It's been a difficult summer for non-profit service providers in the Chicago area. While they operate under public grants specifying how they will provide healthcare and counseling support to gay African American and Latino men and youth living with HIV/AIDS, accomplishing their mission appears to be a task of increasing difficulty.
Now, amid claims by former and current employees at Minority Outreach Intervention Project, and following an investigation by an ad-hoc committee formed with members of MOIP's board of directors, the Chicago Department of Public Health ( CDPH ) has begun its own series of inquiries to determine if the South Side agency has truly fulfilled its contractual obligations to the Latino community.
"Our office received a letter of complaint from Richard Santana, a former employee of MOIP as well as a report from MOIP's board of directors that presents their findings from an in-house investigation," said Mauricio Beltran, CDPH contracts compliance officer. "Now we are looking at all of the data and conducting interviews with those cited in the letter of complaint to determine what our next step should be."
While MOIP Executive Director Brandon Armani stated in an earlier interview that he believed the investigation was a closed issue, Beltran says that officials from CDPH never intended to imply that their investigation was closed.
In fact, according to Beltran, CDPH has determined that several documents claiming that services were provided to Latino clients appear to have been forged, and a third form is still missing. Beltran added that a current MOIP employee has confirmed several of Santana's allegations.
"We are still trying to sort out all of the information, but if the allegations are proven to be true, then there will certainly be consequences that the agency will have to face," Beltran said.
CDPH officials must now determine if MOIP is in full compliance with its current contract—that is, if required services for the agency's Latino clients were actually rendered. If not, the agency would find itself in violation of its contract—and could receive technical assistance from the city to correct these violations, suspension or even the loss of its contract.
"Internally CDPH is now carefully considering our next course of action," Beltran said. "And as our assistant commissioner has stated, 'we have not exhausted all of our leads to get to the truth.'"
One of the difficulties facing CDPH officials is the fact that Santana waited seven months from the date of his release from MOIP to the filing of his letter with the department. Some wonder if this is really about securing services for the Latino community or a case of personal vindication.
"We certainly asked Mr. Santana why he waited so long to come forward because it does appear to be highly irregular," Beltran said. "And yes, his delay did cause some concern for our staff. But we realize that people sometimes need time to get themselves together and to solidify their thoughts before taking any actions."
Several meetings have taken place, with Christopher Brown, CDPH assistant commissioner, STD/HIV Public Policy Programs, serving as the facilitator. Beltran spoke to WCT with Brown's authorization in Brown's temporary absence from the city.
"We want to address the matter as quickly as possible and we realize that time is of the essence," Beltran said. "But to conduct a thorough investigation is very time consuming and because we are near the end of the summer, many of our staff members [ including Brown ] are away on vacation. Those who remain are also completing site visits as is our normal procedure. We need to regroup the CDPH staff as soon as possible.
"At this point we are not prepared to make any resolutions or conclusions. We are looking to our legal department in terms of the consequences that this matter presents."
Santana has stated that he would only be satisfied if Armani and the MOIP board of directors were removed from their positions. But according to both Beltran and his supervisor, Rosemary LeBrun, such a move is not within the reach of their powers.
"Our scope does not pertain to removal of an executive director or board members," Beltran said. "Our legal scope does not cover hiring. Basically our scope of work is limited to the services that our agencies agree to provide per their contract to the specified target populations."
Santana says he is ultimately concerned about members of the Latino community receiving insufficient service from MOIP, but he first wants CDPH to continue to investigate his allegations of forgery and mismanagement.
MOIP Board of Directors President Kerwin Watkins and Armani continue to admit that the agency has not fulfilled its contractual obligations to the Latino community. But they cite lack of qualified candidates for employment as the primary reason.
"We realize that it is a challenge to provide service to different target populations—the task that MOIP faces," Beltran said. "But we expect our agencies to come to us when they realize that such difficulties exist so we can provide technical assistance or make other recommendations. MOIP has a contract made up of three separate proposals—two of them are directed to the Latino community. That's what they must do to be in full compliance."
Watkins adds that after several discussions with Armani, MOIP is resolved to provide more detailed programs for its Latino clients. Three Latino outreach workers have also become regular members of the MOIP staff. But while both agree that there have been gaps in service, as it relates to the Latino community, Watkins said his board does not believe it is a case of mismanagement.
