FBI Raids Buffalo City Hall But Not Detroit

Waiting for Detroit...

FBI seizes City Hall records, questions planning chief at his home

Unannounced and unexpected, FBI agents arrived at Buffalo City Hall Wednesday armed with a search warrant.

Eight hours later, they left with box upon box of seized information.

The court-authorized search, which took place just a day after voters went to the polls, focused on the city's Office of Strategic Planning and the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency in what appears to be an investigation into public corruption.

"We have not made any arrests," FBI spokeswoman Maureen Dempsey said Wednesday.

The FBI conducted the search with investigators from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the IRS but declined to comment on the probe.

Investigators move from room to room on 3rd floor City Hall pic.twitter.com/aKhESzMuFQ

— Deidre Williams Boyd (@DeidreWilliamsB) November 6, 2019

Three sources said they also received information that Brendan R. Mehaffy, executive director of the Office of Strategic Planning, was interviewed by federal agents at his home early Wednesday.

The scene at City Hall Wednesday included a federal agent standing guard outside a neighborhood housing office and other agents wearing black gloves filing in and out of several third-floor offices.

Meanwhile, a gaggle of media waited nearby.

Inside of Room 315, where agents spent much their time, is the Division of Housing, which is under the Office of Strategic Planning.The office is filled with boxes of documents from housing projects, some finished, some not. The papers include bidding documents and financial reports.

At about 3:40 p.m., investigators left the office with two carts stacked with boxes covered by tarps.

Dempsey, when asked, confirmed that agents from the three federal agencies were at City Hall as part of a court-authorized search but declined to comment further.

One of the three sources who said Mehaffy was contacted by the FBI said she saw men who appeared to be investigators outside Mehaffy's house on Windsor Avenue at about 7:15 a.m. while she was walking in the neighborhood.

Dempsey declined to provide information about anyone who may have been interviewed.

"During the course of business, we talk to people about things we're interested in," she said.

Separately, a spokesman for the administration of Mayor Byron W. Brown released a statement: "Our understanding is that court-authorized activity has taken place at a BURA office. At this time we have no further information."

Brown is also chairman of the BURA board of directors.

It is not clear what the FBI was looking for Wednesday, but as recently as last June, agents working with FBI and the state Attorney General's Office were part of an investigation of the Community Action Organization of Western New York.

The group spends millions of state and federal dollars on anti-poverty programs.

As part of the investigation, the FBI and Attorney General's Office conducted two days of interviews with people familiar with the CAO's operations, according to a person who was questioned.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy Jr. said he would not comment on the City Hall search or its timing – the day after Election Day.

Common Council President Darius G. Pridgen said he was briefed by the Brown administration early Wednesday afternoon. He said he was told that law enforcement was in the building based on a court order, but “at this point there is no indication that BURA is the target.”

“There is no clarity of exactly who is the target, but this was about records and information,” Pridgen said.

[RELATED: This isn't the first controversy for the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency]

Several Common Council members were caught off-guard by the federal agents' search in City Hall.

Wednesday morning, Pridgen, Lovejoy Council Member Richard A. Fontana and Majority Leader David A. Rivera, who represents the Niagara district, said they did not have any information about the federal law enforcement activity, were not briefed on it and had no prior knowledge that it was going to take place.

"I only know what I saw in the news," Rivera said.

The search at City Hall began at about 7 a.m. and quickly focused on the Office of Strategic Planning.

The office is headed by Mehaffy, who is also vice chairman of the Urban Renewal Agency. Some of its programs are funded largely with federal money.

The Division of Housing, where the FBI agents were posted this morning, is headed by Yvonne McCray, who reports to Mehaffy. The housing office is among those receiving federal funds for such things as housing rehabilitation programs in the city.

The city's Office of Strategic Planning has been the focus of federal investigations in the past.

The office was once led by Timothy Wanamaker, who was sentenced in 2012 to three years’ probation for using a City Hall credit card to finance more than $27,000 in personal expenses, including travel. Wanamaker had to repay the money he stole to the federal agency it came from, the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Wanamaker was hired in 2003, when Anthony Masiello was mayor, and was kept in the post when Brown became mayor.

In the Brown years, the FBI launched an investigation into One Sunset, an upscale restaurant that closed a year after it opened and left $160,000 in unpaid government grants and loans. The One Sunset probe never led to criminal charges, but it did result in two unrelated but high-profile prosecutions. One involved Wanamaker, and the other former Common Council member Brian C. Davis, a former president of the Community Action Organization.

