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Mayor Emanuel To Raise Cash for Roseland Charity Blocked From City Funding

By Mark Konkol | October 2, 2014 5:31am
 Despite the city's block on funding Kids Off The Block, Mayor Rahm Emanuel continued to support Diane Latiker's homegrown charity by signing on as a fundraiser sponsor.
Despite the city's block on funding Kids Off The Block, Mayor Rahm Emanuel continued to support Diane Latiker's homegrown charity by signing on as a fundraiser sponsor.
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DNAinfo/Mark Konkol; Kids Off The Block

ROSELAND — Mayor Rahm Emanuel has held up “Kids Off The Block” — a Roseland charity run by CNN “Hero Award-winner” Diane Latiker — as a shining example of the youth programs that deserve support to help protect kids from senseless gun violence.

One way to help Chicago, the mayor told people gathered at a Roseland prayer vigil on July 8, is "investing and making sure our kids have a safe place to learn and realize their potential, helping neighborhoods through groups like Kids Off The Block."

But Kids Off The Block is the same foundation that the city banned from receiving grant money in 2011 after audits found its youth programs struggled “in all areas,” DNAinfo Chicago has learned.

Latiker’s charity — which received national attention in 2011 on ABC’s “Secret Millionaire” program — failed to attract a single kid to its school programs on seven of 11 visits made by Chicago youth services coordinator Karen Nolan between May 2009 and September 2010, city records show.

Reports show that the Kids Off The Block programs were plagued with unannounced closures and low daily attendance, and failed to retain a program director and an accountant, according to documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

In January 2011, the city banned Kids Off The Block from receiving city funds after determining the organization was paid $4,144 without filing proper documentation. Then, Latiker repeatedly canceled meetings with city auditors, who ultimately determined tasks including “record keeping” and “bank reconciliations” were not conducted by Kids Off The Block, according to a fiscal monitoring report.

“I tried several time[s] to conduct a follow-up and work with the agency, but they have been uncooperative,” an auditor wrote in a February 2012 report.

Latiker said she repaid the amount, but city spokesman Matt Smith said the funding hold remains in place.

The city budgeted money for Kids Off The Block in 2011, but Latiker said she refused to accept it, and did not apply for grant money in 2012.

The Kids Off The Block founder said she turned down a $54,000 city grant, saying her financially struggling charity didn’t have “upfront cash” to run the programs outlined in grant agreements, and the reimbursement process required to receive city-administered funding “was a headache.”

“We just couldn’t afford it. There’s nothing. There was no money to buy stuff,” Latiker said. “[The city] has some vouchers they did pay, but I can’t make money come out of thin air.”

Internal Revenue Service records show that, during the time when city inspections found no kids at Latiker's after-school program, the charity was bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Between October 2009 and October 2011, Kids Off The Block reported collecting more than $518,000 in donations and had $30,000 in revenue left over, according to tax return documents filed by Latiker on behalf of Kids Off The Block.

This summer, Latiker said city Family and Support Services Commissioner Evelyn Diaz met with her to ask why she declined the grant and told her doing so “looks bad.”

"Commissioner Diaz was not told in advance that KOB owed the city money, but she was informed that they left 100 percent of the funding from their final contract on the table and hadn't applied for funding in subsequent years," city spokesman Matt Smith said. "Commissioner Diaz was referencing that the group should not effectively be walking away from allocated funds in order to serve the city's youth."

Latiker said she wouldn’t change her mind about not accepting city money.

“I take full responsibility for denying the grant. We don’t have the money to pay for a program and wait to get reimbursed,” Latiker said. “You see all the trouble we had in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Why would I take that and have all these problems? ... I didn’t want to be in no trouble.”

Even though the city has a hold on funding Kids Off The Block, Emanuel continues to support the charity by signing on as a private fundraising sponsor.

On Thursday night, the mayor is slated to join forces with “Secret Millionaire” Steve Kaplan to throw a cocktail party that aims to raise more than $100,000 for the Roseland-based group.

 Steve Kaplan, who says he has donated more than $400,000 in cash and in-kind contributions to Kids Off The Block since filming “Secret Millionaire,” said he knew of the charity's organizational shortcomings but wasn’t aware that it led to Diane Latiker (l) turning away grant money.
Steve Kaplan, who says he has donated more than $400,000 in cash and in-kind contributions to Kids Off The Block since filming “Secret Millionaire,” said he knew of the charity's organizational shortcomings but wasn’t aware that it led to Diane Latiker (l) turning away grant money.
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SteveKaplanLive.com

At the event, which Kaplan plans to host at his Chicago residence, Emanuel is expected to give a speech about “the role KOB plays in the future of our inner-city youth,” according to an email Latiker sent asking potential $10,000 donors to invite friends and solicit business.

When asked why Emanuel continues to support Latiker and Kids Off the Block despite the city’s findings, city spokeswoman Kelley Quinn said the mayor has a long-standing relationship with Latiker and is co-sponsoring the event as he does for dozens of private charities each year.

In an email, Quinn wrote, “Scores of teens have been helped by Kids Off the Block, and the Mayor wants to ensure that its doors stay open so the program can continue to combat truancy, gang violence and drugs in the Roseland community. ”

Kaplan, who says he has donated more than $400,000 in cash and in-kind contributions to Kids Off The Block since filming “Secret Millionaire,” said he knew of the charity's organizational shortcomings but wasn’t aware that it led to Latiker turning away grant money.

“I would suspect, plain and simple, that [Latiker] didn’t know how to do [the accounting]. It’s overwhelming. My frustration … is that those problems are standing in their way,” Kaplan said. “And knowing that there was $54,000 that they could get but didn’t makes my stomach churn. It upsets me.”

Kaplan said he and other Kids Off the Block benefactors recently connected Latiker with Executive Service Corps, a group that helps charities that struggle with management, accounting and operational issues.

“She’s in a spotlight when seeking public funding, and you have to understand that world and provide accountability. How to do that is like talking Chinese to her,” Kaplan said. “But she buys into it, and has agreed to go through the process. … The goal is to keep her doors open so at the end of the day, kids who are out there getting chased by gangs don’t get killed.”

Latiker said running Kids Off The Block has been a struggle since 2003, when she opened up her living room to neighborhood kids who didn’t have a safe place to go.

She even considered shutting down Kids Off The Block this year because it became more about accounting and raising money than spending time with kids.

“I love what I do. And because I run this by myself I’m able to open and close the doors when I’m ready. I’m not accountable to anybody, and I do like that,” she said.

“I made a decision [declining grant money] that might not be right, might not be politically correct, but I did it for a reason. I want to continue to help these kids. … If you get a $100,000 grant and you mess up or they perceive you messed up, you’re done," Latike said. "If my mind is so worried about not doing this and not doing that, then the kids suffer.”

Still, Latiker said the city "wasn't there all the time" when it did its audit of her after-school program. She said Kids Off The Block remains a success.

“Our back office, we need help. I've been trying to do everything I can, but I don’t know how,” Latiker said. “But I think we did pretty good. If all we got is that we didn’t have enough youth. … We did good whatever these complaints are because we’re a homemade organization. We’re as grass-roots as we can get. And we’re still here.”

Kaplan said he hopes that with Thursday’s fundraiser — and some help with accounting and organizational accountability — Latiker’s group can keep doing the good work he witnessed while filming the ABC reality TV show.

“She needs support because the stakes are so high, and the amazing work she does with the kids is a bigger deal,” he said. “She’s a committed, honest, warm and genuine person without an expertise in bureaucracy. I know the situation, and she certainly could have used money from the city. But it’s hard to be firm and judgmental when you see the other good things happening.”

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