Let's Get Honest! Absolutely Uncommon Analysis of Family & Conciliation Courts' Operations, Practices, & History

Note to Readers:

I’ve published without having fully filled out a table at the bottom identifying the categories of every member of this task force’s listed affiliation. Several not filled out are entities or individuals on whom I’ve already researched and/or posted.

On the blog’s right sidebar, I just added a long explanation under a DONATE button near the top, that I cannot be publishing or so active on (Twitter) for the next days or possibly weeks because I must move within the next three weeks and do not even have a new place secured yet. I’m not really even sure of which city (or state) I’ll move to — only of a gut sense that staying local/urban won’t work. Failure to move out on time is not an option; not having a new lease signed before then would complicate the move and increase expenses, so I have to shut down my urge to keep writing and reporting.

But, as that explanation on the sidebar says, I’m still vitally alarmed about current developments in the family court reform field.  Based on the backgrounds of the movement and the wording of the recent legislation in that context, I see and say that the recent alleged progress/triumphs (VAWA-based, or about endowments to push this through, state by state) are real triumphs for those talking it up — not for the victims or the public.  I don’t see others on-line developing and posting any coherent reasons why, but the leaps in logic and requirement to engage in quasi-fantasy are obvious.  Yet who will listen to survivors who don’t play their assigned roles?

I have the background (from writing this blog and continuing to follow so many elements), and ability to make a forceful statement (formally), but not while “on the move” and not yet.

Housing/Location: Towards the end of my years in California I’d been forced onto long-term hotel living (fiduciary abuse: main reason I left California). The last week, I had to move to three different hotels in four days; negotiating room rates constantly, while others pulled various strings such that I couldn’t even fulfil the rates I’d bargained for, and prepping for an out-of-state trek based on ONE connection in a state I’d never been to before.

Systematic production of fugitives: As we speak, I’ve known and now have some phone contact with women whose fugitive situation is far worse than mine ever was.  What we are being put through has been (all along) outrageous: so is the hypocrisy of those taking HIGH salaries (see some below) for private-agenda advocacy, USA. I sometimes wish the field of “domestic violence” had never been professionalized, and I assert it never should have been privatized either.

Speaking of that DONATE button, by the way, to at least encourage or show appreciation, feel free to contribute any amount ($10 or over); just realize it’s not tax-deductible (yet).  I’m not trying to live off the blog, but beginning to need better justification (to my self) for taking time from planning for personal (longer term) survival.  I will remove these opening comments after a few days; they are (after all) really NOYB.  I may also remove the top section (in this background color, which was a spontaneous, last-minute effort, if I feel it doesn’t communicate well.

I enjoyed learning and writing this post so far, and hope you enjoy reading  (all of) it. Another one (already complete) will be posted tomorrow.  ..Thanks in advance for your time/LGH.

“Table Talk” in quotes is a pun here. It has another more common meaning, but here, I’m referring to that I literally think in terms of Tables with Labels when faced with such lists, or even an unknown (website or reference by some quoted expert). One of those key fields, which I so often talk about is defining the presence or absence, in the given name or affiliation, of an “Entity.”

My “drill-down” and full list (with plenty of links) is at the bottom; this part is just a sample showing how (based in prior knowledge, or recent look-ups for what I didn’t already know) I would think about such a list.  In between is an even more interesting history on it, relating to its Chair…

This section is long enough it may LOOK like a partial drill-down, but I’m just showing a few (three) major categories to consider: entity, non-entity, college/universities, and (entity or not, unknown at first glance) what looks like members or parts of USA’s Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Infrastructure — as driven by federal grants under VAWA (mostly ℅ the U.S. DOJ) or FVPSA (mostly ℅ the US HHS).

You cannot tell from the list alone (as shown) from the affiliation names which are incorporated (entities) or not, or whether they were once projects which eventually spun off into their own entities.

