Ako is not A-OK

This is Ako Abdul-Samad. He is the Founder/Ceo of Creative Visions.

According to Creative Visions' web site....

The purpose and mission of the agency is to engage youth and young adults in creating a safer community for the purpose of attracting quality jobs and encouraging entrepreneurial activity in the greater Des Moines community.

The web site says the doors opened October 1, 1996 and in that time they have helped anywhere from 1,200 to a "staggering 2,000 plus individuals" and "placed 413 in legitimate jobs".

Samad has been able to parlay that into a seat on the Des Moines School Board and in June won the Dummycrat primary to replace Ed Fallon as State Representative. Samad also served as a board member at Central Iowa Employment and Training Consortium (CIETC). He never saw it as a conflict of interest that CIETC gave taxpayer funds to Creative Visions. Samad resigned after the publicity of the payout of excessive executive salaries and bonuses.

Now the Ragister is reporting that CIETC shortchanged Creative Visions nearly $180,000 in funds.....

Abdul-Samad said Monday that he had no idea Creative Visions received such a small portion of the CIETC funding meant for his own agency's job-placement program.

"I'm not going to lie to you," Abdul-Samad said. "I wish I had monitored things better. I wish I knew about that process, but I didn't. That money could have been used. We have a good program."

A GOOD PROGRAM? Maybe, Maybe NOT!

• Creative Visions was supposed to partner with five colleges that would then evaluate the program's effectiveness. State officials found no evidence of such a partnership. Abdul-Samad said Monday the partnership exists, although no program evaluation was ever conducted.

"And I didn't know that," he said. "The buck stops with me."

• The Creative Visions program was supposed to assist 50 people with jobs during the year, and it had a goal of securing employment for four people per month. State officials found that 31 people were assisted, and there were insufficient records to determine how many people landed jobs.

• Not all of the money set aside for client clothing allowances was spent by Creative Visions or returned to CIETC. One client was unable to use her $250 clothing allowance because a severe mental illness prohibited her employment. Another was in jail and unable to shop for clothes. Abdul-Samad said that Creative Visions held those clients' clothing allowances in case the clients' circumstances changed and they could make use of the money.

• Creative Visions didn't keep current case notes in some clients' files. State officials reviewed eight case files that were opened between September 2005 and January 2006. In four instances, no case notes were generated until April of this year. Abdul-Samad attributed that problem to inadequate record keeping by CIETC.

Voters in Des Moines House district 66 will be asleep at the switch this fall and put Samad in the StateHouse, where he'll be allowed to further personally profit at the public trough. He'll also have input and oversight of the state budget.

It is long past the time that public and private institutions in this state quit funding "programs"whether Creative Visions or Rock in Prevention because of who runs them! These "do-gooders" merely dole out the dough and have no expectation of accountability on the receiving end of how and where the money went. It's pathetic when it's done with private money and it should be illegal when done with public funds.