This is not the first time City Hall has been the subject of a federal search warrant or subpoena.

In 2017, state and federal agents investigating political operative G. Steven Pigeon issued a subpoena for documents related to firms that have done business with the city during the Brown administration. Pigeon, a former Erie County Democratic chairman, eventually pleaded guilty to two felonies – bribing a judge and making illegal campaign contributions.

Investigators just wheeled three carts loaded full with boxes away from the third floor of Buffalo City Hall pic.twitter.com/Z0tORV79MX

— Derek Gee (@DerekGeePhoto) November 6, 2019

Pigeon is awaiting sentencing and, according to two sources close to the case, is cooperating with law enforcement in a bid to reduce or even eliminate the jail time he could face. One of the sources said the longtime confidant to top Democrats across the state is answering questions about several ongoing investigations.

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Under federal investigation, Detroit chose not to apply for the Head Start grant, again

This is not the first time Detroit Head Start funding has been denied or even scrutinized by the feds so for any leader to act surprised at the mishaps at Detroit Public Schools should reassess their leadership abilities of being informed of the history in this matter.

Child welfare programs (i.e. Schools, Foster Care, Medical) have been riddled with fraud, waste and abuse for years yet no one wants to make changes in its operations.

The State has intervened in the operations but of the expansive administrative incompetency, nothing was ever accomplished because the state was just as bad. The blind leading the blind.

Detroit Public Schools chose not to apply for the grant...again.

The feds have been investigating Detroit for years on its poorly operated Head Start Program with even poorer results.

The feds have been investigating Michigan for years on it poorly operated child welfare programs with even poorer results.

Individual whistleblowers have even taken action through the courts.

Michigan was prepared for this so-called mistake with Detroit's Head Start application by preemptively putting together its Great Start Program and expanding its departmental partnerships with DHS to tap into the expanded Medicaid funding for low-income children through child welfare.

The sin and shame was that this official mistake should have been spun much better for a state election cycle.

Next time call me, I will save you from the embarrassment.

Officials’ mistake cancels Head Start in Detroit schools; ‘sin and a shame’ for district

Michigan is expanding preschool for low-to-moderate income families, but an application bungle in Detroit imperils more than 900 Head Start seats. (Bridge Photo by Lon Horwedel)

At a time when parents, educators and state officials are pushing to make sure every Michigan child has access to quality preschool, almost 1,000 low-income Detroit 4-year-olds may not get free, federally-funded classrooms because Detroit Public School officials botched the paperwork.

DPS failed to complete the application process for the Head Start preschool program on time. The result: Head Start classrooms are being shuttered across the city, with the district promising to offer 4-year-olds other programs funded by Michigan taxpayers instead.

During the 2013-14 school year, DPS had more than 900 Head Start students in about 56 classrooms, public records show.

Sen. Bert Johnson, D-Highland Park, called DPS’ mistake reprehensible and doubted lawmakers would favor funding more state preschool in Detroit, considering DPS screwed up a chance at federal money.

“I think it renders us functionally obsolete as a school district as it relates to the most vulnerable students,” Johnson added.

Four-year-olds from low-income Detroit families still will be able to enroll in Head Start classes offered by community agencies in the city, according to the regional office of the Administration for Children and Families, which oversees Head Start. It was not immediately clear whether there will be enough classes for the Detroit children who would have gone to DPS, where preschool is taught by certified teachers.

“The application from Detroit Public Schools was not among the eligible applications received on time,” said Kenneth Wolfe, spokesman for the ACF. “Therefore, it was not evaluated by the panel of experts.”

Head Start will be offered by four local Detroit agencies that won $48 million in federal grants, Wolfe said.

The Head Start grant announcements were made in February, but word spread last week when some DPS schools were told to tag and send back any preschool furniture or equipment that was purchased with Head Start funds.

District claims options expanding

Keith Johnson, the president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers union, called the error by DPS “a sin and a shame.”

“It’s really unfortunate in a district that can’t afford to lose a dime,” Johnson said. “How do you not get your I’s dotted and T’s crossed, knowing early childhood is a focal point in our district?”

Great Start and Head Start program details at a glance.

Asked why DPS failed to meet the Head Start deadline, the district released a statement on Monday saying DPS is actually expanding preschool. DPS did not answer questions regarding the Head Start application snafu, but described it as a program limited to poor students. About 82 percent of DPS students are eligible for free or reduced price lunch.

