Action for Boston Community Development Inc

“Part iii, line 4a, 4c, 4d line 4a training is accessible to all providers and their staff in five languages. And support services assist families and providers in caring for children with disabilities. This program also connects these families to other services such as food stamps, housing assistance, fuel assistance, and health services. Line 4b abcd also provides referral and advocacy for eligible clients interested in reducing their utility arrearages. The major utilities serving abcd's geographical area offer arrearage management plans and abcd assists eligible clients to have a portion of their debt forgiven while adhering to a structured payment plan. Line 4d abcd provides a variety of services to low income families at its central offices and through a network of neighborhood service centers. Other program services include health services, housing and homeless prevention, summer youth employment, career development and employment, asset development, financial literacy and elder services. Through the community services block (csbg) grant, abcd provides a variety of services to low income families through a network of neighborhood service centers that include job training, food pantries, adult education, foreclosure prevention, tax preparation and drop-in services. Health services reached more than 33,000 individuals with disease prevention and reproductive health care and provided training and support for 52 clinics and health centers. Housing and homeless prevention provided 35 units of scattered site housing and provided services that helped more than 250 families find or retain housing through housing search, eviction prevention and foreclosure prevention. Abcd trained 200 volunteer tax preparers, helped over 5,400 families and brought more than $8.4 million into local households through federal tax refunds and tax credits. Elder services expanded its foster grandparent program to include eastern middlesex county, adding 37 foster grandparents and cambridge and somerville to the nine cities and towns where foster grandparents were already providing stipends for 201 foster grandparents. These senior volunteers provided more than 140,000 hours to assist over 500 children with special and or exceptional needs at head start, child care centers and public schools. Elder services also provided healthy aging services to over 450 elders and walk-in assistance and companionship at five neighborhood centers. Abcd's summer jobs program put 1,040 at-risk youth to work in meaningful positions at more than 180 worksites that include hospitals, libraries, child care centers, summer camps and government agencies. Abcd operates three alternative high schools. Ostiguy high is a "recovery high school" serving 75 young people struggling with substance abuse. University high is an alternative high school for students struggling in traditional public schools. It offers 85 students with a challenging education and a caring environment with small classes and individual supports. Uhs has an ongoing graduation rate above 90 percent. Dorchester academy is a low performing boston public school and it is abcd's goal is to turn it around by providing 150 inner-city students with the opportunity and inspiration to succeed in school and life. Abcd is implementing its "wrap-around" education-service model that has proven successful at its other two high schools and the goal is to increase the graduation rate from 40 to 80 percent.”

“Part vi, question 11b the form 990 is first reviewed by the organization's tax manager at the audit firm of kpmg, llp after being completed by abcd's chief financial officer. After kpmg's review, recommended changes, if any, are discussed and where appropriate, incorporated into the return. The return is presented to and reviewed by the finance committee and once they have accepted the return, they recommend acceptance to the full board of directors. The return is made available to the full board upon request by the members.”

“Part vi, question 12c the members of the board of directors, officers, and key employees are given the conflict of interest and disclosure statements annually. The statements are filled out by these individuals and returned to abcd's board liaison who reviews the forms for any conflict of interest. The finance / audit committee receives the forms with any conflicts from board members and officers for their review. After meeting and discussing with the individuals concerned, the committee gives its recommendations to the full board for final disposition.”

“Part vi, question 15 abcd utilizes an outside firm to compile and review comparability data to determine the compensation for its president / ceo and key personnel. The results of the firm's findings are brought to the combined meeting of the personnel and finance committees for their review, discussion and approval of the appropriate compensation amount as recommended by the outside firm. The personnel and finance committees are independent of management and free of any conflicts of interest that would interfere with their exercise of independent judgment. Compensation decisions are documented concurrently upon making the compensation determination.”

“Part vi, question 19 financial statements are included on the organization's website in its annual report, and they are also available on guidestar and massachusetts attorney general's websites. Abcd does not currently make its governing documents and conflict of interest policy available to the general public.”