"Maybe we could have done a better job at reaching the Latino community," Watkins said. "But the difficulty for MOIP has continued to be retaining the necessary Latino advisors and talent to carry out programs."
Latino forum a chance to speak out
MOIP held a Latino forum for members of the public Aug. 29. MOIP co-founder Dave Jiminez served as the facilitator with Lora Branch, head of CDPH's Office of Lesbian and Gay Health, also on hand for assistance.
About 20 people attended the forum, mostly gay men—with an equal distribution of African Americans and Latinos. Armani organized the forum and invited other MOCHA partner agencies, including CALOR, to attend, as well as others from the Latino community. They shared their observations about the challenges of providing service to the Latino community as well as their views about MOIP.
"The Latino community has become more segregated with more sub-cultures popping up," said Santos Lopez. "And if we are going to provide adequate outreach we're going to have to find more catchy phrases and be more aggressive in our approach. Of course, the literature we use has to be bilingual. Sometimes language itself is causing barriers—particularly when the outreach workers don't speak Spanish."
Lopez added that he hears from the Latino community that MOIP lacks consistency in its outreach efforts.
"Some even believe MOIP has closed or has just given its Latino cases to some other agency," he said. "And there are a few 'bad seeds' in our community who are spreading inaccurate information about MOIP—and people are believing it.'"
MOIP outreach workers agreed that they have found it challenging to get Latinos to support many of their special projects aimed at Latinos. And, they said, the problem may well be that when outreach is being done, at least in the past, it was not always with a staff member who looked like and spoke the language of the clients.
Branch surveyed the audience asking if they could identify a program in the city that one could point to as an example of a solid provider to the Latino community. But no one in attendance could clearly identify one. Project VIDA was lifted up as a shining example in the Chicago area, but its target population is Latino youth—not adults.
Martin Gonzalez of CALOR said agencies like MOIP must stop to clarify their own understanding of outreach work. "It's more than just handing out condoms," he said. "You often have to make referrals and that means you have to listen and talk to people—you have to be able to speak their language."
Iliana Oliveros, program associate for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, said outreach workers deal with very personal issues and must understand the culture of their clients.
"We are talking to people about their personal health and their sexual lives," she said. "They are not going to open up to someone that doesn't understand or does not respect them and their cultural differences."
Some of the attendees wanted to know how committed MOIP is to the Latino community. For example, MOIP's board only has two Latino members, with six Black and one white filling out the board—and with several openings still to be filled.
Branch says counting numbers is not what needs to happen. She suggests that agencies like MOIP recommit themselves to being a welcoming environment for all ethnic groups.
"I often say that cultural competency is a journey—not a destination," she said. "That means we have to be willing to say 'I'm sorry.' But it's a tough time for all of the agencies in Chicago. We are in a climate of audits, shrinking funds and programs either merging with other agencies or being eliminated. Still, we have to look at the work that's being done. And we have to ask if we are providing service to the indigenous populations."
Former MOIP employee Dale Green added that the dispute over who is being better serviced, Blacks or Latinos, has tended to always be one of the bones of contention at MOIP.
At Armani's request, at the end of the forum, the group compiled a list of recommendations. Armani said he would attempt to incorporate all of the recommendations and invited those in attendance to return in three months to assess the progress of his agency.
The recommendations included: cultural competency training; a commitment of the agency to reexamine its ability to meet its current contractual demands; opening and strengthening relations with other agencies in the city and asking for assistance when necessary; taking a retrospective look at MOIP's history of service to the Latino community and asking if the target population has changed; and taking time for in-house anonymous evaluations.
Branch said agencies can change their scope of service, especially because, as workers in the field, they know their communities better than city officials. But she emphasized there is a procedure one must follow in making those changes—one which assures that agencies will not be penalized.
"This is just the first step," Armani said. "We want you all back in three months and we know you will hold us accountable to these recommendations. Some of the complaints we face are personally aimed at me and I'm willing to deal with that. But this agency means to do what our founders first promised over 20 years ago—to serve the African-American and Latino gay communities."