“DPS will no longer be including Head Start, which qualifies children based solely on their meeting poverty level requirements, in its early childhood education program offerings,” the district said in a written statement.

Last year, DPS had 3,363 children in early childhood programs, about 900 of them in Head Start. Despite losing the Head Start funds, the district plans to add 540 seats in 34 new classrooms using funds from the state’s Great Start Readiness Program and federal Title I funds.

DPS officials did not explain how losing more than 900 Head Start seats and adding 540 Great Start and Title 1 seats amounted to an increase in early childhood offerings.

“Research clearly shows that providing children with early childhood education programs is essential to their personal growth and future academic success,” Jack Martin, the state-appointed DPS emergency manager, said in the news release. “DPS remains committed to providing these critical programs to as many Detroit children as possible.”

State officials did not return calls seeking confirmation that DPS’ expanded preschool will be funded by additional state Great Start funds. But extra funding needed to cover Detroit preschool children, who would have been in the federally funded Head Start program if not for the paperwork snafu, will mean less money for students elsewhere in the state.

LaMar Lemmons, the school board president and vocal critic of the emergency management process, called the DPS mistake further proof that the state is doing a poor job managing its largest school system.

“I think this is a deliberate and systematic dismantling of the Detroit Public Schools system,” Lemmons said. “That, or gross incompetence that is harming our school district and our city.”

Martin reports to the Michigan Department of Treasury. Terry Stanton, spokesman for treasury, was unfamiliar with the DPS Head Start application process, but said he would look into the matter.

A long history with Head Start

Head Start has served over 30 million children across the country since 1965, growing from an eight-week demonstration project to full-day classes. Services include home visits, parenting workshops, English language classes as well as social services and medical referrals.

Those outside-the-classroom services will not be available to children who would have been in Head Start but now will be in Great Start.

Last year, Head Start made a change in Detroit. The government chose five communities nationwide, including Detroit, to participate in a pilot program called Birth to Five. Birth to Five combines programs for expectant families with Early Start services for babies and Head Start preschool services.

The Head Start providers in the selected five cities had to compete for funding due to deficiencies found during prior monitoring reviews. Each applicant submitted a single application to provide a continuum of care in a Birth to Five Head Start program.

In February, four Detroit agencies were awarded a total of $48 million for the Birth to Five pilot that will start in the fall of 2014: Matrix Human Services, Metropolitan Children & Youth, New St. Paul Tabernacle, and Starfish Family Services.

Debra Spring, director for Vistas Nuevas Head Start programs in southwest Detroit that are operated by Matrix Human Services, said she believes the city will have enough seats – a mix of Head Start and Great Start – to accommodate all preschool children in the fall.

“Our hope is that people will look at a program that best fits their needs,” she said.

This fall will likely be the first time ever that DPS will not participate in Head Start, Johnson said.

Push to expand preschool

The DPS bungle comes as the state pushes an effort to offer more preschool.

Gov. Rick Snyder and a host of legislators supported a large increase in preschool funding last year – $65 million, the highest increase among any state in the nation. The money was meant to open classrooms for some of the 30,000 Michigan 4-year-olds who qualified for Great Start but were not enrolled.

The federally funded Head Start program can lead to extra costs for a district because it offers more services to the neediest children, including children who meet risk factors of poverty as well as those with special needs. Head Start provides funds for preschool for students whose families are at or below the poverty line. Great Start funds students whose families earn up to 2.5 times the poverty rate.

Any child who would qualify for Head Start, would also be eligible for either the Great Start Readiness and/or Title I Pre-K programs that DPS will offer, according to DPS.

Unlike some other Head Start providers in the city, DPS’ teachers are paid union wages and typically certified. It is unclear whether DPS will retain all of its Head Start teachers next school year. DPS “believes” those teachers “will likely be absorbed into the planned expansion of the Great Start Readiness and Title I-funded classrooms.”

Johnson, the president of the teachers union, said DPS exhausted its appeals options in the Head Start application process, but should not have found itself in such an “inexcusable” position.

U.S. DHHS OIG City of Detroit Department of Human Services Audit 2009 by Beverly Tran

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HHS Inspector Levinson Testifies On Medicaid Fraud In Child Welfare

"Three of these are relevant to today’s hearing – Foster Care, Head Start, and the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF) – and accounted for about $0.5 billion of those improper payments."

