The entrance to the Social Development Commission’s main office, at 1730 W. North Ave., is closed on Monday afternoon. The agency ceased operations on April 26 without providing a reopening date. (Photo by Trisha Young)
By Devin Blake, PrincessSafiya Byers, Meredith Melland and Edgar Mendez
This story was originally published by Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, where you can find other stories reporting on fifteen city neighborhoods in Milwaukee. Visit milwaukeenns.org.
Facing an uncertain future, the Social Development Commission Board of Commissioners is expected to meet Thursday night to plan next steps after the agency abruptly shut down last week.
The closing of the quasi-governmental community action agency, which managed approximately 30 programs and employed 85 people, has left a major gap in services for many Milwaukee residents.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the agency closed its offices Friday and laid off its employees with no effective reopening date following weeks of turmoil. SDC publicly reported a “misallocation of funds” for its weatherization program, suspended that program, fired its finance director and then had George Hinton, its CEO, resign at the request of the board.
“The interim CEO made that decision [to close] based on the finances of the organization and, primarily, the organization’s inability to meet payroll,” said William Sulton, an attorney who represents SDC.
The organization faces a state-ordered forensic audit, which examines the use of funds and will investigate matters such as why contractors were unpaid by SDC. The findings of the audit can be used as evidence in court.
The SDC board had scheduled an election for commissioners in some of its districts for April 30, but the board canceled the election at a meeting before this week, according to Sulton.
Elmer Moore Jr., chair of the SDC Board of Commissioners, and other commissioners have not responded to requests for comment on the agency’s closure and the board’s next steps.
Here’s what we know so far:
Services still available
According to John Hyatt, the president and CEO of IMPACT 2-1-1, while the SDC’s closing surprised the nonprofit community, services are still continuing. Impact 2-1-1 is Milwaukee’s central access point for people in need.
IMPACT 2-1-1 data show that the agency referred around 500 callers to services provided by SDC in the first quarter of the year. Around 200 of those calls were for services that ended before the abrupt closing of the SDC.
As for the rest of the calls, Hyatt said there are other agencies that provide those services.
For instance, Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, or VITA, was IMPACT 2-1-1’s primary referral to the SDC but Riverworks Development Corp. also provides that service.
There are a few challenges, however.
“When someone goes to a place for services for so long, that agency and the people that work there can become trusted advisers to them,” Hyatt said.
He also noted capacity and transportation as potential issues.
The SDC and Riverworks Development Corp. were the only two agencies in Milwaukee County offering extended services for those who have filed extensions for tax filing.
“There are a number of agencies that provide the same services for a reason,” Hyatt said. “It’s because of the number of people in need of those services, so capacity could become an issue. We don’t want to send more people to an agency than they have the capacity to help.”
Sulton said SDC serviced clients through the VITA program and has clients with unfinished work.
The Board of Commissioners “will continue to discuss how to not only reopen SDC but also how to ensure that folks that benefit from the VITA program and other programs can continue to get service through those programs,” Sulton said.
A notice about a tax assistance program hangs in the front entrance of the Social Development Commission’s main office, 1730 W. North Ave., on Monday afternoon. (Photo by Trisha Young)
Impact of closure
Debora Taylor said her mother was a client at SDC before the organization hired her as a youth worker and eventually a program manager for its Head Start program.
“You could say I grew up in the agency,” she said.
Taylor and others were laid off in 2013, when the organization lost its funding for Head Start, which at the time was SDC’s largest program.
“People were devastated,” said Taylor, who worked for more than 30 years at SDC and now lives in Memphis.
She said it’s sad to see that the organization she grew up with appear to be in even more dire straits now.
“There’s always been controversy with SDC and their funding, but I don’t know if it can come back from this. It’s a great loss,” Taylor said.
Ald. Larresa Taylor, who represents the 9th District, where SDC’s Northwest office is located, said the organization’s food pantry filled a vital role in the neighborhood.
“We’re a food desert, so what do we do now to get food to those residents?” Taylor asked.
She said many in her area have mobility issues and that she had been in contact with the organization to find a solution to help those residents with accessing services.
The alderwoman said she had difficulty communicating with the SDC’s office, a sign that things were unstable.
“It’s really a big disappointment to myself and the residents that that office has closed,” Taylor said. “I think that agency is essential to the community, especially those areas that are most unfortunate.”
Who’s in charge?
The State of Wisconsin established the Social Development Commission to research and propose solutions to local social issues. However, as times changed, the agency’s focus shifted to providing direct services like GED classes, health and wellness and financial assistance.
As a quasi-governmental agency, SDC has a Board of Commissioners and is managed by an executive team hired by the commissioners, Sulton said.
Six commissioners are elected by the public to the board to represent six districts, and the other commissioners are appointed by different government offices or community organizations, like the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
SDC works with both the city and county. But as far as the management and organization of SDC is concerned, SDC’s board is ultimately responsible, said Jeff Fleming, director of communications and public engagement for the mayor’s office.
‘An important agency’
There is a contractual relationship between the city and SDC, but it is the type of relationship the city has with other nonprofits, Fleming said.
The city contracts with SDC for various programs, like weatherization and lead abatement, and the mayor’s office will “make sure that that work gets done,” Fleming added.
SDC is “an important agency addressing poverty in Milwaukee. And there’s not any single agency that can take over its work, so it’s important to have that work continue in a way that serves the people in Milwaukee and that’s clearly a goal in the mayor’s office,” said Fleming.
Jill Lintonen, communications director and public information officer for the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services, or DHHS, said that the suspension of SDC operations will have “minimal impact” on programs and services provided by the county.
The “only line of service” between DHHS and SDC was for substance use prevention and “that work will transition to other vendors doing prevention work in our community,” Lintonen added.
What do you want to know?
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