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Man tasked with fixing MYCAP brings experience in such mattersSFlb
YOUNGSTOWN
The man brought in to right the Mahoning-Youngstown Community Action Partnership ship received high marks from Pennsylvania organizations he worked for in the past.
The MYCAP board of directors has signed a three-month, $230,000 contract with Progress Resources Inc., a nonprofit training and technical-assistance organization that provides consulting services to community-action agencies nationwide, of which John A. Wilson is president.
Wilson, former executive director of the Community Action Association of Pennsylvania, has the dual purpose of heading the search committee for a new, permanent executive for MYCAP and for reviewing the troubled agency’s policies and procedures.
He described the job as challenging but said the goal for finishing is 90 days. “That would be aggressive, and we’ll adjust as we go along; but we don’t want to be here forever,” he said.
“John was a tremendous resource for us during a time of a quick, unexpected leadership transition and staff turnover,” said Cathy Possinger, executive director of the Community Action Commission in Harrisburg, Pa.
“He left us in a good place. If someone were looking for a person to steady an organization, John would absolutely be the right person. MYCAP is lucky to have him,” Possinger said.
As he neared retirement after 16 years as head of the Community Action Association of Pennsylvania, Wilson said he reactivated Progress Resources, which he founded in 1988 to assist nonprofit organizations with strategic planning, training and capacity building.
Susan A. Moore, who replaced Wilson as head of the Community Action Association of Pennsylvania with the new title of chief executive officer, said he did “some wonderful things for the association,” which represents 43 community-action groups in the state.
“John is certainly knowledgeable of community-action issues and is a true believer” in the mission to help low-income people, Moore said.
The MYCAP board hired Wilson, 65, on Nov. 8. The Ohio Department of Development also recommended him after a national search.
His years of experience working with agencies in distress and getting them back on the right track is what impressed the board, said Jamael Tito Brown, MYCAP board president.
“It is great news to get John on board to help get our agency back to serving the community and to maintain its integrity,” Brown said.
Wilson said the team assembled for the MYCAP job, which is in the preliminary assessment stage, are here to assist the board to respond fully to the findings that have come to light through an audit of MYCAP’s programs and finances by the Ohio DOD.
Besides Wilson, the Progress Resources team includes a full-time certified public accountant in the position of interim chief fiscal officer and an interim operations director. Also, another person eventually will be added to the team to help the MYCAP personnel director review procedures.
The final draft of DOD’s audit has been sent to MYCAP for its comments, which are due by Dec. 15. The results of the audit, which have been under way for more than a year, will not be released until MYCAP has responded, a DOD spokeswoman said.
Fallout from the investigation led to the firing of former executive director Richard Roller III in May.
Wilson said he is impressed with the board’s attitude and with the staff’s concern and desire to do a good job for the agency’s clients.
MYCAP is a nonprofit agency administering these programs: Head Start; Early Start; Women, Infants and Children (WIC); Pregnancy Support; Home Energy Services; Food Service; Home Energy Assistance; Senior Services Outreach; Dial-A-Ride Transportation Services; Emergency Homeless; and Life Skills Development.