Better management, please
Friday, Feb 17, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sun-Times in December of 2021…
(T)he Lightfoot administration is planning to pump more than $400 million into its own community safety plan that targets 15 of the city’s most violent community areas.
The plan, “Our City, Our Safety,” was unveiled more than a year ago and has produced few results so far, according to crime data kept by the Sun-Times that shows many of those communities have gotten more dangerous.
It does take a while to set things like these in motion. I wrote about this topic last year. Governments have to make sure that the money is going to qualified contractors and groups and sometimes they even have to help stand up those recipients.
* Even so, here’s the BGA…
Faced with surging violence, Mayor Lori Lightfoot boasts about investing big money in big ideas — more than $400 million for social programs to battle crime at its roots.
But when it comes to the city’s actual spending and execution, there have been more promises than progress.
An Illinois Answers Project investigation found:
• The city had spent about 6% of the money — roughly $25 million, by a generous estimate — a year into the five-year plan to use a one-time federal windfall and borrowed money to reduce violence, city figures show.
• Many of the city’s programs took months to launch, while a few had yet to start by the end of the year, City Hall reported.
• While the city has marketed its initiatives as innovative, several programs involve traditional services recast as anti-crime efforts. The city, for instance, has earmarked tens of millions of dollars to create more pickleball courts, rehab and sell vacant lots and speed up its response to 311 calls.
• In some cases, the city failed to cite evidence that its programs could work — even when the federal government has asked for it. And the Lightfoot administration has shown few clear plans to evaluate the programs. Experts say city officials are missing a chance to collect valuable data that could help them decide what’s worth continuing.
• A key part of Lightfoot’s plan is funding an array of street outreach groups that specialize in interrupting violence. Some of those groups have little or no experience. In one instance, a group initially rejected for city funding still found ways to get cash. The group is run by a man subject to an order of protection for putting a gun to his ex-wife’s head and threatening to kill her, records show.
The city’s sluggish progress has come as its public safety leadership is in upheaval. The office tasked with coordinating anti-violence programs hasn’t had a permanent director since October; the prior one left without explanation after an Illinois Answers investigation found she had inflated her accomplishments. In four years, the city has had four deputy mayors for public safety.
Experts on anti-violence initiatives say Chicago is doing the right thing by funding a range of programs aimed at helping people in need and fixing neighborhoods instead of depending entirely on police and prisons. But they said the city must spend the money efficiently. During budget hearings and in interviews, aldermen complained the city has moved far too slowly. […]
The $25 million spending figure for 2022 is a generous estimate. The city has been opaque about some of its spending, provided at times inconsistent figures and failed to answer questions clearly about the money.
The city has promised increased spending in the coming years, but at the rate the city spent in 2022, it would take until 2038 to spend the $410 million.
There’s a lot more, so click here to read the rest.
- Donnie Elgin - Friday, Feb 17, 23 @ 12:42 pm:
” A key part of Lightfoot’s plan is funding an array of street outreach groups that specialize in interrupting violence”
The Mayor’s teams should be aware of the efforts of dozens of well-established and respected outreach groups. None better than After School Matters, a group that gets kids involved in arts/sports/ career and trade apprenticeships, and gets low-income kids on a college-bound track. There is no excuse for this delay.
- RNUG - Friday, Feb 17, 23 @ 12:51 pm:
Whole article is a good read … and obviously the result of some serious digging and research.
Some of the take-aways I got from it:
* there is a certain amount of political game playing in the publicity / hype and the relabeling / rebranding of existing programs
* some of the long term intervention players aren’t seeing much of the cash, even though they seem to have a track record of some successes
* a bunch of new players / organizations are seeing money. Have to wonder about old boy / girl / school / political behind the scenes connections
* have to wonder how much money is ending up in the hands of middlemen instead of going to end services. There may be a few grifters making a good living from ‘managing’ some of these programs
* what’s with the one deputy mayor turnover / vacancy? Is Lightfoot serious or just paying lip service to the whole concept?
* the whole article raises more questions than there are answers … but that is, mostly, just good journalism
I’m sure putting it all together was labor intensive, but the BGA should stay on top of it,with updates every 3 or 6 months. Public pressure is the only way things will get done.
- regular democrat - Friday, Feb 17, 23 @ 1:10 pm:
New red meat for her opponents. Not at all surprising to say the least. Follows a pattern of sheer incompetence.
- snowman61 - Friday, Feb 17, 23 @ 1:20 pm:
This is a great follow up story to promises made. I have said before we need more of these follow ups. But I’m worry that with the decrease of actual working reporters we will see less of these. Thank you BGA, Rich and the couple of good reporters/organizations left.
In business, I had to provide reports to superiors about the progress, success or lack there of for projects that they provided funding. If the program works, great, continue and get more funding. If not, then make corrections and fix or cut your loses.
Is the money hitting the streets providing benefits or going into the pockets of organizations leaders? We have a problem with limited funding. Proof that a program is helping should get more funding and losers should figure out why, correct or get cut off!
- Snowman61 - Friday, Feb 17, 23 @ 1:23 pm:
RNUG - great observations and points. Lets hope the pressure will stay to make the programs accountable as well as the Mayor, current and future!
- Lincoln Lad - Friday, Feb 17, 23 @ 1:27 pm:
Seems she’s trying to pretend to do what she hasn’t done all this time. I don’t believe her…
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Feb 17, 23 @ 1:54 pm:
First, thanks Rich, second, that’s some good stuff there - RNUG -.
You look at this as a whole, and then look at the Lightfoot administration and this term, yeah, the lacking of management towards the wonky responsibilities to implementation, this report, this piece highlights how the administration has pieces all over and not many puzzles completed.
- Rudy’s teeth - Friday, Feb 17, 23 @ 1:55 pm:
The city and Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration touts investments in social programs and mentions pickleball courts, rehab and repurposing vacant lots, and a speedy response to 311 calls. What?
Meanwhile, homeless individuals use O’Hare Airport as a surrogate dwelling. If MLL’s administration cannot or will not address the crisis at O’Hare, this lack of action continues a litany of empty promises.
- Politix - Friday, Feb 17, 23 @ 2:02 pm:
You’re so right, Rich.
It takes infrastructure to properly administer a grant. You can’t just throw money everywhere and expect immediate results. There has to be accountability.
Prior to releasing funds, grant-makers must:
-Develop grant program goals based on research and evidence, with input from all stakeholders, including those with lived experience.
-Develop an application that smaller organizations who are doing the actual work in their communities are able to understand and complete. Many orgs don’t have the capacity or infrastructure to complete an application that requires objectives, performance measures, and a proposed budget. That interferes with equity.
-Allow at least a 30-day application period.
-Design and offer technical assistance throughout the application period with webinars, videos, etc.
-Allow time for application review, scoring, an equity measure, etc. Many funders get hundreds of applications, all of which must be scored with a process based on integrity - including bias training, conflict of interest oversight, and assigning multiple reviewers to each application.
-Obtain final grant approvals from oversight boards.
Once a grant is awarded, the real work begins. A contract is negotiated and often agencies need a lot of help creating a budget that aligns with all grant requirements and regulations. Budget agreements often take the most time. Funding agencies are held accountable for the grants they make so this process and all of the quarterly reporting and monitoring that comes with it is a must.