 

Top Management Challenges at the Department of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education: Perspective...

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Bing closing graft-filled Detroit Department of Human Services

Bing closing graft-filled Detroit Department of Human Services

In a move designed to improve services for struggling Detroiters, Mayor Dave Bing is forfeiting more than $72 million in federal money intended to help poor people because a city department showed it can't handle the funds effectively, his administration said Tuesday.

Bing is shutting down the Department of Human Services on the advice of state and federal officials who became alarmed after investigating it, following a series of Free Press stories that chronicled corruption and mismanagement.

Council members threatened to challenge the department's closing at a meeting Tuesday. They said new management is cleaning up wrongdoing and is prepared to continue overseeing poverty-fighting programs, including the early childhood education program Head Start.

The council asked city attorneys to explore whether there's a legal way to save the department, which is under an FBI investigation.

"The state of Michigan is illegally withholding money for poor people," Councilwoman JoAnn Watson said.

Of the department's $72 million in annual grant funding, the city is losing $55 million for Head Start, which has been rife with mismanagement and abuse.

During the past year, the Free Press revealed that department officials took money intended for poor people and bought a car and high-end appliances; they were forced to return tens of millions of dollars for various community and home-improvement programs because the money was mismanaged, and employees received excessive salaries.

"There have been a lot of challenges," said Ursula Holland, director of the department.

Because the state may bid out the work, it's unclear what agency or agencies will take over the department's programs. But council members expressed concern that for a short time, at least, some of the money will be handled by Wayne Metro Community Action Agency in Wyandotte -- a city with little in common with Detroit.

Most council members implored the administration to give the department a chance now that Bing fired and replaced management.

Mayor Dave Bing said he believes Detroiters would be better served if the money was in more reliable hands.

So far, a state and federal investigation resulted in one arrest; others are expected.

Detroit social worker charged with fraud

A know a woman who is a federal employee who did the same thing.


A City of Detroit social worker used tax dollars intended for poor people to buy herself furniture, a used car, home repairs and a high-end washer and dryer, according to charges filed by a joint task force that began investigating the city's Human Services Department.

Nellie L. Jenkins-Kendrick, 47, also is accused of sending her daughter to summer camp on the taxpayers' dime. She is the first person to be charged since a series of Free Press stories uncovered millions of dollars in misspending and mismanagement at the scandal-plagued agency.

Jenkins-Kendrick was charged Wednesday with fraud, accused of lying about her income to receive about $18,000 in benefits following an investigation by the state Attorney General's Public Integrity Unit.

The news comes less than a week after state and federal agencies announced they were investigating the misuse of at least $3 million at the beleaguered department, which has a long history of mismanagement.

"Michigan citizens have zero tolerance for public officials who abuse their authority to enrich themselves at the taxpayers' expense," Attorney General Bill Schuette said Wednesday. "We will continue to work with local, state and federal authorities to restore public integrity to every level of government."

What?  Is Mr. Schuettee going after Medicaid fraud in child welfare, finally?  Can this be true???

Jenkins-Kendrick faces up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine on a count of false pretenses.

And charges aren't expected to stop there, officials said.

In the past year, the Free Press has published more than a dozen accounts of misspending at the agency, which state and federal officials are hoping to strip of grant funding for services ranging from food pantries to the childhood education program Head Start.

Among the findings:

• Employees used money intended to help feed poor people to buy furniture for offices.

• Managers used tax-funded gift cards to buy high-end appliances for one another, friends and family members.

• Employees overseeing Head Start programs received salaries that the federal government deemed excessive.

"Those who game the system will be found out, arrested and prosecuted," said Michigan Department of Human Services Director Maura Corrigan, pledging to "relentlessly and vigorously pursue all cases involving fraud and abuse of the welfare system."

Maura, I will hold you to your word.  Start with foster care.  If you and Mr. Schuette need any help going after the billions in false claims, you know where to find me.

Detroit Children and Families Lose Once Again

Detroit Children and Families Lose Once Again

11092011

As Steve Neavling reported on September 9, “The City of Detroit chose not to apply for a $7.5-million grant that would have helped serve 1,500 low-income children through the education program Head Start, council members were told Thursday. Officials at the Department of Human Services, which is under an FBI investigation for misspending, said the city lacked sufficient licensed locations to handle an additional 1,500 children.

