Sorting Though The Mess at Hale House
Posted Tue Apr 24 03:34:31 2001 by sbaldwin |
By Steve Gilliard
In the end, journalists serve a public function, which is to make
sure someone looks at the failures and successes of a society and
places them in order. The job is not to be liked or make sure that only
the lucky, rich and popular have their say.
Whether you run a charity or a public company, leadership is
important. Following not only the law, but accepted practices are
critical. It isn't only the IT companies we're looking at which fail to
do this.
Recently, Hale House,
a NY charity founded by Clara "Mother" Hale in 1970, has come under
withering scruitiny from the Daily News and NY Times. Now run by
Lorraine Hale, Clara's daughter, and a physician, the charity has been
found to have engaged in a series of questionable practices. Which
include a money losing thrift shop, a 100K loan to Hale to buy a home,
and renting properties designed for drug addicted mothers and their
children to the public. Then, there are questions about how many kids
the home has and whether they're being educated properly.
Records examined by The (Daily) News show that since 1992, Hale
House has spent nearly $20 million on outside fund-raisers, which have
raked in $43 million for the institution founded 31 years ago by Hale's
mother, Clara, known to all as Mother Hale
Whenever a black-run organization comes under scrutiny, charges of
racism abound. But thankfully, on WRKS's Open Line show, the panelists
called for Hale to step aside and hire a director and a proper board.
Which is refreshing. The two weekend shows on Kiss FM, as the station
is known, are the best barometers of local black opinion in the
tri-state area. One can routinely hear denuciations of Rudy Giuliani
and his management of the police. For them to openly question Hale's
actions is a healthy sign that people won't be hiding behind their
usual alliances to protect their own.
Of course, earlier in the week, Hale held a press conference,
claiming she wasn't a crook. But no one is questioning her honesty.
They are questioning her managerial skills. Which is not the same
thing. One can be a bad manager and not a crook.
Hale even sent out a fundraising letter alluding to her charity's
current problems. A fundraising letter while prominent fund raisers
including Rosie O'Donnell and Mia Farrow, withdrew their support.
Why is this important? Well, Hale House exploded in the late 80's
crack boom. People would have crack addicted kids and abandon them.
Hale House grew to serve both parents and kids and truly captured the
heart of the city. It would have been impossible to find a bad word
about the charity...until someone looked.
For the past 10 years, Hale House, where 21 children were living
as recently as last week, has been licensed by the state for only six,
the Daily News has learned.
"I can't say for years past why it didn't get on our radar screen,"
said William Van Slyke, spokesman for the state Office of Children and
Family Services. "When we became aware that they had more than six
children, we began to work with them to bring them into compliance."
Someone complained about a building that the the charity had bought
for a dollar from the city. It was supposed to be used for drug
addicted women and their children. Unfortunately, those people usually
don't have the jobs which can pay for Harlem apartments, which run
around $800. So instead of going to the city for help, the Daily News
reported that they just rented the apartments out, embarassing the hell
out of two mayors, Koch, who made the deal and Giuliani, for poor
oversight.
The more the state and reporters examined the records and talked to former staffers, the less they liked what they found.
The problems at Hale House, a charity which has $10 million in
reserves, have been around for years, but there no one looked because
it was such a noble cause, despite pedagogical theory which suggest
small kids belong in foster homes with the attention of parents. An
orphanage or group home, as they call them these days, doesn't work and
the lack of educational services, for kids as old as three or four, is
especially bad. Current theory suggests that kids should begin
education as soon as possible, and delays of years is especially bad.
They described a place where outings are limited to a pleasant
but small backyard behind the brownstone and walks around the Harlem
block. Most of children's time is spent inside the house, their days
marked by eating three meals, getting bathed and going to sleep.
And contrary to what Hale has said in public interviews and to her
donors, the older children are rarely, if ever, exposed to the riches
of New York museums, parks, zoos or concerts. The only special trip
anyone could remember was to Radio City Music Hall one year.
