Critics: Catholic Charities Fails Latinos

http://www.wbez.org/Content.aspx?audioID=36359

 

Immigration

Critics: Catholic Charities Fails Latinos

 

The Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago says its ranks now include almost a million Latinos. Many are poor. Many have roots in Mexico. And some lack documents to be living in the United States. The archdiocese's human-service arm, Catholic Charities, says it does all it can for the Latino population. But WBEZ has obtained some Catholic Charities records that raise doubts. We report from our West Side bureau.

 

Volunteers at a Catholic Charities office in west suburban Cicero pack fresh produce and canned tuna into plastic bags.

 

ROCOTELLO: Each month we provide food for almost 2,500 individuals.

 

Dalia Bagdonas Rocotello heads the office.

 

ROCOTELLO: The majority of people coming through are Latino. I'd say over 80 percent.
The demand is just incredible. We've seen our numbers more than double.

 

The food pantry is one of 160 Catholic Charities programs serving the needy across
Cook and Lake counties. The agency says about half its clients are immigrants.

 

PRESTON: We focus on areas of need.

 

Guadalupe Preston heads Catholic Charities' Office of Latino Affairs.

 

PRESTON: We have Latino families that we serve in early childhood, our emergency assistance, our immigration and refugee services, counseling, nutrition programs, homeless assistance. Just you name it, we're there.

 

But some immigrant advocates and pastors of Latino parishes say Catholic Charities
should be doing a lot more. Illinois State Sen. Martin Sandoval chairs the legislature's
Joint Task Force on Immigrants and Refugees.

 

SANDOVAL: In the last few years, at the height of the growth of the Latino community, Catholic Charities has not stepped up.

 

The critics point to everything from Spanish-language outreach to senior housing.

 

AIDE: Can everyone hear? Well, we're not going to cross our legs if we're going to exercise.

 

MITCHELL: I'm inside a Catholic Charities nursing home on Chicago's Northwest Side. Catholic Charities runs 21 apartment buildings for low-income seniors in Cook and Lake counties. But only this one and one other are in Latino neighborhoods. Even at these,
less than half the residents are Latinos.

 

Guacolda Reyes of the Resurrection Project says that's a shame because Latino seniors need help.

 

REYES: Overcrowded conditions, substandard housing conditions, renting in a basement apartment for $200, with leaky windows, very cold in the winter.

 

Reyes says agencies like Catholic Charities should be creating senior housing in Chicago neighborhoods like Pilsen.

 

REYES: Some of our seniors go and live in other senior buildings that are not located in the community because we don't have one for them here. And they miss the social network--the culture.

 

Ambi: Crane.

 

REYES: We're right in front of the construction site. We have all the foundation completed. You can also see...

 

In Pilsen, Reyes' agency took on the task of building senior housing. She says this 73-unit facility will fill up quickly when it opens next year.

 

An internal Catholic Charities report indicates Latinos constitute less than 20 percent of
the agency's clients. But census data show Latinos make up 28 percent of Cook and Lake county residents living in poverty. And that doesn't include thousands of undocumented Latinos who go uncounted.

 

Fr. Charles Dahm says Catholic Charities isn't meeting the needs of the Latino clients it has.

 

DAHM: They walk in the door. They get their service. They walk out the door. And they're lost to you.

 

Dahm is a long-time pastor of St. Pius V in Pilsen. He says Catholic Charities works parallel to parishes instead of through them.

 

DAHM: This is not the way the Catholic Church should be operating in the minds of most priests.

 

Last year Catholic Charities interviewed priests throughout Pilsen and nearby Little Village. A summary of the interviews went to a handful of top Catholic Charities officials under a cover page marked "confidential." Several of the pastors complained that the agency doesn't help enough in these neighborhoods.. One said his parish has turned to Protestant service providers instead.

 

Fr. Donald Nevins of St. Agnes of Bohemia says Catholic Charities has done a good job building up services in some heavily Latino suburbs, like Cicero and Berwyn. He thinks they should do the same in some Chicago neighborhoods.

 

NEVINS: Because we have large undocumented populations in Pilsen and Little Village, that's part of the reason, I think, that some of the services aren't here.

 

A Catholic Charities Latino advisory committee last year called for more Spanish-language translators and more publicity targeted at Hispanics.. The panel also called for Catholic Charities to review all its programs to see if they comply with U.S. Civil Rights Act protections for people who don't speak much English.

 

Catholic Charities spokeswoman Kristin Ortman insists the agency already works closely with Latino congregations and puts a lot into Spanish-language publicity.

 

ORTMAN: We've produced materials in Spanish in every medium and will continue to do so. It's an important part of our outreach to produce materials in English and Spanish and in any other language where there's a need to communicate our message. And that's across all programs.

 

Catholic Charities is one of the Chicago area's largest nonprofit groups. It gets funding from 12 federal agencies.

 

U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan says Catholic Charities of Chicago is doing a good job. He visited last month to announce nearly a million dollars in new federal funding for the nonprofit.

 

DONOVAN: For the critical services that you provide to children, to families, to seniors, to veterans--at a time when organizations have to stretch scarce dollars--we cannot thank you enough for your leadership, your commitment and your compassion.

 

But if Catholic Charities is reaching out to everyone, it's not evident in the agency's boardroom. The 47 directors include just one Hispanic.

 

BATTEN: That's an early sign as to whether or not there are real deep connections in a diverse community.

 

Susan Taylor Batten heads the New York-based Association of Black Foundation Executives. She says focusing on the Chicago area's Latino population would require two things of Catholic Charities off the bat.

