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Feds seek Baker House fund review
By Michele McPhee
Boston Herald Police Bureau Chief
 
 Wednesday, August 30, 2006 - Updated: 08:19 AM EST

 The federal government is demanding a review of funds awarded to the controversial Ella J. Baker House in the wake of allegations by a 17-year-old girl that she was raped in a church bathroom at the Dorchester youth center, the Herald has learned.
 
    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has told the Black Ministerial Alliance to look into $75,000 it distributed to the Baker House as part of $10 million the ministers’ group received in federal anti-violence awards from 2000 to 2004.
 
    “We are concerned about the allegations, and we will work with the Black Ministerial Alliance to see if actions are necessary in regards to the Ella J. Baker House,” said Christina Pearson, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “We need to work to make sure things like this don’t happen and there are safeguards in the program.”
 
    Last week, the Herald reported that an ex-con employed by the Baker House, which is run by the Rev. Eugene Rivers III, was charged with inducing a teen in the center’s care into prostitution and having sex for a fee. The girl also alleged the staffer raped her.
 
    Attorney Fred Dashiell said Rev. Rivers welcomes the review “particularly in light of the Baker House’s ongoing internal evaluation of its practices and policies.”
 
    The alleged incident took place in January shortly after the troubled teen was sent to the Baker House by the state Department of Youth Services.
 
    “It’s an upsetting, upsetting story, what happened to that girl. I am very troubled by it,” the Rev. Gerald E. Bell of the ministerial alliance said. “I am also aware that when you do the kind of work Rev. Rivers is doing, there can be unfortunate situations.”
 
    The federal review comes days after DYS severed a $65,000-a-year contract with the Baker House and weeks after Gov. Mitt Romney quietly nixed a $350,000 grant earmarked to fund the Dorchester minister’s plan to pay former drug dealers and gang members to mentor at-risk youth.
 
    The Boston Police Department, at the request of Mayor Thomas M. Menino, is also auditing nearly $500,000 in grant money awarded to the Baker House.
 
    Harold Sparrow, executive director of the ministerial alliance, said he has not been contacted yet by the government about the Baker House review.
 
    “It is tragic what happened to that young woman,” he said. “But I want to wait until all the facts are in before I comment further.”

 

 

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