(LinkedIn)
A week after Women and Children’s Horizons re-opened and after being closed for almost two months due to “staffing shortages,” its executive director has resigned. Yvonne MacDonald-Hames was on the job for less than three months and refused to talk to KCE today. The board president, Sandy Riese, did call KCE to answer our questions. “Our shelter is back open and the board has a plan to keep Women and Children’s Horizons a great resource to our community,” said Riese.
Still, Riese is only one of a 10-member board. The County’s HR director Clara-lin Tappa, and others, who insiders tell KCE tried to run the organization, have recently resigned. There are many new names on the list. Mind McTernan recently resigned from the board as well.
Still, members like Nicole Rizzo, a local attorney, John Plouse, a former court commissioner, and Zach Dutter, a Pleasant Prairie Police Sergeant, have stood their ground and refuse to resign in the face continuing pressure to step down.
(facebook.com)
Current and former employees of WCH tell KCE that the organization was too badly harmed by the former executive director, Jennifer Paine, who is a disbarred attorney.
On August 15, 2023, we informed the community that Paine was disbarred as an attorney for serious professional misconduct. Since being hired in July of 2022, Paine found herself in hot water in her former state of residency – Michigan. According to Paine’s LinkedIn account, where she proudly displays her preferred pronouns of she/her, she became an attorney in Michigan in about 2009.
According to a 8-count findings document outlining an investigation into misconduct, Paine was disbarred on May 20, 2023. The documents says in part, “After proceedings conducted pursuant to [Michigan Supreme Court Rules], the panel found, based on [Paine’s] admissions to all of the misconduct set forth in both formal complaints, that [Paine] committed professional misconduct during her representation of four different clients in their respective divorce and post-judgement divorce matters, while representing a client in adoption proceedings and in her own criminal matter…..”
(Facebook)
The State of Michigan Attorney Discipline Board, in the letter seems to question Paine’s integrity, mentioning her flawed honesty, trustworthiness, and fitness as a lawyer. The Board also used words like fraud and deceit. They pointed out what appears to be theft, as she reportedly withheld money from clients. The Board also called Paine incompetent.
On November 20, 2023, we told you that Paine filed a lawsuit illegally on behalf of WCH. Once we reported on this issue, Paine dropped the lawsuit.
On November 29, 2023, we told you that a long-time shelter manager filed a discrimination suit against Paine for allegedly discriminating against her, for herself being a victim of domestic violence.
Insiders tell KCE that the damage Paine has done to the organization and the board’s obvious lapse in judgment hiring her cannot be undone and they see no way forward. Rieses told KCE that some grants from the Federal Government have been reduced recently.
Rieses tells KCE that an interim director will be appointed and a search for a permanent director will begin soon.
*This story has been corrected since its original publishing to correct that Mindy McTernan resigned from the board. 10/2/2024 @ 2:12pm*
37 Responses
It was NOT due to staffing shortages.
It was NOT due to staffing shortages. They also spent thousands putting the women in hotels.
Ok, I had to reset my thoughts and start reading the article again without looking at the pics. Those damn eyebrows made me think of Wizzo the clown from the Bozo show!! It baffles me the amount of corruption that is in Kenosha county. I mean let’s do better folks. Some people just can’t control themselves once given a slight bit of authority. When you get individuals on a board, once elected 75% forget the platform that they used to obtain the position. The ones that are appointed to a board normally leave the ethics in the wind. Do better Kenosha county!!!!
Amen to that! We MUST do better and get of our asses to attend a meeting, run for office, check the monthly expenditures for bullsh*t, etc.
Seems like anything Clara Tappa tries to run goes to shit!!
Just like she is destroying the HR department for the county.
When I first started 18 years ago, I sat in a room with 100 other people and took a test. Of the 100 people, they only interviewed 15 of us— and this was for TWO open DPW positions.
Now, our foreman can interview 7 people for 6 open positions, make offers to maybe 3 or 4 of them, and MAYBE someone will accept the offer.
No one wants to work for Kenosha County anymore. Even Kenosha County employees are interviewing and leaving for other municipalities.