“We have had problems finding licensed facilities,” Head Start manager Virginia Burns-Saleem told the council. “We didn’t go after the grant because Detroit Public Schools said it was not going to provide space.”

It is unconscionable that Detroit officials would not do everything in their power to find facilities, either in Detroit, or working with partners in Wayne, Oakland or Macomb to serve their children.  Head Start provides a tremendous pre-school experience that has been shown to provide supports for children from impoverished families – supports that increase kindergarten readiness and lead to educational success.

Head Start is a federally funded program designed for children in low-income families to help prepare them for school. Children are eligible for Head Start if their families’ incomes are below the poverty line, or if they are eligible for public assistance.  Children in foster care, regardless of income, are also eligible. In addition to educational services, Head Start provides health and social services, and encourages parental involvement in all aspects of the program.  One rigorous national evaluation, the Head Start Impact Study, found gains for Head Start children in pre-reading, pre-writing, vocabulary and literacy skills.  Children assigned to participate in Head Start also had fewer behavior problems, better overall physical health, less hyperactivity, and more access to dental care than did children with comparable backgrounds who did not participate.  More positive effects were found for children who entered the program as three-year-olds than for those entering as four-year-olds.  Another study found that four-year-olds participating in Head Start did better in receptive language and phonemic awareness than four-year-olds of similar backgrounds who were wait-listed for the Head Start program.  Other studies find that children who attended Head Start are more likely to stay in school and have lower rates of grade retention in early elementary school.  Head Start participants are also more likely to be fully immunized and to have better access to health care.

Head Start programs also have benefits for the parents of the children attending.  In comparison to a group of families with similar backgrounds, parents of children attending such programs are more likely to report good health and safety practices than are parents of children not attending. First-year findings from the Head Start Impact Study also found that parents of children attending Head Start were more likely to read to their children frequently, less likely to use physical punishment, and more likely to engage in educational activities with their children.

The latest numbers for Detroit show that, as of 2009, 52 percent of Detroit children under 5 years of age – a total of 35,065 – met the poverty criteria.  One can add another 4,840 5-year olds (58 percent of their total).  Coming at it from the family side, 48 percent of Detroit families with children 5 and under are in poverty – 21,436in total.

The work of Geoffrey Canada and the Harlem Childrens’ Zone has documented the language deficiency that accompanies children from poor families and poor neighborhoods.  We cannot expect the Detroit Public School system to make up for these deficiencies when teachers must face classrooms numbering 25 – 35 children.  We fail our children when adults don’t do everything they can to make sure they have the necessary tools for success.

Detroit’s decision is setting a large numbers of its children up for failure.  When will we stop mouthing the words “our children are our future” and start acting the words.  When will we Walk the Walk instead of always Talking the Talk?

Bullshit.  Detroit did not go after the grant because of the documents below.  Please.


DHS administrators are administrative buffoons who still are in positions of power.


I wish City Council did not turn off the cameras when I addressed the body on the legal issues, below.

Detroit Lead Czar Whistleblower Lawsuit

U.S. DHHS OIG City of Detroit Department of Human Services Audit 2009

I wonder if Shanetta Coleman got a lawyer yet.

Detroit's Head Start program in peril

The Detroit agency being investigated by the FBI following Free Press reports of misspending and mismanagement is placing the city's preschool Head Start program at risk by failing to pay rent to classroom providers and allowing federal violations to persist.

Head Start providers worry that they may have to shut down their programs that serve about 7,000 low-income children in Detroit. They said the beleaguered Human Services Department, which receives $47.8 million a year in federal grants to administer the programs, hasn't paid June rent to at least eight Head Start agencies -- which the mayor's office has acknowledged. Head Start officials say their phone calls to the department have not been returned.

"If the money isn't there, then the organization can't function, which means Head Start will stop serving kids," said Janet Windemuth, a Head Start volunteer and Wayne State University instructor who specializes in urban education of early childhood. "We have no idea what's going on with the city."

The city may give up the program. City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson and Wayne County Commissioner Kevin McNamara, who serves on the county's Head Start Board, said the city has floated a plan to transfer its Head Start money to Wayne County.

Spokesman Dan Lijana said the mayor's office is aware of no such plan.

Head Start program abuses go unchecked for years

The Detroit Human Services Department has mismanaged the childhood development program Head Start for years with few consequences from the agencies and officials responsible for oversight.

During the past three years, local and federal auditors have warned of serious problems with the department's handling of more than $45 million annually in federal money provided for Head Start.