There is no attempt at consistency or showing, up front, enough information to show ALL entities involved, and from there, which ones might already be taking government grants and have potential conflicts of interest.  This problem is common to many such lists.

My “Table Talk” mentality helps compensate.  When reading, I remember certain basic categories to better define the people within a list, and the overall character of that list related to who’s on it. I believe it’s better understand from the start and retain (ideally) who and what are the affiliations or associations mentioned. I also apply this to reading mainstream media articles in the field, which typically are going to cite to someone’s credentials in terms of what they founded, what they served on/ were appointed to, and so forth.  This makes few friends, except with understanding. It reduces ignorance (your own)… 

It’s also remarkable how withholding or submerging the most basic information (data, labels, or even links to where this may be seen promptly) is common practice. How does this type of withholding  help anyone comprehend the differences between “a person and a project” (an entity or not an entity), or what other networks and inter-relationships a mixed list of projects/entities and their representatives signifies?

Instead, it positions people to do little but be impressed (or, daunted) by the panorama of people and what follows after their names, and retreat into passivity, or passive acceptance of a status quo:  The table of experts  (“and look what experts”) are on task, not to worry… while helping others build their credibility (if such be needed) by citing to having been on a task force, commission, council, etc.

I don’t expect to change the practices across the entire internet and all these institutions.  What I do expect, and intend, is to alert and educate people to be aware of the practice and (in reading, or as concerned about cause a, b, or c, which I hope many are) compensate in part by thinking — then talking with others — in terms of these categories AND continuing to learn even more while supplying what those in charge couldn’t be bothered to do…

I wrote My Basic Summary, Impromptu, By Recall (from the years of looking this up…), context of DV Task Forces, Advocacy Groups and the usual responses to DV, called (and now published)  How USA Has Standardized, Professionalized and Privatized the Basic Response to Domestic Violence, with Built-in Biases and Strategically Chosen Blind Spots (Quick by-Recall Summary, Apr. 17, 2022). )(short-link ends “-ei7”)

When faced with each new task force, list, board of directors, etc., depending on how curious I am or how important the topic, I’ll then go look for those tax returns (where it’s an entity required to file, and not just a website with a fancy name).  Thinking in terms of a spreadsheet or the field headings (columns) in any table is a tool for thinking more precisely about who and what a list of influencer names (in any context) represents — not just who or what organized, convened, or appointed them.

Maintain that habit for long in certain fields (domestic violence, protective parents, family courts, family court reform, child welfare, child abuse prevention, etc.) and you’ll quickly acquiring and maintaining  at least some awareness of how organizations network with each other around the primary sources of revenue or political power.

This particular task force in New York State came up in the context of another circumstance I’m watching (and, this season so far, reporting on) relating to the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act as though its “Kayden’s Law” tag-on will compensate for the historic nature and chronic character of the family courts as run by — and running programs by and for — members of private behavioral health specialists in office or close to those who are —  And lawyers and judges…

Someone I knew of was named to this task force, so I looked it up, and having taken a quick first look, decided to make an example of it.

FULL POST TITLE:

‘Table Talk’ Helps You Quickly Analyze Any Task Force*, Council, Commission, etc. (*Here, New York’s Task Force for a COVID-19 DV Response): Add Columns for Entity/Non-Entity, Website, Legal Domicile, and (For Size/Operations), Even For Some EIN#s, to Find AND read Any Tax Returns [Begun Apr. 15, 2022].. (short-link ends “-egn”)

Table talk in the normal sense (informal chatter, across a dinner, or a card, table, revealing things one shouldn’t to throw the game) is only effective if those talking know what they’re looking at.  I’m referencing “tables” as an outline function to organize and compare information, with horizontal rows and vertical columns.  They talk much longer to construct on a post than to mentally become aware of, and make at least mental (or better, written) notes.

