Providence’s John Hope Settlement House announced a new partnership Monday that aims to give the organization stronger financial security. The PEOpeople consulting firm will help the settlement house sort out its financial situation free of charge.
The announcement comes after a damning report to the General Assembly from Rhode Island’s Auditor General Dennis Hoyle in March. Hoyle said a partnership with a financially stable organization would be the best way for the JHSH to stay open. The report detailed a loss of funding totaling over $500,000 due to a “lack of financial controls.”
PEOpeople provides organizations with accounting and financial services. Two of the firm’s founders include YMCA of Greater Providence employees Karen Cooper and Linda Dykeman. Cooper and Dykeman left the YMCA and filed a gender discrimination suit against their boss and former state police head, Steven O’Donnell earlier this year. Gayle Corrigan is the other co-founder, a former YMCA board chair.
The three women are providing their consultation services under a period of uncertainty for the JHSH.
The organization awaits an April 17 hearing that will determine whether the state’s Department of Children, Youth and Families can pull JHSH’s day care operating license.
DCYF threatened to pull the day care’s license because of violations- including hiring people without completed background checks.
The PEOpeople partnership was announced with the new appointment of Jameela Dunston as JHSH board chair. According to Cooper, Anastasia Williams, a Providence representative, resigned from the post last week and Dunston, who has served on the board for two years, was voted on Monday.
Williams has been widely criticized by residents and local activists for remaining at the helm of the settlement house after so much funding was lost under her tenure.
In 2014, the organization could not account for roughly $35,000 in U.S. Department of Agriculture reimbursements for child meals. The oversight resulted in the state’s education department making the JHSH ineligible for federal meal money.
Although Williams is stepping down as board chair, she will remain seated at the board at the request of other members.
