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to promote civic engagement in the Philadelphia region.Is the FBI investigating Safe and Sound?
Sunday, February 1st, 2009 at 2:38 pm - by Matt Campbell. Filed under: Politics.
Safe and Sound was one of the favorite programs of John Street when he was mayor of Philadelphia. One of the reasons was his wife, Naomi Post, headed the organization from 1998-2002. But was there another reason? Like was Safe and Sound a vehicle for Mayor Street to disburse funds to friends and family?
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:
Sources said federal investigators were examining whether the nonprofit had improperly disbursed tens of millions of city dollars it received throughout the Street administration to oversee after-school programs, anti-truancy efforts, and curfew centers, and to conduct violence-prevention research. The precise time period they are reviewing is not clear.
Street’s wife, Naomi, was director of the nonprofit from its founding in 1998 until 2002. In interviews, former Safe and Sound employees said FBI investigators had asked them in November whether the former mayor and his wife tried to influence the disbursement of money after she left the agency.
Safe and Sound saw its funding jump dramatically when Street was elected mayor. It’s funding jumped from $15 million in 2003 to nearly $50 million in 2007. And it would have jumped to $75 million but the city council thought that was a bit too pricey.
Not long after taking office in January 2008 the city’s new mayor Michael Nutter placed Tom Sheaffer as a City Monitor over Safe and Sound. His job was to see how the program that distributed funds for many after-school programs was handling its money. Nutter ultimately did not retain Safe & Sound and directed a new agency to take that role.
Safe and Sound must have done some good because in January Mayor Nutter hired Sharon Tucker to be the Deputy Chief Education Officer. She had been a high up adviser in the Pennsylvania Department of Education but at one time was a program manager for Philadelphia Safe and Sound, where she managed the implementation of Philadelphia’s After-School Initiative—the City’s initiative to establish, fund and monitor over 140 after-school programs throughout the city
I’m curious what your thoughts are on this? Did anyone have any interactions with Safe and Sound? What was your experience?
Related links:
2001 interview with Naomi Post then Exec Dir of Safe and Sound on Radio Times
2002 interview with reporter Cynthia Burton on John Street’s failed plan to name Naomi Post to a city cabinet job. If you listen around 40:25 City Councilman Michael Nutter is brought in to talk about an anti-nepotism bill that he had introduced unrelated to the Street/Post controversy.
February 1st, 2009 at 5:52 pm
It’s truly a shame that this is what this city has become. No better than Camden or Atlantic City. Run by people who have adopted a scorched earth policy built around manipulating the system long enough to get rich then get the hell out of town.
I have high hopes for Mayor Nutter, but not when he has to deal with the messes left over from this idiot.
February 4th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
It is very interesting how Mr. Barr could comment without any substantive information about the great work that Safe and Sound did. Safe and Sound, though it many programs under Mayor Street such as Curfew and Beacon Centers, places that undoubtedly saved thousands of young Philadelphians.
Despite its great work, we choose to harp on the fact that Mayor Street’s wife was once associated with Safe and Sound. This very article notes that she was not associated with Safe and Sound since 2002, which was approximately one year after Mayor Street began his 1st term. It should be noted that Ms. Post-Street is a nationally acclaimed child advocatewho is highly sought after by major metropolises to help them develop programs to save, sustain, and enrich children. Her work on behalf of children in Philadelphia and around this nation should be heralded and not cast aside because of rumors by unnamed sources.
Ms. Lisa Nutter, the First Lady of Philadelphia, is associated with a Child Advocate organization. Where is the scrutiny of her work? Is the City giving her organization money?
I worked with Safe and Sound in my Cobbs Creek neighborhood and miss the wonder work that they did. There are thousands of children who do not have an after school program, beacon center, nor curfew center because of Mayor Nutter’s decisions. And now the Administration proposes closing libraries. I beg one question, how many at risk youth have been saved because of the Office of Sustainability? I would suggest ZERO!
March 9th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
PSS & PHMC - both were involved in these afterschool programs. Just like a lot of non-profits, the focus is not on spending taxpayer money wisely & soundly to help the kids, but on making sure that all the money is fully spent, so that additional funding can be sought the following year. There is some good work & some really good programs that provide outstanding services to our city’s children, but until we find a better way to fund these programs & demand some accountability, they will always be havens for laundering money to politically connected donors, especially in a city with little to no oversight.