The Chicago Department of Public Health has severed its ties with Minority Outreach Intervention Project (MOIP) upon the recommendation of the City of Chicago Inspector General's Office.
The Inspector's recently completed investigation did in fact verify charges of fraud which first surfaced last fall.
The local HIV/AIDS organization, now located at 1130 S. Wabash, Suite #404, has been active primarily on the city's South and Southwest sides and has targeted African-American and Latino men who have sex with men. But with this decision, MOIP's future is certainly in jeopardy—in 2001 MOIP had a contract for more than $133,000 in funds from CDPH to provide a range of HIV/AIDS-related services.
A report and supporting materials recently delivered to CDPH officials from the Inspector General's Office concluded that MOIP, headed by Executive Director Brandon Armani, had submitted fraudulent documentation to CDPH by providing participant sign-in sheets claiming that it had administered three group HIV/AIDS prevention sessions, when in fact it had not. CDPH officials were alerted to the fraud by a former MOIP employee, triggering an initial CDPH examination and subsequent investigation by the Inspector General.
'We will no longer contract with MOIP based on the recommendation of the Inspector General,' said Fikirte Wagah, director of planing and evaluation/ STD/ AIDS division. 'This a total severance of all HIV contracts. Our concern now is for the target population that MOIP served—we want to make sure they [African Americans and Latino men] get high level care and prevention services.'
Wagah went on to say that under the direction of Christopher Brown, assistant commissioner, CDPH is looking for qualified agencies to which they can distribute those funds that MOIP would have received for 2003.
'We are just starting to receive the federal dollars and we anticipate being able to continue services without interruption,' she said.
In any given year CDPH funds about 70 community-based agencies to provide services in the fight against HIV/AIDS. And while the community will continue to voice its views on this very controversial decision, Wagah added that this was not the first time such action had been taken against a local agency.
When asked about the future of MOIP, Armani said, 'the board of directors will be meeting over the next few days to map out a future plan for the agency in light of the decision made by the city.' Armani anticipates an announcement from the board by the end of the week.