Letter Report On The New York City Administration For Children’s Services’ Monitoring of The Community Partnership Program

Letter Report On The New York City Administration For Children’s Services’ Monitoring of The Community Partnership Program

Audit Number:
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AUDIT REPORT IN BRIEF

This audit determined whether the Administration for Children’s Services’ (ACS) Office of Community Partnership (OCP) is adequately monitoring the Community Partnership Programs (CPPs) to ensure that they are meeting their goals and objectives and determined whether the expenditures were reasonable and appropriate.

The OCP oversees 11 CPPs, which are partnerships of families, community constituents, grassroots organizations, community-based organizations faith-based organizations, ACS contract providers, local schools, concerned residents, community leaders, and others who are collaborating to explore, develop, and implement community-based child welfare strategies. The CPPs are located in 11 different communities, which include Jamaica, East New York, and Soundview.

ACS contracted and funded 11 CPPs for a total budget of $1,650,000 for Fiscal Year 2012, each CPP receiving a budget of $150,000 per year. OCP assigns each CPP a facilitator to monitor, provide support, make recommendations, and act as a liaison with ACS.  Each CPP hires a coordinator who is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the CPP.

Results

The audit found that ACS adequately monitored the CPPs to ensure that they are meeting their goals and objectives. However, ACS gives CPPs wide latitude in how to report the activities associated with CPPs’ goals and objectives. As a result, although goals and objectives are consistent for all CPPs, reported activities may not be consistent from one CPP to another.  This makes it difficult to compare the results of each CPP.

The audit also found that that CPP expenses were reasonable and appropriate. The review of the Fiscal Year 2012 expenditures for our two sampled CPPs, totaling $300,000, found a few minor errors, including transposition and mathematical errors, which were discussed with ACS during the audit.

The audit recommended that ACS:

• Develop reporting standards for activities under each task/deliverable.
• Disseminate the new reporting standards to all 11 CPPs.
• Ensure that the CPPs are complying with the new reporting standards.

In their response, ACS officials agreed to implement the audit’s recommendations.