Helping those without jobs

Sunday, April 26, 2009 | 2:06 a.m.

With an unemployment rate that reached an alarming 10.4 percent in March, its highest point since the 1980s, the Las Vegas Valley can ill afford to squander money that is intended to create jobs and train people in new skills.

That is why Native American Community Services, a local nonprofit organization that received $489,000 last year to help people find jobs, should explain why it cannot prove that it helped dozens of people find work after spending $300,000 of the grant.

That is also why the Southern Nevada Workforce Investment Board, the agency that distributed the money, should remain vigilant to ensure that this and other employment grants are properly spent.

As reported Thursday by Timothy Pratt in the Las Vegas Sun, the board found insufficient evidence that people Native American Community Services was to serve were given goals to find work, had been offered training for jobs in demand, or were even eligible for help. Receipts and invoices for money spent were also lacking.

There is extra pressure on the board to perform well because it stands to triple its budget, thanks to an infusion of $14.8 million in federal economic stimulus money, much of which will be passed on to local nonprofit groups.

The board’s executive director, John Ball, realizes that his agency’s reputation is also at stake because it had been saddled with its own poor bookkeeping before he took the job in 2007. A repeat of that shoddy performance, which included millions of dollars misplaced in sloppy files, would be a major setback.

“We have had accountability issues in the past and have a need to reestablish credibility,” Ball told the Sun.

One way to regain credibility is to make sure that all grant recipients understand that thorough record-keeping is essential so that they and taxpayers can account for all money spent. It is equally critical that the groups receiving the money show results because they represent the only hope for many unemployed Southern Nevadans.