This post goes with another I began April 5, on the New York State COVID-19 Response to DV Task force appointed May 20, 2020 under then-Governor Andrew Cuomo and then-Secretary to the Governor (his top non-elected aide, in other words), Melissa DeRosa. [“Noticing GWUToday (5/29/2020)…” (short-link ends “-eaA”)].  The original plan was when I finish this post, I can publish that one and link the two, either on the same day or one right after the other… but I posted that one April 18, with a “to be announced”  “coming soon” comment at its bottom, regarding this one..

Within just over one year from the appointment of this COVID-19 DV Response Task Force both New York’s Governor and his top aide (“Secretary to the Governor”) resigned amid scandals (plural),!

The task force lists and possibly functions remain, at least as shown at the state’s Office for Prevention of Domestic Violence OPDV.NY.Gov.  In the Task Force context, the “New York Council on Women & Girls” which the Secretary to the Governor chaired was also mentioned. I’ve looked up and looked at some of each on the top half of this post, because both were still something of a mystery** to me.  With another Council, there’s going to be another members’ list.  The one I saw was longer but had some overlap with the COVID-19 DV Response Task Force of May 20, 2020.

However, when it finally dawned on me that the OPDV.NY.Gov is under the OFCS (Office of Family and Children’s Services) which, with OTDA, also runs fatherhood funding through “social service districts” by way of their TANF-based “Flexible Funds for Family Services (“FFFS”), what the OPDV did NOT do started to make more sense…  A section within this post summarizes (reviews) that process…I’d posted on it in 2012 (the NFRC) and in 2014; this section quotes more recent documents, but the process doesn’t seem to have changed much. Look for this background-color with some internal quotes..

**I may not figure out certain organizational/Executive Office of the Governor of New York State mysteries before finishing this post…. but here are some clues: what others had to say about it.

Melissa DeRosa in 2017 on Why New York needed its Council on Women & Girls (Published in Refinery29, whose leadership is acknowledged as part of the council):

Why States Need To Step Up Now To Protect Women & Girls,

by Melissa DeRosa, August 2, 2017 at Refinery29), Search results/Google, “New York State Council on Women & Girls Launch Essay”)

In 2009, President Obama created the White House Council on Women and Girls, whose member s— the heads of each federal agency— were charged with taking the needs of women and girls into account in the policies they drafted, the programs they created, and the legislation they supported.

This year, the Trump White House has effectively disbanded this important Council, calling it “redundant.” Despite campaign promises to the contrary, the Trump administration has again and again sent a strong message of disdain toward policies that are of matter to women and girls—wide-ranging issues like health care, child care, education, and workforce equity, to name a few. The members of President’s family who were vocal on those issues last year have been notably silent to the point of irrelevance. As any woman who has ever been shouted down by a man in a meeting knows, talk is cheap.

Four years later, the same council, per New York Post:

Cuomo’s ‘ruthless’ enforcer Melissa DeRosa heads panel to help women and girls, by Melissa Klein, Conor Skelding and Jon Levine August 7, 2021

[2nd photo image:  “The council, headed by DeRosa, hasn’t issued a press release in more than a year…”]

Andrew Cuomo’s righthand woman, an allegedly “ruthless, heartless” enforcer for the governor amidst his sexual harassment scandal, heads a state panel that is supposed to focus on workforce equity and preventing violence against women.

Melissa DeRosa, who is secretary to the governor, is also the chair of the state Council on Women and Girls.  [para. break omitted] Cuomo formed the group in 2017, but its work in the past year is unclear. It last issued a press release in June 2020, with an announcement that the state would allow midwife-led birthing centers for the first time.

The council, which is made up of the heads of all state agencies, has a steering committee of powerful women from across New York, but the group has not met in 18 months, one committee member said.  Fashion designer Rebecca Minkoff is listed as a steering committee member but hasn’t been involved since 2018,

Minkoff included DeRosa in a 2018 billboard campaign of “superwomen,” but her spokeswoman would not comment on her now.

Looking for news of this council, one finds instead news of its and the governor’s failures and (his August 10, 2021) resignation.

