Cooking Classes For Gangs Get Grilled
A $340,000 grant from the federal government to help launch a culinary arts program to provide job training and employment opportunities for gang-involved juveniles has apparently been smoldering on the backburner for nearly a year, leaving county officials scrambling for answers about how the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s Gang of One program has been administering the funds.
The questions and concerns came to a boil when county commissioners were asked this week to authorize carrying forward unspent grant funds that were approved last November with the understanding that the money would be used as part of a push to reopen the Greenville Neighborhood Center, which the county had shuttered in 2010 because of budget cuts. Specifically, the $340,000 in grant money was tagged for the Greenville Center Culinary Arts Program, which was to assume the operation and maintenance of the center and renovation of the facility’s kitchen to support the culinary program for wayward gangbangers.
The Greenville Center reopened earlier this year, but there has been little to no movement on kitchen renovations that are key to the culinary program, according to Mecklenburg Commissioner Vilma Leake.
“I want to make sure what’s allocated is being used appropriately and has been used,” Leake said. “And it has not been used. Nothing has been done.”
Leake, whose district includes the Greenville Neighborhood Center, wanted the board to defer authorization of carrying the grant funding forward until commissioners received an update on the kitchen renovation and culinary program. That hit a snag when commissioners were told that the county risked losing the funding if it was not appropriated in a timely manner for the current fiscal year.
“There is a purpose and there is a program; the funds have just not been used yet,” said Commissioners Chairman Jennifer Roberts. “The concern is that we do have an intent to use [the funds]. We want to make sure we don’t lose them. If we vote to carry them forward, we can retain them for that purpose.”
Deferring the request, said County Manager Harry Jones, would result in the county not being able to pay some outstanding bills that are due. Jones didn’t explain what those bills were or how much they totaled, but when the board originally approved accepting the grant last November, commissioners were told that four people would be hired to staff the culinary arts program and oversee the reopened Greenville Center – a facility coordinator, a program coordinator, a culinary chef, and a jobs-skill manager. At that time, Gang of One director Fran Cook said the goal was to have the culinary arts program operational by February 2011.
The center, said Commissioner George Dunlap, is currently being used to house the CMPD’s Police Activities League and Gang of One program.
The board, with Leake in agreement, ultimately voted to approve carrying the funds forward, but that didn’t settle the issue. Why, Leake pressed, has the money not been used as originally intended for the culinary arts program? And she wasn’t alone.
“If we have the money,” said Commissioner Harold Cogdell, “I’d like to see the resources being invested and using the funds as it was intended when we applied for and received the grant.
“I’m not saying it’s not,” Cogdell said, “but I too have heard that there’s been no upfitting taking place and there’s been nothing done at the Greenville Center.”
Cogdell also expressed concern about whether the county could be held liable if problems with administration of the funds or program development emerged, and the state or federal government sought repayment of the grant money.
The grant originated from federal stimulus funds that were distributed to state governments, which in turn awarded allotments to counties. Mecklenburg received its share of stimulus money through the N.C. Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to provide assistance to CMPD’s Gang of One program.
Jones wasn’t able to provide any details addressing the commissioners’ concerns about the culinary program or the renovation status of the Greenville Center’s kitchen.
“If there are questions regarding what’s occurring with respect to the use of the facility,” he told board members, “that’s another question that I’d have to address and I’ll do what I can to get the information to you in the next few days.”
Jones told commissioners that he would call Police Chief Rodney Monroe directly after Tuesday night’s board meeting for answers. Calls placed to Jones the following afternoon, to learn how that conversation with Monroe unfolded, were not returned.
Commissioner Dumont Clarke on Tuesday night questioned how far county officials should pursue the matter.
“To what degree does the county have responsibility for overseeing the expenditure of these grant funds?” Clarke asked. “Is it appropriate for the county to be conducting an oversight hearing of a City of Charlotte police department program?”
Cogdell said it was his experience that the county could be held responsible for how the grant money was being used or, as the case might be, misused. In his private law practice, Cogdell said, he had represented clients who had been audited by the state department of juvenile justice. The party that receives the grant award, he said, is responsible for adherence to the terms and conditions of the grant.
Jones opined that the county’s responsibility was primarily a budgetary one.
“We do have a role and that role is budgetary oversight,” he said, “to monitor how the money is being spent.”
Oversight of which, apparently, the county has fallen short, as nobody seems to know exactly how or even if the grant money is being spent.
“Over a period of almost a year, nothing has happened,” Leake said. “And that’s my concern, as it relates to the children.
“My job is not to micromanage the grant monies,” Leake said. “But if we’re going to serve the children, and if they [CMPD’s Gang of One] are going to do what they say they’re going to do and they haven’t done it yet, I believe that as a citizen and a county commissioner I have that right to lift this up because we’re wanting to save children.”
By teaching hardcore gangbangers, of course, how to properly grill a brandy flamed peppercorn steak or whip up the perfect coconut meringue pie.
We need your help! If you like PunditHouse, please consider donating to us. Even $5 a month can make a difference!
Short URL: https://pundithouse.com/?p=7539