 

BATTEN: An interest and a will to retool and to do the best job it can do with the resources it has. The commitment has to come from the highest level of organizational governance.

 

Catholic Charities CEO Fr. Michael Boland didn't respond to our requests to interview him for this report. Boland's supervisors at the archdiocese also declined to speak with us.

 

Martin Sandoval, the state senator, says he hasn't gotten answers either. He says he's been asking Catholic Charities for years to provide numbers on the diversity of its venders and contractors.

 

SANDOVAL: They have not responded.

 

Sandoval can't get the data even though he serves on Catholic Charities' board of advisors. Served, that is, until last fall.

 

SANDOVAL: I seem not to be included any further in participating in their roundtable discussions.

 

Catholic Charities dropped the senator after he criticized the agency's relations with the Latino community.

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 Comments:

  

catholic watch, Old Town // Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 4:37 AM

 

As a taxpayer, I'm appalled by the fact that this agency gets funding from 12 government agencies! That includes my tax dollars and yours. Yet, Catholic Charities does not seem to be very diverse. Only one member on the board is Latino? How can this be? I would also like to know how much the people in top mgt. make? Senator Sandoval and the rest of the legislature should be asking the tough questions, and he should be getting the answers from this agency!

 

L, River North // Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 4:54 AM

 

The claim that Catholic Charities publishes Spanish media in a variety of forms is false. They don't even have anything in Spanish on their website. They are the 3rd largest diocese in the nation! It's almost like they don't want Latinos to know about their services. Additionally, I've never heard any announcements on Spanish radio or television. That's how most people get their news and information in Latino communities. How much of their advertising budget goes into this form of media? The only thing I've ever seen published in Spanish is the Mother's Day Appeal at the local parishes. Maybe Catholic Charities only knows how to collect money from its Spanish speakers? Because based on this report, they certainly have not figured out how to "serve" them, despite their claims.

 

Friend of Catholic Charities, Gold Coast // Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 5:21 AM

 

"Public confidence in nonprofit performance is at risk. Only one in 10 strongly believed that charities are honest and ethical in their use of donated funds." (Summer 2009, Stanford Social Innovation Review, "Ethics and Nonprofits"). In my role as a current and long-time Member of Catholic Charities' Board of Advisors, I have been supportive of its mission by donating substantially to its fundraisers and volunteering my time on the Board. In light of this investigative report, as well as my own first-hand observations, I am immediately withholding any further contributions, and joining the voices of many of my fellow-Board members who have been calling for a change in the leadership at the agency, starting with Fr. Boland and his senior administration. It's time to implement term limits, and prune the old guard. I hope Cardinal George takes action. After all, where does the buck stop?

 

Ezekiel, South Side // Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 6:08 AM

 

I work for Catholic Charities. (a job's a job) I am very upset about all the recent lay offs and cutbacks made by the agency, due to mismanagement and poor planning. They've cut our tuition reinbursement, cost of living increase, employee recognition Day, and our Martin Luther King Day observance(during work hours). They've even cut our Christmas Party! However, I have noticed that the top execs still have their new cars paid for by the agency, and they are still able to attend "The St. Nicolas Ball." I also know that when the execs travel, they manage to eat at the finest restaurants and stay at 5 star hotels, often taking their spouses...even to Rome! Father Mike Boland even has a luxury suite on the second floor of Catholic Charities headquarters at 721 N. LaSalle. This is apart from his other residence at the Cathedral Rectory. Don't even get me started on his six-figure salary! Meanwhile, the street intervention programs in Back of the Yards have been cut and children are killing each other on the streets. Catholic Charities claims, "We're all about help, and just about everywhere." I would say....except where they're needed.

 

Truth in Charity, River Forest // Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 7:04 AM

 

Follow the $$$! The numbers just don't add up. Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago might as well be a state-run agency (87% of its annual operating budget comes from government contracts - Annual Report online). The difference is that under the guise of being a "religious" charitable organization, it is able to avoid standard practices of public accountability and scrutiny. State legislators should demand a thorough investigation of Charities. Full disclosure about executive pay, discretionary spending, administrative costs, etc. is a must. For instance, how can Catholic Charities justify spending $50,000 within the past year for a Washington, DC lobbyist (Patty Daley - Mayor Daley's relative), plus an additional two lobbyists in Springfield? Additional oversight will be provided by the Dept. of Justice Civil Rights Unit for apparent violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In November the Council on Accreditation (COA)will determine whether Charities will keep its accreditation as a social service agency; this will have a direct impact on the agency's eligibility to continue receiving tax payer money, either from the City, State of Illinois or the Federal Government. How does Catholic Charities of Chicago substantiate the claim that they served 1.1 million persons last year (1/2 of whom are supposed to be Latinos)? Their last annual white paper parts from the query: "What would Chicago do without Catholic Charities," claiming that it serves 1 in 8 residents of Cook and Lake County. Such triumphalism and sense of infalibility has made the agency out of touch with its entrusted constituency. More care seems to be given to thier PR and political machine than to serving the largest growing segment of Chicagoland's population. It's time to pierce the veil of secrecy, self-dealing, and abuse of power at Catholic Charities of Chicago. Where is the "Compassion in Action?"

 

Catholic Conscience, Winnetka, IL // Tuesday, August 25, 2009 @ 8:05 AM

 

Shame on Catholic Charities and its Irish mafia for such bigotry and prejudice. Throw the scoundrels out! It is "time for change", with equal reprersentation of minorities. Hopefully, the hierarchy of the archdiocese will act to make ammends.

 

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