The problems range from excessive salaries to missing money.

Despite a law that requires federal intervention of troubled Head Start programs, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families has continued to allow Detroit to handle the money that helps educate about 7,000 children and finds jobs and assistance for their parents.

"Everyone is turning a blind eye to very serious problems within the city," Detroit Head Start volunteer Julie Dearing said. "Who is looking out for the children whose families are poor? This is a travesty."

The federal agency didn't return calls for comment.

Lax oversight

The city also continues to operate the Southeast Children and Family Development Head Start in Detroit without a federally required board of directors, which is responsible for overseeing programs and finances.

By contrast, Wayne County's nationally recognized Head Start program has a very active board of directors, said board member and county Commissioner Kevin McNamara.

"This board is very serious," McNamara said. "We get the services out on time and monitor the program very closely every month."

Wayne County disburses $23.8 million a year to Head Start agencies in 29 communities and has seven employees working on funding and organizing the programs.

A federal audit last year criticized Detroit for its Head Start payroll of $3.3 million, which includes the salaries and benefits of more than 17 city workers. Five of those employees earned more than $100,000 a year, payroll records show.

It's unclear how long Mayor Dave Bing's administration has been aware of problems at city Head Start programs, but providers said complaints to his office have gone virtually unanswered for two years.

Bing knows of the troubles now.

An investigation of the Human Services Department, sparked by the Free Press' disclosure of furniture purchases made with money meant for the city's needy people, has evolved to include the agency's handling of Head Start, said mayoral spokesman Dan Lijana. "It's a comprehensive investigation," he said.

Director suspended

So far, the investigation that began internally has resulted in the suspensions of department Director Shenetta Coleman and several employees, and now involves the FBI and Detroit Police.

All of the suspended employees were in charge of handling Head Start money.

Three employees in the Human Services Department said the FBI was reviewing Head Start records and interviewing workers about the program.

Greg Murray, vice president of the Senior Accountants, Analysts and Appraisers Association, which represents Head Start employees, said he was booted from a meeting with the mayor's office last year after leveling allegations of mismanagement and misspending.

Murray and Head Start volunteers said the investigation has brought to a halt the department's role with childhood education.

So far, at least eight program providers for Head Start haven't received rent this month, prompting concerns of closures and worries about whether the city will make payroll later this month.

Murray questions whether the city is purposely sabotaging the program to get rid of it.

"They are putting Head Start at risk because of the financial pressures they create," Murray said. "They are starving the city of resources, and no one is responding to concerns we have."

Bing called for an investigation of the Human Services Department in May following a Free Press report that showed the agency spent more than $200,000 in federal grants intended to feed and clothe struggling Detroiters on furniture for its offices.

Head Start advocates emphasized that problems with the programs are rare. "All Head Start programs must exercise diligence in their role as stewards of the scarce federal resources," said Robin Bozek, executive director for the Michigan Head Start Association. Her group, she said, has tough standards that "serve as a platform for quality early education and family services in Michigan."

The Michigan Head Start Association has no authority over Detroit's programs.

Head Start Is Ass End

Here is the reason behind the move to shut down head start.  It sucks.


Under the "W" administration, the Office of Management and Budget created a performance measurement tool that revolutionized the way we look at federal program performance.  I consider this the legacy of the Bush (43) administration.


This is the Program Assessment Rating Tool:

"The Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) is a diagnostic tool used to assess the performance of Federal programs and to drive improvements in program performance.  Once completed, PART reviews help inform budget decisions and identify actions to improve results.  Agencies are held accountable for implementing PART follow-up actions, also known as improvement plans, for each of their programs.  The PART is designed to provide a consistent approach to assessing and rating programs across the Federal government.  PART assessments review overall program effectiveness, from how well a program is designed to how well it is implemented and what results it achieves."

Now, here is what happened back in 2007.  This tool was run on the Head Start programs of the States and the program was found to be functioning horribly.  It was not meeting its goals.


What were the goals? To prepare children and special needs children for kindergarten by teaching them hygiene, manners, and other social interpersonal tools needed to function in a learning environment.  Meals were a component, not a goal of the program.


Well, there were many studies that were generated to verify the quality of the PART findings.  Many of these Head Start evaluations found that the children who were successful had parents who taught them the programs goals in the home.


Now we have the next generation of child abuse propaganda mongrels protesting change.


Head Start is going to change because the entire way we look at education is changing.