No certified educational professionals are brought in to teach the
basics the alphabet, colors, shapes or to assess where the children are
developmentally. Staffers described a group of toddlers so unaccustomed
to structured activities that many can't sit still long enough to have
a story read.
"She should be offering them the best, and she isn't," said Lori
Bower, 30, who was hired as a child staff supervisor at Hale House but
quit in disgust in February 2000 after four months. "All of the kids
are completely unstimulated. She is just warehousing them. They will be
so behind when they eventually start kindergarten."
Bower, who has a degree in university studies and child development
from the University of New Mexico, said the child care workers try to
make life better for the children. But they are often spread so thin or
are so fearful of Hale's wrath if they speak up that they just soldier
on quietly.
The allegations are that the kids didn't even go outside for weeks
at a time, contrary to every educational standard practiced by every
licensed day care in the US.
The lack of education for these kids is a serious problem. My
sister has been a day care professional for 20 years, and over that
time, it is clear that by a child gets to kindergarten they should have
basic knowledge of shapes, colors, numbers and the alphabet at a
minimum. My five year old nephew can read and write and his four year
old sister can count to 100, write her name and knows the alphabet.
Early childhood education is critical, just as Hale House's failure to
provide it.
Doesn't this sound like an achingly familiar story? The CEO paints
a pleasing picture for the investors, while the workers have real and
substantial grievences about the work going on. This is the worst kind
of management. The clients, in this case, the kids, are suffering. The
charity is sitting on a significant cash reserve and could easily raise
a million a year if they had to, clearly enough to help the charity do
whatever work they needed to.
The foundation also amassed an art collection valued at some
$440,133, tax records show. Much of it is said to adorn Hale's private,
wood-paneled office, which takes up a full floor in the Harlem
brownstone and is filled with antiques, Persian rugs and marble tables,
visitors say.
Part of the problem is that the charity is run by Hale and her
family without a real outside board of directors. Yet the charity only
spent 60K on the 18 children in the home over the last year, while
collecting $8m.
Three of the charity's six board members told The News they were
unaware of any board meetings being held. State law requires that
members uphold their fiduciary duty with "diligence, care and
skill."... "It appears what we have here is a one-person organization,"
said Korman, referring to Hale. "So there is no checks and balances."
Cash reserves. Despite annual cries for financial help, Hale House
ended last year with more than $10 million in reserves, which the
charity calls an endowment. Last year alone, Hale House took in $3.6
million more than it spent. Experts on nonprofits said it is unusual
for charities of Hale House's size to hold so much in reserve.
Why am I writing about this? In the real world, in a charity or a
for-profit business, due dilligence for public insitituions is
critical. They have to look at the records and check to see if these
things make sense. Hale House is abusing the public trust and not
serving their clients. When people give to a charity for children, they
expect the kids to be cared for, not to spend millions on fundraising
and art. They aren't supposed to have $10m in reserve or have the CEO
borrow from the charity for her home, when she
makes 200K a year in salary.
This just sounded so familiar. The kind of excuses given by apologists like Jason McCabe Calacanis, who suggested that:
"It's a circular conversation in which the press is blamed for
over-covering newly wealthy technology executives and their firms....
So, don't refresh your NASDAQ page. Instead delete FuckedCompany.com
and Layoff Trackers from your bookmark list..."
Huh? Why not ask how they got that "wealth". If three days of
digging reveals inside deals and bounses controlled by the CEO, well,
I'd argue they need more of a spotlight on them, not less. Fucked
Company is around because employees need someone on their side.
People often make the mistake of assuming that people complaining
about working conditions are whiners who aren't tough enough. Are the
Hale House workers whiners or concerned about the care and education of
their clients, who happen to be small children? Are they overpaid and
lucky? Or fufilling their professional responsibility by trying to
improve the lot of these children?
People need to understand that these kind of abuses are not limited
to any one kind of company. Any company without due dillence will
eventually fall into these traps. Contributors, like share holders, are
nameless and faceless. As long as the money comes in, few questions
will be asked. The problem is that when they do finally get asked,
problems usually get uncovered.
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