April 22, 2012

Project Hope employees say tutoring program won’t pay up

By Francisco Alvarado, NewTimes Miami, originally posted 2/2/12

A Liberty City tutoring program is under fire from former employees who say not only has it failed to pay about $50,000 in wages, but also it employs two children of the program’s chief, Anthony Dawkins — both of whom have criminal convictions for fraud.

“There are folks who have suffered financial difficulties because they haven’t been paid,” says Adrian Alexander, a Miami-Dade Public Schools speech pathologist who says she’s owed about $1,000. “Dawkins doesn’t seem to care.”

Dawkins admits he hasn’t paid his bills and that his ex-con kids are on the books. But he says he’s trying to rectify the problems and blames the county for yanking a grant he needed to pay tutors. “We’re doing all we can,” says Dawkins, who heads Project Hope Outreach Ministry, which runs the program. “We have nothing to hide. Everyone will get paid very soon.”

The problems began around spring break last year, shortly after Project Hope received a $200,000 University of Miami grant to tutor at Lillie C. Evans K-8 Center. The program went over budget, Dawkins says, and then secured a $125,000 Miami-Dade County grant to balance the books.

But after Mayor Carlos Gimenez took office, he canceled the funds when he slashed the county’s budget. Dawkins wasn’t able to get the money reinstated until September. “That’s been the holdup,” he says.

To read more click here.

Filed under: Academic Learning Centers,Community

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