Tappa resigned from WCH so she can focus on running the county into the ground, employment-wise.
Kerkman needs to take the blame at this point. She could have told Tappa “You’re out!” at any time, but she’s allowed this shitshow to drag on & on, even while Tappa stands there and outwardly lies about it to the county board & committees.
Let Dutter run the shit show.
Samantha.
Handle this.
Wisc is an at will state.
You have the tools to do it.
Do it. Now.
See who does their hiring and you will figure out the problem…
BINGO
For those of us not in the “know,” who does the hiring?
This entire summer WCH claimed that they had no availability for women seeking asylum from domestic violence.
These women were left homeless, on the streets, and therefore at a higher risk of exposure to violence and dangerous situations.
They were not left homeless on the streets. The women residing at WCH were put up at hotels by KHDS.
WCH has some serious issues though. They seem to not understand the workers there are there to work for the clients they serve but there seems to be a real disconnect on how to do that. Many times women were deemed inappropriate to stay at the shelter due to mental health concerns but what do they expect? These vulnerable women are fleeing domestic violence and to expect them to stay calm cool and collected when they are being interviewed and assessed is ridiculous. The workers seems to enjoy the control they have over vulnerable women who determine if they will continue to receive care and services. Agencies and the workers who abuse this should be investigated to the fullest extent. And while KDHS stepped up to help these women, they too seem to have the mentality of liking to have control over people and their freedoms. Seems fitting though with these agencies in Kenosha. Their workers especially at crisis lack empathy, not all but several who seem to be on a power trip and are quick to jump to conclusions and even lie. Thee are those that seek positions to help people to really make a difference but then there are those with a shady past who are predator’s who seek to prey on vulnerable people. Your next story might be on the collapse of these agencies.
I can confirm with 100% confidence that many women were turned away, and did not get hotel rooms.
As can I, anonymous. I was one of those women who was able to stay at a hotel. Unless you are also one of them, your assurance and confidence means nothing. Unless you are undercover WCH trying to manipulate the situation again. I mean, who else would can speak with such confidence…..
Not everyone was able to stay at a hotel.
Women and Children’s Horizons—–Does any funding come from the taxpayers of Kenosha County?
Hopefully not
YES! In fact yesterday the city council gave them a grant and rejected proposals from other agencies in the community who actually do the work.
Well if they are this crooked,, maybe they might also be hiding some women in hotels that have warrants out for their arrests! 🤨
These inside criminals all run together and they know people that know people the corruption will never stop in Kenosha because fist off its Italian run, then family ran after that friends fall into the circle and they just keep it going around and around they just pay off their positions and talk and you know work together just like the judges and attorney’s and prosecutors. its funny to sit back and watch it especially when you don’t care about the circus!!!
This is an abomination! I wonder where all the funds have gone from those who have made donations to this organization too. It is shameful that women who really need help are not getting it. Jennifer Paine looks like a wicked witch! What an ugly ugly woman
What does Kerkman have to do with WCH or county taxpayers? WCH is a 501C3 tax free charity that has been getting some big grants from the federal government (HUD), but most income is from local contributions. WCH at one time published their federal 501C3 corporation income and expense form, but hasn’t done so in a few years. Pierce was incompetent and didn’t get grant applications in on time and couldn’t manager her underlings. Failure to secure even the reduced grants available lies with the WCH board of directors and whoever was the “interim” director. Anyone wonder why the latest “interim” bailed out? It must be money isn’t coming in like in the past. It isn’t coming in like before from HUD, because HUD’s source of income as required by legislation is drying up. (Federal fines on certain people). WCH has been around for 50 years and has an important part in the community. Maybe the latest woman who was murdered by her abusive boyfriend could’ve been saved. Guida Brown. Are you out there? What happens now? WCH has become a clown show. Get Shalom to absorb it.
One of Kerkman’s highest-level employees is one of the individuals directly responsible for this mess.
Everything Tappa touches turns to shit.
Kerkman refuses to acknowledge this and is allowing Clara Tappa to drag Kenosha County (as an employer) down to hell. If Kenosha County (as an employer) tanks, the taxpayers ultimately suffer.
