Antoine Craigwell

Over the last several years, Black gay social service agencies have fallen by the wayside, failed and simply closed up operations and melted into the already rich, forgiving and embracing tapestry that is the community - no questions asked, no answers volunteered - only to reappear as another agency.


 

 
Sometime in 2003 the community witnessed the devastating effects of cuts to more than 75 percent in funding to the Gay Men of African Descent (GMAD), which was forced to eliminate programs and services. Last year, People of Color in Crisis (POCC) imploded amidst a swirl of scandal - no Black Pride, the executive director, Michael Roberson, fired for embezzlement and misappropriation of funds, and a Board of Directors fractured and divided. None of the leadership or anyone offered any explanations to the community.

But, when on May 21, Gary English, interim executive director of the New York State Black Gay Network, announced at a Town Hall meeting that the Network is filing for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, compared to the previous two failures, except for GMAD which has made a surprising recovery under the leadership of its executive director Tokes Osubu, and POCC which has become a casualty; it marked as unusual that a public announcement is ever made about an organization in the Black gay New York community. The Network is represented in its bankruptcy negotiations for free by a New York law firm, Simpson Thatcher and Bartlett, LLP.

When public funds are involved, there is greater scrutiny and a call for accountability. A closer examination of the financial statements and balance sheet ending Jun 2007 and Dec 2007, and a Mar 2008 memo from the accountants, N. Cheng & Co., PC, detailed gross mismanagement, extravagant spending, and disregard for basic accounting principles in the Network's practices.
In a interview, English, with Leo Rennie, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit consultant listening in, was unable to explain the meanings of abbreviations for the list of grants, including NYDOH, MHRA, BCHA, and HRI the Network received, and said that he knew the contracts all came from New York State Department of Health, but he wasn't sure what they meant.
Although being one of the founders of the NYSBGN and a member of the Board of Directors since its inception and during the period when Colin Robinson (2005 to 2007) and Mark McLaurin (2007 to 2008) were executive directors, English insisted that he took over as interim executive director on Jan 2008 and had no knowledge of the expenditures incurred under McLaurin.

McLaurin was the public policy director with the Baltimore, MD-based Public Justice Center up to Mar 2009, said executive director John Nethercut. He [McLaurin] is a Director-at-Large with the Silver Springs, MD-based Equality Maryland. As of writing, a message left for McLaurin at Equality Maryland was returned with a phone number which contains an outgoing voice message saying he is at the Public Justice Center.

Cary Alan Johnson, executive director, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, pointed out at the Town Hall meeting that the failure of the Network does not rest entirely on the executive director, but is shared with the Board of Directors, the staff, and in the absence of effective monitoring and oversight from the State. One person who oversees grants to the LGBT community, Deborah Rock, in the fiscal unit of the state's AIDS Institute, when asked about oversight, grant monitoring and auditing said that she had to consult with Tom Tallon, her supervisor, who would return a call to answer any questions. As of writing, no calls were returned.

However, examination of the NYSBGN financial statements revealed that at the end of Jun 2007, the Network had seven grants totaling $421,405, and received an additional $145,159 from other sources, which included $63,000 from a foundation, $33,500 from the Blaque & White Benefit event, and $44,973.47 on a line item labeled "Undetermined Receipts."

 
The Jun 2007 statement also revealed line item expenses such as $127,207 for staff, paying a consultant $63,000, and staff travel at $140,000. Explaining the large amount spent on travel, English said that when the Network has quarterly meetings around the state, it pays for delegates or representatives from other community based organizations (CBO), part of the Network, to attend the meetings. Rennie added that it is normal that even though CBOs have a travel provision in their budgets, the Network would pick up the tab, because it is written into the grants.

The Network's accountants in their memo said, the "NYSBGN had no system for maintaining receipts, invoices, vouchers and other back-up documentation. It also utilized credit cards, wire transfers and hand-written checks, without having any documentation to support these transactions."

The accountants said that although they were able to recreate the Network's books for fiscal years 2006 and 2007 for audit, "there are still many undetermined items that need to be clarified before the FY 2007 audit can be completed."

According to the Dec 2007 statement of revenue and expenses, possible "undetermined items" could include combined line items, staff travel and travel for clients at $45,232; a line item, activities and sponsorships for $10,000; and $46,026 for miscellaneous expenses.

Cheng's memo also detailed that, as of Dec 2007, of an aggregate $450,182 outstanding to debtors, there is a deficit of $190,182; unpaid vendors $179,000 - of which Cheng is one; $24,000 to repay a loan to the Fund for the City of New York; and $57,000 to the IRS, which does not include penalties and interest.

The memo stated that the problems at the Network existed because it "was run in a reckless and irresponsible manner for an extended period. There has been an inability and unwillingness to: operate within the resources that the organization had; follow regulatory requirements; follow any reasonable accounting procedures and protocols; maintain documentation on expenditures; and show any kind of fiscal constraint."

Cheng in the memo provided an example of "shady" dealing with regard to payroll taxes for employees: "NYSBGN has periodically utilized payroll services that require the payment of payroll taxes. However, whenever cash was tight, the payroll services were terminated resulting in no quarterly returns being filed. The staff was paid by handwritten payroll "advances." Taxes were not paid." Among its recommendations, the accountants said that for the Network to survive major changes had to be made, including establishing a balanced budget and spending only according to that budget, eliminate the use of all credit cards, and must be able to raise significant unrestricted funds in order to address the deficits from past mismanagement.

As of writing, a source familiar with the workings of the Network suggest that when the last grant contract expires on Jun 30, the Network would be dissolved and its programs would be assumed by MOCHA, another New York agency.