Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

-2

The concept of a National Partnership emanated from the belief that the Federal government could play a significant and appropriate role in substance abuse prevention by providing a forum for citizens and private sector organizations to discuss the problem and by coordinating the activities of organizations working to combat this problem. To help the various organizations meet and share resources and ideas, OJJDP hosted a series of meetings during 1984 and 1985 attended by representatives from businesses, the media, citizens groups, Federal, state and local governments, and professionals such as drug and alcohol counselors, physicians, educators, and lawyers. These meetings led to the formation of the National Partnership to Prevent Alcohol and Drug Abuse Among Youth as a private, nonprofit corporation.

The goals of the National Partnership were as follows:

1. To promote the right of young people to grow up healthy.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

To prevent self-initiated early experimentation with

alcohol and drugs.

To increase the awareness and availability of alcohol and drug treatment services for youth.

To increase the availability of promising and effective approaches to alcohol and drug problems.

To promote social disapproval of drunkenness.

To eliminate use of illegal drugs.

To eliminate all use of alcohol by underage youth outside of parental supervision and liturgical functions.

To eliminate nonmedical use of prescription drugs by youth.

-3

The Partnership leadership was vested in a Board of Trustees comprised of approximately 50 representatives of the four membership groups. The Board was responsible for establishing policy objectives and implementation strategies and for providing overall leadership. A separate Coordinating Committee was responsible for recommending policy objectives to be established by the Board. In addition, the Partnership's headquarters office was staffed by a president and four vice-presidents heading the main divisions of the Partnership--Communications, Development/Operations, Programs, and State and Local Partnerships. I have attached to my statement a chart showing the organization of the Partnership management.

The highest priority of the National Partnership was to establish state and local partnerships. The original objective of the National Partnership was to establish local partnerships in at least 20 states and 100 "anchor cities" by the end of the program's first year. This target later was reduced to the development of 34 to 60 state and local partnerships.

The other core function of the Partnership was to be the review, selection, and replication of model programs which could be implemented in jurisdictions across the country. The Program branch had three essential functions: identify drug and alcohol prevention projects worthy of replication; oversee implementation of selected projects; and arrange for technical assistance to members seeking to implement or improve projects of their By the end of its first year of funding, the Partnership

own.

was to have selected between 10 and 15 drug and alcohol prevention projects for implementation in conjunction with local partnerships.

In addition, the Partnership was to manage an awareness campaign designed to inform the public about the causes of and possible solutions to the problem of alcohol and drug abuse as well as educational programs for use by local partnerships in schools and civic forums.

То ensure adequate resources to begin this process of creating public and private partnerships and operate its other programs, the Partnership was awarded a $1 million OJJDP grant on October 10, 1986, for a one-year period. > The National Partnership was expected raise an additional $1.5 million from private sources during its first year to continue the Partnership and supplement Federal funding.

OJJDP believed the Partnership would be able to achieve its stated objectives because of the commitment at the highest levels of government and the private sector and the expertise of project staff. After almost three months of operation, however, a site visit by OJJDP staff indicated that, while progress had been made in hiring staff and establishing operational procedures, the main work of the Partnership--developing programs and state and local partnerships and private fund-raising--had not gotten underway as quickly as had been stated in the time and task statement included in the grant application. The Partnership's own first progress report to OJJDP confirmed these findings. In addition, the Partnership

-5

was experiencing personnel problems between its board and its president and a chairman had never been appointed. Eventually, on January 27, 1986, an interim chairman was appointed.

Further site visits were made by OJJDP staff in an attempt to support the program and help the Partnership move towards its program goals. During these site visits, OJJDP staff briefed Partnership employees on Federal policies and procedures concerning the administration of a Federal grant and discussed with Partnership staff the approach, components, products, personnel resources, and time frames to be contained in the required project implementation plan which had not yet been completed. The implementation plan was required as a special condition appended to the grant award by OJJDP and was to have been submitted to OJJDP by January 10, 1986. These meetings follow the general procedures OJJDP employs when working with a new grantee with no proven track record of grant management.

However, as the Partnership fell further and further behind in making progress with the program, and after learning that the Partnership had already obligated almost half of its grant award, the OJJDP Administrator imposed a limited freeze on grant funds on February 28, 1986, until such time as the Partnership submitted the required implementation plan which was then six weeks late. The freeze curtailed all expenditures by the grantee except for salaries and fringe benefits for Partnership employees. A few weeks later, on March 14, 1986, the Partnership president resigned.

-6

In its second progress report submitted in April 1986, the Partnership was able to report progress on a number of tasks, including the establishment of the first local partnership--in Mobile, Alabama--and the completion of its implementation plan, which because of the above-mentioned delays, included a revised budget and time and task statement. Fourteen other sites were in the preliminary stages of partnership development.

of

In May, however, OJJDP staff became concerned about a number expenditures made by the Partnership and the OJJDP Administrator directed that a limited financial audit be conducted. The financial review was conducted on May 28, 1986, and two days later the Partnership's acting president was notified of the findings and the necessary corrective action. For example, we found that proper records were not being kept on the bills submitted by senior consultants, that the Partnership had no viable policy concerning travel by staff, and that there was no written policy concerning the use of credit cards issued by the Partnership to staff members. In addition, we found that the Partnership had authorized reimbursement for employees' expenses that could not be paid with Federal grant funds.

Corrective action was taken by the Partnership to address these problems. The Partnership reimbursed the grant for unallowable expenditures with private funds, staff reimbursed the Partnership for personal expenditures and, with the assistance of OJJDP, policies were developed for travel, use of credit cards, and for contracting with other organizations.

« AnteriorContinuar »