NOW NYC (New York City, not “State” branch of the National Organization for Women) NYC (images, and announcement that New York for the first time will have a woman governor in the wake of Cuomo’s resignation), see this tag: https://nownyc.org/tag/nys-council-on-women-and-girls/ (See two large, borderless images, one above the other, next):

Briefly (an aside, but I want to point out: I’ve known this also for years), allocated to its own post (except for a short footprint left here indicating, about what…):

Revisiting and Remembering National N.O.W.’s “Six Core Issues” incl. #2, ‘Ending Violence Against Women,’ vis-a-vis How Far Down: A. Domestic Violence and B. ‘The Family Court Crisis’ Are Buried.. with Several NOW IRS Forms 990 [April 25, 2022]. (short-link ends “-eot” and middle character is a lower-case “o” as in “oh, my!”)

Revisiting the national NOW website, and its “Six Core Issues” | where dealing with Domestic Violence (and the family courts) falls within them:

This section was added after several days’ break from working on this post.  I’ll mark its end clearly, so you know that the following material proceeded from the comments just above…//LGH 4/25/2022.

Revisiting the National NOW website, and its’ Six Core Issues,” I see that Ending Violence Against Women does make the list, but domestic violence is mixed in with many other kinds: your basic progressive approach and menu of items (along with the others).  Specific focus on domestic violence as it happens and is facilitated by family courts, isn’t really on the radar, and hasn’t been for years.  Look at the description, from those “Six Core Issues” (dated Feb. 2014, per the url), and from it:

Ending Violence Against Women: NOW is unique in its approach to the issue of violence against women, emphasizing that there are many interrelated aspects to the issue—domestic violence; sexual assault; sexual harassment; violence at abortion clinics; hate crimes across lines of gender, sexuality and race; the gender bias in our judicial system that further victimizes survivors of violence; and the violence of poverty emphasized by the radical right’s attacks on poor women and children—all of which result from society’s attitudes toward women and efforts to “keep women in their place.”

As you can see by the issues named (and by mentioning “the radical right,” this is a politically-charged approach, where “domestic violence, …” while first, is only one of a major list, including “violence at abortion clinics” and references to “our judicial system” but not one reference to the family law system, although by now, with the level of “roadkill” and national headlines, you’d think it might rate a passing mention.

The “Ending Violence Against Women” paragraph (under Six Core Issues) also has a link which reflects how NOW (the “national” entity) (“sic”) frames this purpose and what it considers resources:

(For more information, go to the related post, after I publish it!//LGH).

(End, My Brief Aside on NOW:

Entities, Purposes, Practices (National, NYS, NYC and California):

~~~~~

I kept trying to find SOME New York State official website naming this Council on Women and Girls.   It isn’t part of government but something the governor did, so I expect would not show up on a Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (for FYE2021 if that’s out yet, or 2020); I see no Executive Order of the Governor appointing it (one may not have been necessary), under Cuomo.

The closest I came, January 13, 2022, (with photo of Governor Kathy Hochul being sworn in) reports that this council is being “transformed” into the Council on Gender Equity” with a (typically progressive) list of purposes.  Found at Ms. Magazine under [ Global / National / Politics] “Weekend Reading..”

Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation; Rest in Power, Lani Guinier; NY Gov Kathy Hochul Is Shaking Things Up for Women; Black Women Are Just 6% of U.S. House

1/13/2022 by CYNTHIA RICHIE TERRELL

…This week Governor Hochul also announced that she is launching an Equity Agenda. (<~~broken link as of Apr. 2022) Here are some of the components:

Create a Council on Gender Equity: In 2017, New York launched the Council on Women and Girls to help state policies advance women’s rights and equality. Governor Hochul will propose to transform that group into the Council on Gender Equity, expanding its scope and impact. Composed of Cabinet members and community leaders from across the state, the new Council will serve as an advisory body to the Governor, working to meet a vision of true gender equity in New York. The Council will take an intersectional approach to elevate the needs of women, girls, and transgender and gender nonconforming individuals, focusing on underserved populations and communities of color.

Protect Reproductive Access for All: Building on her ongoing commitment to protect reproductive health and rights for all New Yorkers, Governor Hochul will take additional action to ensure anyone seeking reproductive care in New York has the access they need by expanding the family planning grant program, supporting safety-net providers, and codifying insurance coverage for abortion.

Pass an Equal Rights Amendment This Session: Given the enduring inequalities that women, people of color, and other marginalized communities continue to face in employment, political representation, and economic opportunity, among other areas, New York must demonstrate its commitment to equality for all New Yorkers. Governor Hochul will work with the Legislature to pass an Equal Rights Amendment this session.

For now, I can find no evidence of either a current website for Council on Women & Girls, or for the future version of it promised above, “Council on Gender Equity.”  As of a January, 2022, announcement at the Governor’s website and from or by its press office, this Council on Gender Equity, while a top priority, seems to be a thing of the future.  I also looked under Executive Office Budget, and (in order to get back to the other tasks at hand, which relates to the COVID-19 DV Response Task Force, not the Council) for now will quit looking for any indications at a government website that the Council on Women & Girls (despite its disgraced chair) still exists.
https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-equity-agenda

https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-equity-agenda Viewed 2022.Apr.16

[[This section, written before the quotes above…//LGH]]

I also pointed out (en route) that New York also has been running fatherhood funds (as diversions from existing TANF assistance) under “Flexible Funding for Family Services” (FFFS), and through a specially legislated “social services district” system that, except for New York City (which is one such district) exactly matches, county-for-county– the other counties in the state.  I first wrote that up in (it seems) 2012, and will do an update, as $964,000,000 is still authorized last year (2021-2022) for the same purposes of TANF, (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) BUT, diverting from them as to how the aid is coded.

Those purposes, naturally, involve promotion of marriage and fatherhood as a social values, and legitimate activities (under FFFS), NOT being “direct aid” (like for food, transportation ongoing, housing, child care, etc.), could include (says an Administrative Directive explaining this,  for the year 2021) (Next short section in this background-color):

This co-exists, it seems, peaceably, with an Office to Prevent Domestic Violence, and (established 2017, I heard, to counter then-President Trump’s dismantling of a federal one) Council on Women and Girls. It took me this long to realize that the 1992-OPDV is still under the OCFS — meaning, the same entity which handles the marriage/fatherhood funding and value system…  It’s not immediately apparent from OPDV.NY.Gov….

MAKING SURE SURVIVORS OF DOMESTIC AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE GET THE HELP THEY NEED

