidence that those who are supporting him "mean what they say" and can set an example by showing him that conflict can be resolved and the group will become better for it, that they don't bicker in public, and if they make a mistake they own up to it in public.
If the Common goal or "Mutual Purpose" is to "MAKE LAS VEGAS THE BEST PLACE FOR EX CONS TO RE ENTER SOCIETY AND CONTRIBUTE TO THEIR OWN FUTURE" then there is a way forward.
A great leader with courage and an extraordinary vision now has a unique opportunity to regain the TRUST of every ex con who had built up high hopes of being given a chance to help themselves in this part of Vegas, I suggest you all get back round the table, stay there until you have let all the bad blood out, let everyone have their say, and listen to what everyone has to say, and when you have regained mutual respect, set a common goal that unites everyone. My hope is that you give Mr Losch "the tools to finish the job that he started" if you don't someone else will and that would be a real shame"""your call.
Mr J
What is the difference between ACORN and the Urban League?
Personally, I don't know what the differences are, but according to Michelle Malkin, author of Unhinged:"If you don't know what ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) is all about, you better bone up. This left-wing group takes in 40 percent of its revenues from American taxpayers -- you and me -- and has leveraged nearly four decades of government subsidies to fund affiliates that promote the welfare state and undermine capitalism and self-reliance, some of which have been implicated in perpetuating illegal immigration and encouraging voter fraud. A new whistleblower report from the Consumer Rights League claims that Chicago-based ACORN has commingled public tax dollars with political projects. "
I wouldn't think this is what an Urban League Mission Statement would look like, but I'm not too sure about the one here in Las Vegas.
The incarceration rate in this country is staggering. If we can be honest with ourselves for a moment, it is clear that many, many more of us "good citizens" could or would have spent some time in jail - had all of our not-so-good deeds been caught on tape. We all make mistakes. What is relevant is that everyone deserves a chance to make amends and to turn their life around. I have personally hired and trained dozens of workers, each having some element of criminal history, over the past 20+ years. Often, the difference between successfully changing your life's path, or continuing down the wrong road, is having someone believe in you and simply being given the chance to make a positive change. Sounds to this outsider (CA resident) that Mr. Losch was on that track when politics got in the way. Let's keep an eye on this situation, and hopefully it is not too late to fix it. The LVCC Urban League leaders have a tough and often thankless job. Here is a case where they can re-think their actions, and show enough integrity and fortitude to do the right thing for their community. Give the guy on the front line (Mr. Losch) the tools to get the job done, then get out of his way and monitor the results. This is, after all, everybody's problem/opportunity. The reform and retraining of former felons directly affects every city and every neighborhood in the country. Why can't Las Vegas lead the way on this one?
Rick Iobst
Redding CA
Two weeks ago in the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine there was an extensive article about the prison system in the U.S. The poignant points from the article were the staggering numbers of imprisoned US citizens compared to other industrial countries around the globe and the sad fact that US prisons are designed to punish rather than rehabilitate. It doesn't seem too much to ask then that these excons be given a chance to make their lives better while making Las Vegas a better area to inhabit. It always comes down to the axiom--"follow the money."