WCH gets a small portion of its funding from Kenosha County, but I don’t even know how much…I can’t even venture a guess as to what percentage, but I know it’s not substantial. The city doesn’t fund the agency except in the case of Community Development Block Grants (CDBG). And WCH gets a lot of money from state funds that have trickled down from federal funds.
Let me state, I am not in the know! Still, I don’t think funding is the problem, and my understanding is that another interim director will be placed until another regular Executive Director will be hired. That effort may be fraught with peril since I don’t believe that many people are going to look at the recent history of the agency and say, “YES! That’s a challenge I want!” So that means that they hire the “most qualified” person who may not actually be qualified at all but is the one closest to qualified because people aren’t lining up to apply. I hope that I’m wrong.
Since I don’t believe that funding is the problem, I don’t believe that folding WCH in with another organization is the solution, and I would be sad to see that happen. If they have funding, and now that the shelter is again operational with trained staff, the problem is at the top.
Again, I’m not in the know…but I believe that the board has a LOT of culpability here, and they really need to serve as a governing board during this transition. That means that they need to lead…not blame the Executive Directors who’ve been hired and maintained by them; not blame the interim Executive Directors who’ve been put into place by them. I believe we have a crisis in leadership in this country, in this state, in this county, and with our local organizations, and what’s happening here is a great example of that lack of leadership.
Now THAT’S a lot of pearl jam.
Per 2022 IRS Form 990 tax return, page 9, contributions from government sources:
$1,296,499
https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/391278299
I have some experience in non-profits, as I ran a small UW fraternity alumni group that was a social club and also a 501C3 for scholarships., It’s difficult for an outsider to piece together why and how the finances of WCH are in the sewer.
The WCH 2023 government income for RRH (rapid rehousing) was without a $444,000 HUD grant, due to Paine’s incompetence to get it submitted. I think there were two different grants, and the HUD coffers are nowhere what they used to be. It is obvious WCH has no forward thinking, viable plan to adequately fund the client services. The WCH building houses 16 clients. Past that, if the applicants meet the qualifications, that’s when hotel rooms are rented. No one seems to know the real number of clients who received the costly 16 rooms or hotel rooms, how many clients receive housing in a year, the average length of housing per client, employee expenses, ad infinitum. If WCH were a private sector corporation owned by an individual or shareholders, it would be in bankruptcy court or already flushed down the toilet. Whatever Riese’s plan to go forward is, she should put the numbers she expects before saying she’s going forward and will be appealing for private donations. In April, someone identifying themselves as the WCH fundraiser on both the website and the Kenosha News, said WCH was making an appeal for funds. It was on their facebook page and was pathetic.
Obviously that failed. Without the government grants this year, as it sure looks too late to apply, what entities or individuals would be willing to donate to this messed up organization? Guida Brown. HELP!!
I agree with your assessment, and I’d love to be able to get to the bottom of it and try to save the organization as a vital part of our safety net!
shut it down. force those chicks with kids to go back to their men that they spawned with. equality is an old way of thinking.
An absurd comment, unless you think it’s OK for a man to beat the crap out of a woman or murder her under any circumstance, and I’m a man. Was it OK for Jacob Blake, who wasn’t paying child support, to go to the home of the mother of his children and threaten her? She made a frantic call to 911 that began the police response mess and local riot. That Blake’s ”girlfriend” and children were protected by the police and they took action against him is the way things should work. The police were ultimately exonerated. Your comment also ignores the most important human beings involved, the children.
Well, if they weren’t constantly bailed out for their horrible decisions with our tax dollars, they might make better life choices. May sound harsh, but the truth hurts. Quit fuckin with deadbeats n gangbangers.
Make America Moral again!
I take what Guida Brown says about this with a great deal of credibility. She knows and is correct that WCH is an important community resource that somehow got off track. I’m sure there are some well meaning people on the board but perhaps it’s time for some new blood as well and for an admission that they screwed up and a visible commitment to move forward appropriately. Community confidence needs to be restored.