New York State Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence

The Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence (OPDV), created in 1992, is the country’s only executive level state agency dedicated to the issue of gender-based violence. It replaced the former Governor’s Commission on Domestic Violence established in 1983.

The NYS Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence’s work is completed under four main bureaus: Sexual Assault Prevention, Policy, and Programming; Domestic Violence Prevention, Policy, and Programming; External Affairs, and; Law and Public Safety.  [emphases added]

(The next image shows my open tabs; the second one (Kelli Owens) is for linked in to the Current OPDV’s director.  Top row and left tab show the url to this image:

OPDV.NY.Gov statemt of mission and tri-fold self-description (I highlit middle column).

OPDV top banner has several links, including one labeled “Transforming Systems.”  Two images from it: “Survivor-Centered / Trauma-Informed / Culturally Responsive” and link (on that page, not this image) to the report from COVID-19 DV Task force…

Not the main point of this post, however any such office, commission, task force or councils appointed to handle some type of social problem is likely to have posted its membership list. If you get much more than that, and a few uploaded reports, from any such website, consider yourself lucky.  Meanwhile, go get the background information yourself, should it be a topic of concern.  In the process, understand more (much! more) about the culture behind throwing some people on a task force at a problem, and telling the public “we’re on it.”….. either to change a system, or get some more laws written to change a system, etc.

My Experience:  Powerful & Politically Connected Task Forces, Commissions, or Nonprofits, including those with “women” or “Stop (or “Prevent”) Violence” in their names didn’t make the difference, and it’s questionable whether what difference they made was or was not, in the long run (other than I’m still alive and my offspring are), positive.  For the public?  No: because it removed a functional working parent from the workforce to handle what family courts were designed to NOT handle. In the next inset, this background color.  Just an observation (generic summary) I’d like to make in the context of reading so much about New York’s OPDV.

This content was the original core concept of my April 5, post, however the related stories, and the lead-in context that led to it, developed a life of their own.  Having given each part its own new post, and trimmed the original one down to size, I realize this core concept should still be near the top –and plant to write it here, and link to it there.

When I say “Table Talk,” I really mean, think and research in terms of tables which show what most straight lists of task forces, councils, commissions, boards of directors (for individual organizations), etc., don’t really show — unless they, too, include links, suffixes to any entity names, distinguish between an entity and a non-entity, and the related websites happen to also post current (for USA, both categories matter, where tax-exempt and required to file with the IRS): (1) most current tax returns filed with the IRS, AND (2) audited financial statements, both of them current.

“Annual Reports” advertising the entity’s activities for the year, donors, and with a few Pie charts expressing (UNaudited, and not as full statements) that year’s Revenues vs. Expenses, without also Assets & Liabilities and the accompanying notes to the same — do not in any way count.

I copied this list, which is alpha by last name (not by organization) from the New York State website.  I’m going to turn it into a table with a few more columns to illustrate how I think about and view such lists, and believe more of us also should.  Keep the “analytical” mind set on, and distinguish between a Person (Business entity) and a Project (non-entity), and other basic details like size, age, place, and sources of support.  Websites, where available, and more.  ALL these comprise an overview of WHO is being included on such task forces recommending something be run, re-routed, or in this case, overhauled…

Some of the organizations are known in other major contexts and because the focus IS “domestic violence” (prevention), I”m already familiar with several of them, and the apparent agenda.  For example, as I recall, for a long time “UJIMA had a name, but not an EIN#.  For example (much older), the API on GPV in San Francisco was a spin-off from a much larger health-focused entity, and run originally by existing DV org leadership. I know that RAINN is very much globalist, etc.

There are always “relationships within relationships” and sub-texts, but for basic categories, a spread-sheet style with a few more columns would be helpful.  Too many columns won’t work, so for some of these (depending on how much time I’m willing to put into it), I may footnote instead.

