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Empower Play
Aldermanic committee fails to pull plug on troubled agency
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Business New Haven
2/3/2003
By: BNH
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Its controversial history notwithstanding, Empower New Haven Inc. (ENH), the local arm of a federal community revitalization program created during the Clinton administration, will continue to do business in the Elm City, the Board of Aldermen's Community Development & Human Services Committees voted unanimously January 29.
Mandated by aldermanic resolution to review the city's contract with ENH this month, the aldermen questioned Empower President/CEO Stephen C. Robinson on issues including financial accountability, inefficiency of the organization's bureaucracy, and the projected “sunset” of both the president and the organization.
Effusively praising his staff members for their diligence in resurrecting a much-criticized organization, Robinson responded to the concerns raised and voiced optimism while admitting the potential for an untimely death of the program if federal funds continue to ebb.
With regard to the just over $11 million of yet-uncontracted Empower New Haven funds, Robinson said, “The mission in 2003 is to get that money out of here.”
To help move funds from Empower coffers to New Haven streets in the form of business grants and homebuyer loans, Robinson announced that the ENH board of directors has implemented measures to streamline the process of applying for and receiving federal money.
Even with a potentially more efficient procedure for handling contracts and doling out funds, the prospect of premature termination for what was originally designed to be a ten-year program is very real. Though Robinson minimized concerns that the federal government might revoke funds previously allocated to the city, he said this money needs to get into programs and projects soon.
Robinson said that based on figures from the past three years, Empower will exist until 2004 given its current funding levels. The board stipulated that, in addition to submitting monthly financial statements, Empower must also submit a work plan sorting out past financial accounts by April 1 and plans to reconvene at the end of this year to review the organization's progress.
If the memorandum of agreement had been terminated, the city would immediately have been able to claim all of Empower's funds, pending the creation of a new program to replace the defunct organization. The full Board of Aldermen is scheduled to vote on the joint committee's approval of the contract later this month.
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