Homeless shelters to close in Wisconsin as agency's financial troubles continue; FOX 11 Investigates

Описание: Newcap continues to make cuts and changes as it looks to clean up its finances.

FOX 11 Investigates has already reported about the nonprofit cutting 13 to 17 jobs. Now, we've learned it is also working to close shelters and offices.

For the past several weeks, FOX 11 has been reporting on allegations of taxpayer money being misused. The funding is intended to help low-income residents. Tax records show Newcap has been operating at a $2 million deficit, and the state took the rare step late last year of putting Newcap under enhanced financial monitoring.

Newcap operates two homeless shelters in Green Bay and one in Shawano. All three will be closing at the end of the month.

Josh Benti, a project director for Greater Green Bay Blueprint to End and Prevent Homelessness, says Green Bay has the capacity to handle the loss of Newcap's Jefferson Street shelter, which housed up to five families, and its youth center on Cherry Street, which housed up to six youths.

Newcap's Shawano shelter could house up to six families. This could be more difficult of a loss to absorb, according to Kendra Brusewitz. She is the executive director of Shawano Area Matthew 25, or SAM25, which will now be the county’s lone homeless shelter.

Brusewitz believes the closure could result in more people staying on the streets or traveling to other locations with available resources, like Green Bay.

SAM25's capacity is 26, or up to eight families. It already has to turn people away due to capacity, or if an individual is a sex offender or recent violent felon.

In Brown County, Newcap is a member of the Homeless and Housing Coalition.

Benti says coalition officials have met a few times with Newcap's executive committee since FOX 11 Investigates shed light on the organization’s financial problems. He says Newcap’s future in helping area homelessness remains unclear.

Newcap board member Tom Sieber, who was serving as interim CEO, tells FOX 11 all the moves being made are to ensure current grant money matches expenses.

The shelters aren’t the only Newcap facilities set to close. The agency provides services out of seven offices across its 10-county service region. Newcap’s building in Rhinelander is for sale and will be closing soon. Sieber says services will transition to Newcap’s Antigo office, which is almost an hour away.

The building in Crandon has also been for sale. It will stay open for now, but services could eventually transition to either Marinette or Antigo, according to Sieber.

Diane Nichols, who served on Newcap’s board of directors for four years, believes eliminating office locations will make outreach in those counties much more difficult -- likely making it more challenging for residents in need to be connected with available resources.

The other recent change within Newcap is the board of directors voted to have Deb Barlament take over as interim CEO. She had retired, but as recently as 2024, before leaving the organization, Barlament was the second highest paid executive behind only CEO Cheryl Detrick, who is still on administrative leave.

Some former Newcap employees and board members question Barlament and the board of directors being the ones to try to turn Newcap around. They believe they deserve some blame for Newcap’s money issues.

FOX 11 Investigates is digging deeper into their roles in the agency, both past and present, and will have that story for you next week.

Full story: https://fox11online.com/news/local/fo...

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