The Blue Hills Civic Association, which offers services ranging from job training and housing assistance to violence prevention programs, suddenly laid off most of its staff earlier this month.
Kerri-Kay Allen, a parent and member of the organization’s Parent Power group, said she first heard about the layoffs from the employees who were let go.
“The former employees felt that it was their due diligence to let the parents know that this is what's happening, this is what's going on, and this is how it has affected them, and this is how it will affect you all,” Allen said.
Allen later spoke at a city council meeting held Monday night, a week after employees were notified they were being laid off. Former Blue Hills employees are now asking for more details into the organization’s spending of government funds issued to the association.
Kelvin Lovejoy, one of those who spoke out at the meeting, says he is still listed as the lead community manager on the association’s website as of Tuesday afternoon.
Lovejoy said the association was on solid financial footing before the layoffs happened. And he said salaries and association programs were covered.
He said the association gave staff few details into the reason for the layoffs. Now he’s asking city council members to call for accountability.
“We reject the false narrative that there is no money and we're requiring some form of independent audit of public funds dispersed to BHCA,” Lovejoy said.
Allen said the association’s parent group provided guidance and support for parents in the area. She said other programs are still running.
But the layoffs affected most staff, and Allen said she’s not sure how the programs will continue to function. The organization has not issued any guidance over the layoffs’ impacts to program operations, according to Allen.
Blue Hills faced unforeseen financial circumstances which triggered the layoffs, according to Brian Matthews, the nonprofit's senior director of housing and economic opportunity. Matthews said none of the employees at Blue Hills had any warning the association faced financial challenges.
Allen said the employees probably knew about the layoffs since last week. She spoke about a leadership training event held in the city just a day after emails went out to staffers notifying them of the layoffs. Allen said there was little inkling something was wrong.
“I interacted with some of the former BHCA (Blue Hills Civic Association) employees, and to my surprise, they gave no inclination that something had happened,” Allen said. “They were smiling. They were doing their job the way they were supposed to; you had no idea, and so when I found out Sunday, it was very disheartening.”
Maysoon Khan contributed to this report.
