It was clear the Urban League crisis had hit an ugly pass
last week when County Chairwoman Beverly Stein cut short
her vacation to sit down before seven reporters and television
cameras and bluntly announce that the League's "financial
stability is at such a low level" that she doesn't have
"enough confidence that services won't be compromised."
With that, Stein coolly cut off $1.1 million in county
funds to the League.
As Stein walked to her office after the Sept. 24 press
conference, it was obvious that none of this was done
lightly--or easily. A 1973 public-policy graduate of
the University of California at Berkeley--for generations
the very symbol of progressive liberalism--she had just
ended the county's financial ties to the very symbol
of African-American progress, and in a very public way.
In her six years as chairwoman, had Stein ever contemplated,
much less done, anything like this?
"No," she said, her voice drained of emotion.
In effect, the Urban League gave Stein no choice.
Following a financial review by county personnel, Stein
first called on the League to straighten out its financial
mess in a Sept. 9 letter to its board of directors.
The League's 18-page response on Sept. 24 was delivered
to her office a day late and many details short. Even
worse, the oft-requested management letter, prepared
by KPMG Peat Marwick, offered little comfort. In the
cool, sterile language of accounting, it gave the League
"a really bad dressing down," according to Arjun Chatrath,
a University of Portland finance professor who reviewed
the letter at WW's request.
Stein has made it clear that she values the League's
services to Northeast Portland. But, she says, her first
responsibility is to the public trust.
Stein isn't the only social-service advocate who has
been forced to deal harshly with the League. Just hours
after Stein's press conference, John Ball, president
of worksystems inc., announced that his job-training
agency will be cutting off the $500,000 a year it spends
with the League.
Ball says he tried hard to avoid that decision: Since
early August, he's had staffers working at the League
to straighten out its books. How hard was it for the
former state Commission on Children staffer to come
to the same conclusion as Stein?
"It was a tough call," he says. "We'd rather be spending
our time on helping Northeast Portland get jobs for
its citizens."
The response of the Urban League--facing the loss of
more than 40 percent of its funding--has baffled many
observers both inside and outside of local government.
Why, they ask, can't the League and its board of directors
simply go public with their sins of commission and ask
for help? There are plenty of allies offering sound
advice on how to straighten out its books and restore
its sullied image.
Yet both Lawrence Dark and Duane Bosworth, the League's
respective president and board chair, consistently ignore
repeated requests for comment. The silence certainly
troubles League employees, many of whom reported for
work Sept. 27, asking whether they still had jobs.
Dark was not there to address their questions. He was
out of town.
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Willamette Week | originally
published September 29,
1999
