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The Douglass Community Center has been around for 94 years, giving underprivileged kids a safe place to play sports, use computers, play games, get guidance, and get help with homework.

Unfortunately there has been some mismanaged funds that can't be accounted for, i.e. money was taken, and the United Way has opted to pull their funding, all $264,000 of it.

Greg Jennings grew up right next door to the Douglass. With a 28 million dollar contract in hand perhaps Greg could help fund the center, and put his dad in charge of it (if dad were so inclined).

In the past a Stryker, Gilmore, Fetzer, or some other 1 percenter would have come forth and propped them up, but because of the circumstances I don't think they'll do that.

GJ already gives back to the community with his foundation, but I see this as a chance to establish his name as a leader in the community, so when he does retire he can return here and use his name and status much like Dave Bing did in Detroit.

The place needs to be reinvented to an extent.

Right now it is old and tired and in a rut and the operational expertise is pretty poor.

I think they are sort of at the vision stage, trying to see what it is they really hope to accomplish. Just saying they serve the community or support Rocket Football doesn't really cut it with the big money.

Sure they are going to get some checks coming in as per the paper, but before any serious money comes in they are going to have to get past the "more of the same" stage, be able to show clear strategies, operational methodology, organizational clarity, and a tight cost control structure. If they can do that, the next stage would be getting some strong staffing in place. That is one of the hardest parts of all.

Getting smart youthful staff to come to Kalamazoo rather than Atlanta or Chicago or Houston is a hard sell. Even if you can pay well, which they can't.

And just at the practical level, the facility itself is run down and a $1,000,000 renovation would be a shoestring budget. Leaky, costly to heat, crappy materials and paint and carpet and ceiling tile and HVAC systems in there right now. The parking lot has more potholes than pavement. A parking lot alone is probably $150,000.

It's going to be a tough road to have a first class program there. The alternative is just to plod forward on a shoestring, which is probably workable but won't be too productive.

The place isn't even that old. Just completely mismanaged. First and foremost they have to get someone in their who won't raid the cash register.

Not a problem now as there is no cash to raid.

(08-18-2013 08:50 PM)Chipdip2 Wrote:  The place isn't even that old. Just completely mismanaged. First and foremost they have to get someone in their who won't raid the cash register.

While many nonprofits do some good for disadvantaged people, many are also poorly managed, lack accountability, accomplish little and either piss away or steal money or resources. It's a huge problem that no one will admit.

I heard the LeBron's charity took in something like $80k last year, but had $120k in expenses.

To me, that's unbelievable. I totally believe it happens a lot like you say BC.

I had a parent who was the head of a non-profit. Any time her child got in trouble and I would call her she'd throw her position up in my face, and threaten to put her kids back in private school.

In the time her son had been at my school I had never received their records from the private school they had come from, even after several requests. I finally called the school, and this is what I was told.

The child had been dismissed from the school because their mother had never paid their tuition. They also told me that she had been fired from her job as head of an educational non-profit for embezzling $68,000. I later found that she plea bargained that down to a lesser charge. There has been other criminal behavior since that I won't go in to.

Today she happens to be a predominate member of the Kalamazoo political community.