Not only is the way we look at education changing, but the way we look at human development and its end result are changing.  It is starting with an investment in the future of society.


Currently, the funding streams are shifting to slowly phase out Head Start and replace it with a more integrated educational agenda.  These will be known as Home Based and Community Based services funded through Medicaid.

Head Start is government intervention into the failed market of the child where the market of the child was created by the government.  In essence, I guess you can say Head Start is the government's Ass End.


The more resources that are taken away from society, the more reliant it will become on government.  Invest in the entire household of the child, not remove the child to provide special services only to put the child right back in the same environment that did not have access to these services.


Investment in housing, transportation, employment opportunities, business growth, education redevelopment are all starts that will keep society ahead of its own demise.


The PART did not only find that Head Start was a failed program in not meeting its program objectives, it also found massive fraud, waste and abuse.


Since it is physically impossible for the HHS to inspect each and every program, there is in place a more stringent competitive bidding process.  All child welfare programs should have competitive bidding but they do not so the ineffectiveness of child welfare is hidden behind emotional campaigns to keep the gravy train coming instead of change.


Fraud is a terrible habit to kick.


U.S. DHHS OIG City of Detroit Department of Human Services Audit 2009
HHS will be evaluating the Head Start for FY2011.

A Head Start -- And Keeping It That Way

Any business owner can tell you that if their company isn't performing profitably and up to standards, one of two things will happen: either you make changes to improve its efficiency or a competitor will drive you out of business. Market forces have a way of cutting to the chase rather quickly.

Government doesn't usually operate that way, but it ought to. Recently, the federal government evaluated its Head Start early learning program and found many of its providers were not up to standards. In one of the biggest changes to Head Start in its 45-year history, the federal Department of Health and Human Services announced that it would force existing low-performing Head Start programs to compete for their federal funding against other interested entities in the community. At least a quarter of the program's grantees being evaluated in any given year, those falling below a performance threshold, would be forced to raise their standards or else a competitor would force them out of business. Those are market forces at work. As an entrepreneur and a fierce advocate for quality early childhood education, I strongly support this ambitious plan and the accountability that it demands. Our children deserve it, and our country depends on it.

Head Start has been a key component of health, nutrition and early learning opportunities since the 1960's. From its origins as part of the War on Poverty to its initial funding of Sesame Street, through 4 Democratic and 5 Republican Presidential administrations, Head Start has endured and served, helping an astounding 22 million children and their families. For years, peer-reviewed studies have demonstrated that Head Start students are less likely to repeat grades and more likely to graduate from high school, go to college and obtain jobs. Simply put, it is a cornerstone of early childhood development in at-risk communities.

Making subpar Head Start providers "recompete" for funding would force the program to be even more effective. Currently, approximately 1,600 grantees run Head Start programs across the country, and the federal government evaluates them on a rotating basis. Under the proposed arrangement, the stakes of evaluation would escalate. The plan would force the lowest-performing 25% of those being scrutinized in any given year - using assessment factors like program quality, financial management and operational efficiency - to raise their quality or go out of business. And if terminated, the grantee would be barred from competing for funding for the next five years.

This tougher approach comes at the right time. The 2007 Head Start Reauthorization bill began a process of methodical program appraisal. So, too, did the recently completed Head Start Impact Study, mandated by Congress more than a decade ago. Though that study reiterated Head Start's effectiveness in preparing students for kindergarten, it also concluded that a number of Head Start students largely lost literacy and language gains by the end of first grade. Though it's quite likely that these findings underscore the need for stronger integration between Head Start and elementary schools, there's also no reason not to demand even higher quality from Head Start itself. There is no substitute for excellence.

Fortunately, that's exactly the view of the Department of Health and Human Services, which rejected an advisory's group recommendation of a 15-20% recompete, instead opting for the even more demanding 25% program. It's also the perspective of a series of Head Start providers and advocates. They yearn to weed out underperformers because -- in the words of one supporter -- "just 'good' isn't good enough."

That is a fundamentally American approach, and it will benefit every child who uses Head Start. Moreover, that driven, competitive attitude will resonate with prospective private partners for early childhood education. Having seen such partnerships flourish in connection with Educare, I believe that they are crucial -- and that the precondition for them is the credibility, particularly within the business community, of the early childhood mission.

It is a mission that has never been more important, and that has never required more from those who answer its call. With these more rigorous Head Start rules in place, that call will be answered, as it should be, with excellence.