Shirley vetoes funds for club

By Pamela G. Dempsey
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — The Navajo Nation Council's support of the Boys and Girls Club of Navajo was short-lived, when, on Wednesday, Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. vetoed legislation that gave the non-profit organization more than $1.2 million in funding.

The council approved the bill in late February that not only helped the non-profit, but also gave $2 million for public employment programs and more than $600,000 for emergency assistance.

Shirley, in a memo to Speaker Lawrence Morgan, called the move "an unnecessary and unwise use of Navajo Nation funds."

"I am extremely concerned about what will happen to the $1,257,176.00 in Navajo Nation funds when the non-profit is no longer a Boys and Girls Club," Shirley wrote.

The Boys and Girls Club of Navajo Inc., a Shiprock-based non-profit organization, oversaw operations for 14 clubs across the reservation. The Diné Expansion Office, developed under Shirley's administration, filtered federal funding to the non-profit.

Relations between the two broke down last year and the non-profit closed its doors indefinitely.

The non-profit is set to lose its Boys and Girls Club charter in April, but officials said it would appeal after the council approved the funding.

Fran Rowden, chief executive officer of the non-profit, told the council in February that while the clubs were more than $700,000 in debt, the money would be used to start-up operations and demonstrate confidence by the Navajo Nation in its organization.

The debt, she said, would be paid through additional funds the non-profit would raise.

The Diné Expansion Office recently came under scrutiny by some council delegates after an audit was completed by the Navajo Nation's Auditor General's Office that indicated the Expansion Office failed in its oversight of the non-profit organization.

Shirley announced that the Navajo Nation received its own charter and would began to develop clubs under the tribe's Department of Youth. Shirley also invited the non-profit's clubs to come under the tribe.

"Are we trying to support Boys and Girls Club programming on the Navajo Nation or are we trying to erase the mismanagement debts of a non-profit organization," Shirley wrote. "If I do not veto this legislation, then a bad precedent would be set, tempting other non non-profit organizations to lay claim to the funds of the Navajo Nation. The Navajo Nation, in the long run, may become fund-raisers for non-profit organizations, using Navajo Nation resources."

A press released issued from Shirley's office stated that the non-profit "inaccurately accused the president of using politics to lock children out of their clubs."

"They used children to mount a protest outside of my office to make this point," Shirley stated. "That was not right. Now, rather than raising funds like other Boys and Girls Clubs do, they turned to our council to bail them out of their trouble."

Shirley also said that the Diné Expansion Office will be phased out and the Department of Youth will manage the tribe's Boys and Girls Clubs.

"The Navajo Nation will no longer outsource federal funds to the dysfunctional non-profit organization," Shirley wrote. "With the establishment of our own charter, the Navajo Nation is now able to provide services of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America to Navajo youth."

— To contact reporter Pam Dempsey call (505) 879-1707 or email pamelagdempsey@msn.com