St. Ann Center for Intergenerational Care is at risk of closing its doors after the Milwaukee-based nonprofit lost its contract to operate a federal meal program at its sites.
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Tim Sullivan[/caption]
The organization, which provides community-based care for children and adults at its two Milwaukee locations, said losing the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Child and Adult Care Food Program would widen its annual deficit from $1.3 million to $2 million, a gap that it would have to make up with private fundraising.
“It is literally impossible for us to bridge a $2 million-plus gap annually with private donations,” said St. Ann Center board chair Tim Sullivan.
It would also leave hundreds of clients without access to nutritious meals, the organization said.
St. Ann Center filed an appeal in Milwaukee County Circuit Court in December, seeking a stay of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction's decision to terminate its participation in the meals program. The stay was granted, delaying any immediate impact to the meal program, which provides about 650 people, including low-income families, elderly adults and people with developmental disabilities, with free or low-cost meals daily.
Earlier this week, the case was removed from circuit court and transferred to federal court.
The program, administered in Wisconsin by DPI, provides funding for nutritious meals and snacks for children and adults in daycare settings. Local organizations enter into agreements with DPI to assume administrative and financial responsibility for CACFP operations in their locations.
St. Ann has participated in CACFP since 2006 and is one of the largest food program sites overseen by DPI.
The organization has also partnered with Next Door Foundation for the past five years as part of its Early Head Start program. The program serves 42 children, who receive Early Head Start education, child care, meals and other services at St. Ann Center.
St. Ann leaders say the termination of its participation in CACFP would end its partnership with Next Door, eliminating an early education and child care option for those families, along with the meals.
“The parents of the children participating in the St. Ann Center-Next Door partnership will suffer serious and adverse consequences as a result of the loss of the partnership, as they will need to either find other day care options — which are severely limited and costly during the current pandemic — or will need to leave the workforce so they can provide care to their children,” St. Ann said.
DPI said it was required by the program regulations to propose termination of St. Ann’s agreement and disqualify it from CACFP participation, based on its findings during a 2018 audit.
“Our obligations under federal law do not allow us to reinstate St. Ann,” said DPI spokesman Chris Bucher in an emailed statement.
The dispute traces back to DPI's review of St. Ann's program in April 2018, when the department said it discovered several areas of noncompliance with program regulations.
Sullivan noted the audit occurred two days after a St. Ann Center staff member who oversaw CACFP compliance resigned unexpectedly. The employee’s departure delayed St. Ann’s ability to provide some of the documentation requested by DPI and, when it later presented the documentation, DPI declined it, saying it was too late, the center alleged.
In July 2018, DPI sent the organization a notice of serious deficiency which included 44 findings of noncompliance based on the April audit.
St. Ann highlighted a few of the findings of noncompliance, such as the center not including employees in its projected meal counts (St. Ann said its employees don’t eat the meals so it didn’t include them in the count), and its practice of refilling 5-ounce cups to provide children with the program's required 3/4 cup of milk, instead of using 8-ounce cups (St. Ann said young children would often spill the milk when it was served in larger cups).
Some of the noncompliance issues were the result of unintentional human error, such as miscalculating the income and incorrectly determining the eligibility of five children and one adult, St. Ann said. In another instance, one of St. Ann’s sites ran out of buns during lunch, with three of eight recipients being served zucchini bread as a substitute.
Sullivan said all of the deficiencies “were technical in nature” and some ”lacked any basis.” Sullivan said CACFP is one of 16 St. Ann programs that require compliance and it’s the “only one in which concerns of noncompliance have been raised.”
DPI approved St. Ann’s 2019 contract renewal for the program after determining it had made satisfactory corrective action plans, according to DPI documents.
In November 2019, DPI conducted another onsite CACFP review at the center to evaluate its corrective actions and found 20 of the initial 44 findings hadn’t been fully resolved, according to DPI documents. Based on that review, DPI in July 2020 issued a notice of proposed termination and disqualification from St. Ann participating in the program.
St. Ann appealed DPI’s decision in the state’s Division of Hearings and Appeals, alleging DPI was biased in its review of the center and failed to provide the center with fair notice and due process under the federal regulations. DHA dismissed St. Ann’s petition for review in early December, with an administrative law judge ruling that DPI complied with federal regulations in proposing to terminate its participation in the program.
"...the Center no doubt provided much-needed services to a largely impoverished community," judge Sally Pederson said in her decision. "Unfortunately for the Center and its clients, good deeds and good intentions are not a factor in the legal determination that DPI acted properly and legally in proposing to terminate the Center and disqualify the Appellants from the CACFP."
The loss of CACFP reimbursements combined with the loss of funds from St. Ann's Next Door partnership would amount to about $710,000. Termination of its participation in the food program would place St. Ann on a national disqualified list, which would result in it losing “most of its funding and (it would) be forced to close entirely,” the organization said. St. Ann has about 170 employees.
St. Ann has proposed a solution in which the center would subcontract its food service operation to an experienced and reputable food service management company.
“We are hopeful that someone at DPI will act with compassion and respond to the human dimension of this issue and sit down with us to try to work out a solution in this matter,” Sullivan said.
The organization, which was founded in 1983, has grown its operations in recent years. In 2015, it opened a second campus, an 80,000-square-foot, two-story building at 2450 W. North Ave. on Milwaukee's near north side. Known as the Bucyrus Campus, the site provides early childhood education and is a neighborhood resource for care for older adults with dementia or physical or developmental disabilities. It also serves middle-aged and young adults with special needs and provides economic development opportunities and employment for north side residents.
St. Ann also operates a 60,000-square-foot campus, known as the Stein Campus, at 2801 E. Morgan Ave.
