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A financially troubled nonprofit relied on by the city for social services threw itself a party earlier this month, honoring the organization�s
former CEO while overlooking a client with mental illness who had been
asked to speak at the event.

Positive Resource Center, the administrative arm of the drug and mental
health rehab nonprofit Baker Places, held an annual fundraising gala at
the Four Seasons Hotel on Nov. 4, bestowing a �Lifetime Achievement Award�
upon its former CEO Brett Andrews, who left in a cloud of controversy
shortly before the organization asked the city for a bailout.

But the festivities, which a flyer described as �electrifying,� left reverberations of trauma for one of the organization�s clients, Tracy
Boggs.

�There was nothing but alcohol all over the place,� said Boggs, who has
been sober for three years. �My purpose there wasn�t to go have a drink.
My purpose was to share my story.�

Boggs, a gay Black man who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and general anxiety disorder, said he had previously been
invited to speak at the gala and had prepared remarks, but was never asked
to speak and ultimately left, sending him into a spiral of anxiety and depression.

In an email exchange seen by The Standard, Positive Resource Center chief development officer Randi Paul told Boggs that a representative from the organization had attempted to call him prior to the event because they
found another client to speak.

�I apologize for our part in it,� Paul said. �It sounds to me like it was
quite traumatic.�

Boggs said the experience made him lose faith in the nonprofit�s
management�a feeling that is echoed by other clients who complain of a �top-heavy� administration coupled with an exodus of frontline staff and potentially shuttering programs amid financial collapse.

Money Problems
Just a month before the gala, PRC and Baker Places�two related nonprofits
that announced a merger in 2016 that was never completed�told the city
that without a $4.2 million cash infusion they would be forced to
�immediately notify staff of layoffs, discontinue intakes and wind-down operations.�

The ultimatum enraged city supervisors, who had begrudgingly awarded the nonprofit a $1.2 million emergency grant along with other financial
concessions only three months earlier.

Tax returns and audits of the nonprofit showed signs of financial
mismanagement for years, logging a $1.9 million deficit in 2017 just a
year after receiving a $15 million contract extension. And one month
before city officials awarded the nonprofit an emergency grant in June,
the city had granted Baker Places a $65 million, five-year contract
extension.

A city database lists close to $70 million in contract awards for PRC and
Baker Places for this fiscal year.

Andrews had collected a $293,230 salary from the nonprofit in the year
leading up to his resignation. Lisa Pratt, a top Department of Public
Health official, had also been collecting an unauthorized $123,000 salary working 20 hours a week for Baker Places on top of her city salary. Pratt
has since resigned from the nonprofit position and the city has launched
an investigation into her dual employment.

The Department of Public Health has indicated that they are working to
find alternative placements for clients in five of PRC and Baker Places� programs: Acceptance Place, Ferguson Place, Assisted Independent Living
Program and Joe Healy Detox Center.

The nonprofit HealthRight360 has already picked up the remaining contracts
for the Joe Healy Detox Center as well as 10 beds at Acceptance Place, a substance use rehab for gay men.

In the Dark
Boggs recalled sitting through several standing ovations for Andrews
during the Friday night gala.

�The following day is when everything sunk in; it was like getting the
wind knocked out of me,� he said. �My stability is what allows me to
maintain sobriety.�

Boggs credited the nonprofit�s frontline staff for helping him to recover
from the traumatic experience�but he joined other clients in describing a
lack of faith in the organization�s management.

PRC and Baker Places oversee 215 drug and mental health treatment beds and provide service for around 5,000 clients annually.

Clients from the nonprofits� Assisted Independent Living Program say they
are still waiting on a plan from the administration, telling The Standard
that they found out about the impending program changes through news
reports.

PRC and Baker Places declined to participate in an interview, despite an
offer to extend the deadline for publication. Andrews also could not be
reached by The Standard.

An Oct. 11 letter from interim CEO Chuan Teng addressed to clients said
that �no concrete decisions have been made yet about which programs will
be transferred and in what timeframe.�

At some of the remaining programs, patients with a range of psychiatric conditions are anxiously entering the holiday season.

�Anybody who knows anything about mental health or substance abuse knows
that the holidays are a very, very difficult time for people,� said
Kerrington Osborne, a client at the Assisted Independent Living Program.

Osborne said that he plans to take the bar exam in July but worries that
if the program closes it could throw a wrench in those goals.

The last time he faced homelessness he entered a deep depression that culminated in suicidal ideations and a psychiatric hold. Other clients
said that the uncertainty has been detrimental to their various
psychiatric conditions.

�All of this is bringing up a fear of being on the streets. I personally
could not deal with the strain of being homeless,� Osborne said. �I think
the city let us down [�] Given the mess that Baker is in, who would want
to take this program.�

David Sjostedt can be reached at [email protected]

https://sfstandard.com/public-health/troubled-sf-nonprofit-throws-itself- a-party-as-clients-left-in-the-lurch/


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