The Rochester City Council has cut Cameron Community Ministries from its street liaison program, where it was to provide neighborhood ambassadors in the city's Northwest Quadrant, directing people to services and resources.
That move comes in the wake of the Monroe County Office of Public Integrity's probe into the now defunct Neighborhood Collaborative Project, a county initiative that used federal pandemic relief funds to assist neighborhood groups. An audit report the office issued last week alleged Cameron had committed fraudulent actions as part of that project.
On Tuesday, City Council voted on legislation to fund several neighborhood ambassador programs. They approved allocating $13,400 apiece to Highland Planning LLC in the southeast, the 19th Ward Community Association in the southwest, and Action for a Better Community and the Isla Housing and Development Corporation in the northeast. Cameron was originally set to get the same amount, but instead it was cut from the final legislation.
Mayor Malik Evans said he has not completely ruled out working with Cameron again, but that the city is showing caution under the current circumstances.
“So far, all of our Is are dotted, Ts are crossed," Evans said. “I want to be clear, from our perspective, we’re not saying any of our relationships with these organizations has been wrong, everything’s good on our end. But we want to make sure we can come back to Council and say we did a doublecheck on everything.”
Council also voted to pause a bill awarding $790,000 in federal COVID relief dollars to the various groups in the Rochester Peace Collective, an antiviolence initiative made up of small grassroots organizations. The bill was held back for a similar reason—the Father Laurence Tracy Advocacy Center was set to receive $100,000 through that legislation, but it was also part of the Neighborhood Collaborative Project.
Councilmember Willie Lightfoot said the city needed to exercise caution. He added that some of the Office of Public Integrity's audit findings have been referred to the FBI and Attorney General's Office for review and that Council should wait to hear their conclusions to make an informed decision.
Evans said both contracts could be revisited in as soon as a month. There is a bit of pressure to do so for the Peace Collective. The city has until the end of December to allocate the funds it was awarded through the American Rescue Plan Act.
The Office of Public Integrity report alleged several problems around the programs in the Neighborhood Collaborative Project, from lax oversight and confusing reporting mechanisms on the side of the county, to potential double-billing and fraud on the side of the organizations.
County Executive Adam Bello described Cameron as the most egregious offender. The report alleged that Olivia Kassoum-Amadou, its director, set up a business contract with a company founded by her husband, and hosted classes whose main clientele were her children and family members, who did not live in New York. The report also alleged that, when questioned on these issues, Kassoum-Amadou lied and attempted to cover it up.
Kassoum-Amadou did not immediately return a request for comment.
The county Office of Public Integrity referred five of the organizations that were part of the Neighborhood Collaborative Project to the New York State Attorney General’s Office for further review. Investigations at the federal level are also ongoing.