FYI, I’ve been promoting this basic approach and practice for identifying organization (or seeming organization) names on-line, for many years now.  You can see it in some of the post titles over time.

This is a more recent task force, New York is an influential state, so I decided to take on this one, this time.

• Scott Berkowitz – Founder and President, Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN)
• Alejandra Y. Castillo, Esq. – CEO, YWCA USA
• Karma Cottman – Executive Director, Ujima, Inc: The National Center on Violence Against Women in the Black Community
• Nathaniel M. Fields – President and CEO, Urban Resource Institute (URI)
• Ruth M. Glenn [see note] – President and CEO, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV)
• Peg Hacskaylo – Founder and CEO, National Alliance for Safe Housing (NASH)
• Jim Henderson – Probation and Domestic Violence Expert, Battered Women’s Justice Project
• Grace Huang, JD – Policy Director, Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence
• Tandra R. LaGrone – Executive Director, In Our Own Voices
• Cindi Leive – Senior Fellow, USC-Annenberg School of Journalism and Communications
• Tonya Lovelace, MA – CEO, Women of Color Network Inc (WOCN)
• David Mandel – Executive Director, Safe & Together Institute
• Karol V. Mason – President, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
• Joan S. Meier – Professor of Law, George Washington University Law School and Director, National Family Violence Law Center at GW
• Connie Neal – Executive Director, New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NYSCADV)
• Ana L. Oliveira – President and CEO, The New York Women’s Foundation
• Leslye Orloff – Director, National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project at American University Washington College of Law
• Farzana Safiullah – CEO, National Resource Center on Domestic Violence (NRCDV)
• Lynn Hecht Schafran, JD – Legal Director and Director, National Judicial Education Program at Legal Momentum, The Women’s Legal Defense and Education Fund
• Lucy Rain Simpson – Executive Director, National Indigenous Women’s Resource Network (NIWRN)
• Joe Torre – Co-Founder and Chairman, The Safe at Home Foundation and Special Advisor to Major League Baseball (MLB)
• Patricia Tototzintle – CEO, Casa de Esperanza/National Latin@ Network for Healthy Families and Community
• Deborah D. Tucker, MPA – President, National Center on Domestic & Sexual Violence (NCDSV)
• Deborah J. Vagins – President and CEO, National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV)
• Troy Vincent – Executive Vice President of Football Operations, NFL and National Advocate to End Domestic Violence
• Carole Warshaw, M.D. – Director, National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma & Mental Health
• Joanne Zannoni – Executive Director, New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NYSCASA)

The list, like many lists, is alpha by last name, with three different basic data elements (or “Fields”):

1. INDIVIDUAL’S NAME FirstName+LastName+(Any advanced degrees).
2. INDIVIDUAL’s TITLE, at “
3. INDIVIDUAL’s ORGANIZATION, if it is one (if it’s an entity).

I need to add a few, starting with:  4. Entity or Not, 5. Legal Domicile if an entity; 6. EIN# if a nonprofit and if it’ll fit: Year Incorporated (if entity).

I’m omitting title. I don’t care so much about titles….

I think I’ll do one table using just the data provided, and another one with more filled in, for contrast.

~ | ~ | ~ | (End of First Table):

Other considerations (but I don’t want too many columns): Listed DVRN member (some are)? Statewide Coalition, or member of one? (Obviously NYSADV is).

At Law School or other College?

If title reads Exec Director or ‘CEO,’ that means Executor, not necessarily owner.

Now let’s look at it from the Entity (or program) level, forgetting the individuals involved.  For example, which of these (on any website) volunteers its financial info (if a tax-exempt entity) or legal domicile, etc.

Right now, I’ll say, most won’t or don’t…

~ | ~ | ~ | ~ For now, the notes below are “miscellaneous” as I was looking at organization or (more likely) it’s financials — Form 990 or audited financial statements.  It’d be an interesting mini-project to compile the salaries of all the founders, or CEOs, or Chairs (some chairs are volunteer, but the top paid officers) of each one of the entities above.  I think viewers might be surprised at some of the large amounts — not for all, but for some of these…

RAINN Scott Berkowitz Salary (n/incl benefits) FY2020: $481K.

UJIMA Somehow UJIMA, Inc. (claims founded in 2005 and part of DCCADV) has some technical Assistance sheet saying it was founded in 2005, but the IRS doesn’t recognize it until last April, 2021.  As a result, not one financial statement or tax return has showed up yet — however, a Specific Grant# is cited as helping create some of the “resources.”  (90EV0432 from HHS).  Also, apparently “Ujima” is an aka or dba (?) and the entity name is The National Center on Violence Against Women in the Black Community. I provided link to the IRS letter under “Year” founded column, above.

