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McDaniel chosen as director of MYCAP
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Marilyn McDaniel
YOUNGSTOWN
The Mahoning/Youngstown Community Action Partnership has a new director, and the agency has been removed from the Ohio Department of Development’s designation as a “high-risk” agency.
The new CEO, effective July 1, is Marilyn McDaniel, interim chief operating officer under Progress Resources, a private nonprofit firm brought in to lead MYCAP out of its troubles with the state.
MYCAP administers 11 programs in Mahoning County to help poor and disadvantaged people.
Led by John A. Wilson, the interim team’s primary goals were to assess and improve the agency’s management, review policies and procedures, respond to all financial audits and assist the board to recruit and hire key executive staff.
MYCAP will end its contract at the end of June with Progress Resources, Wilson said.
He said hiring McDaniel as CEO will facilitate a smooth transition because of her knowledge of the agency. Wilson said McDaniel’s hiring was just one of the key MYCAP executive positions filled within the last 30 days.
Also hired was David Waggoner, an experienced certified public accountant, as the organization’s fiscal director, whose job it will be to ensure compliance with financial and regulatory requirements, Wilson said.
It was just a little more than a year ago that ODOD hung the “high-risk” designation on MYCAP that resulted in several board members resigning and the board dismissing several senior executive staff, including former agency director, Richard Roller III.
The board placed Roller on unpaid administrative leave in April 2010 and fired him the next month in the wake of ODOD’s investigation into whether the nonprofit organization misappropriated funds and resources while he was its leader.
In January 2010, the state agency issued a preliminary report on its review of MYCAP financial records for possible misuse of funds, nepotism, conflict of interest and a number of other issues, including weatherization work done at Roller’s home.
The “high-risk” designation meant that grant funds given to the Youngstown-based agency were considered “vulnerable to fraud, waste and abuse” by state officials, Wilson said.
MYCAP Board President Jamael Tito Brown attributed the turnaround to board members’ “devotion to the agency’s mission and their desire to ensure quality services for beneficiaries of the agency’s programs.”
“We are not yet completely out of the woods, but our members and staff should feel rewarded for their extraordinary efforts over the past year. MYCAP has turned a significant corner,” he added.