Ujima seeks to equip service providers, family and friends, and other stakeholders with the tools necessary to respond to and prevent domestic, sexual, and community violence in the Black community. Ujima’s approach to Technical Assistance (TA) is holistic, culturally competent, and trauma informed. Technical Assistance serves the interests of all members of the African Diaspora, including, African Americans, Africans and African Immigrants, Afro-Caribbeans, and Afro-Latinos/as.

IN OUR OWN VOICES, INC.

IIOV.org.  At first look, no EIN# or existence as a nonprofit is shown.  Donate Button leads to PayPal. which labeled “In Our Own Voices, Inc.” The website links to an Albany, New York address.  Description:  “Proudly strengthening the voices of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender POC community.”  Link “Who We Are” begins (over photos):

Our vision is to set the standard
for National People of Color
LGBT organizations.

After this (on the same page), it’s “Our Mission / We Seek To / Core Values (link to “Staff & Board), then below it “Join the Cause” (Mailing List, and footer info.).  Saying “Board” Board presumes a nonprofit may exist somewhere, but no evidence of it at first glance on this website. I looked this one up because its name was new to me, unlike many of the others in the Table above.

With a New York address, I went to CharitiesNYS.com and looked it up by name to discover its EIN#.

EIN#141804364, formed in 1998 or 1999 (translation: just a few years after Welfare Reform).  Latest Filing for FY2019/YE Dec shows it was delivered to the NYS Charities Registry only Nov. 2020 (signed Oct. 2020), and its main revenues are government grants from a variety of sources totaling $1.154M.

Rather than describe, I’ll just upload the 2019 filing.  Generally, NYSCharities Search page leads (if an organization is there) to more detailed information than in some other states:  It’s helpful. One of the filings is puzzling because it’s addressed to this organization, but first paragraph references another one (Hunger ActionNetwork of New York State) and later in the body of the same (one-page) letter from accountant, In Our Voices.  It might be a clerical error — I don’t know.*

*Hunger Action Network is a separate entity formed in 1985 (small), and I don’t see any relationship between them, although I wasn’t digging too deep.  Other things I did notice about this (thanks to CharitiesNYS.com resources and posting the pdfs right on their site) wouldn’t be worth my time elaborating until I know there are some people interested in reading AND discussing/comparing the tax returns within this field, or even tax returns per se: for advocacy organizations of any sort… The same discussion would need to be done for ALL of the above entities in this list — or comparable ones.

IIOV.org Financial Statemts from CharitiesNYS.com (‘2008 Accntnt rpt) for FY2005 + 2006) viewed 4/25/2022. (no tax return here.  You can see how much smaller it was then…).

IOOV.org CharitiesNYS.Com 2018 Filing (EIN#141804364, 1999f) CPA refs FY2015-2016 as nonprofit ‘Hunger Action Network of NYS’ (Ltr Sept2017) but it’s to InOurOwnVoices.  (??).  Letter references “accompanying financial statements” which aren’t there.  It’s just one page. (see paragraph just above).

This pdf/upload like most on CharitiesNYS.com under “Annual Renewal” starts with the state Charity Registration Form, then Tax Returns, then Financial Statements: Here, for Years Ending Dec. 2019 and Dec. 2018 (Standard form for “Renewals” in that database:  all in one pdf).  One thing I appreciate about the New York State Charities website is how its Renewal Form shows on (page 2?), if government grants were received, from exactly which sources, so you get agency names AND the amounts from those agencies.  At least it’s a form of checks and balances.  I don’t understand, however, for this one, why some are named (apparently) after projects, rather than agency or department names, federal, state, or other governments… What do you think?

IOOV.org (CharitiesNYS.com) EIN#141804364, 2019:YEDec Filingshows $1.1M from 7 diff’t govt sources (largest NYS DOH). Some look like private tho)

YOU ARE NOW AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST:

To go back to the top click the title link: ‘Table Talk’ Helps You Quickly Analyze Any Task Force*/Council/Commission etc. (*Here, New York’s Task Force for a COVID-19 DV Response): Add Columns for Entity/Non-Entity, Website, Legal Domicile, and (For Size/Operations), Even Some Tax Returns [Publ. Apr. 26, 2022]. (short-link ends “-egn”)  [Note: my titles often change during draft.  This may not exactly match the top of the page, but the link does..]