City to pay settlement to non-profit

City will pay $60,000 to settle lawsuit filed by Sojourner House

WOONSOCKET – The city has agreed to pay $60,000 to a nonprofit that provides emergency housing and other resources to victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse to settle legal claims that the agency’s access to federal grants was cut off in retaliation for seeking outside help in resolving the funding dispute.

The settlement of the federal suit was announced Thursday by the Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which brought the case on behalf of Sojourner House.

“This was a classic case of a municipal bureaucracy trampling on basic constitutional rights,” said ACLU Executive Director Steven Brown. “We are pleased that Sojourner House chose to stand up and fight the punitive actions taken against it, and that, as a result, their funding

to serve some of the city’s most vulnerable populations has been restored.”

Efforts to reach the city’s Law Department for comment Thursday were not successful, but the ACLU said the city admitted no wrongdoing.

The settlement, however, includes $35,000 in grant funds that were previously awarded to Sojourner House, but withheld by the city, plus $25,000 in legal fees.

Under a consent order filed in U.S. District Court, the ACLU said, the city formally withdrew its suspension of Sojourner House from participating in the Community Development Block Grant Program – a pool of roughly $1.2 million that the city receives every year from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for a variety of programs, including emergency housing.

The dispute began in 2017, after Sojourner House was notified that it had been selected to receive $35,000 in funds from the CDBG program. Last January, however, Christopher Carcifero, deputy director of Housing and Community Development for the city, sent Sojourner House Executive Director Vanessa

Volz a letter indicating that the city intended to withhold the funding and potentially suspend the agency’s eligibility to participate in the grant programs.

In the federal suit, filed in August, the ACLU argued Carcifero based his decision on “inaccurate and irrelevant” findings. Specifically, he asserted that Sojourner House had become ineligible for funding due to code violations at the emergency shelter – violations that Sojourner House had actually worked diligently with the city to correct, the ACLU said.

Carcifero offered Sojourner House no procedures to formally challenge the decision.

Last February, Volz responded in detail to Carcifero’s letter and extended an invitation to work cooperatively with the city to secure the funds. Volz also contacted other city, state and federal agencies for assistance in

intervening with the city on Sojourner House’s behalf to seek a reinstatement of the grants.

“In direct response to this,” the ACLU said in a statement Thursday, “Carcifero notified the organization that the city was reaffirming its denial of funds and also unilaterally imposing an indefinite suspension on the agency’s future participation in city grant programs – a suspension that was final and unreviewable.”

Carcifero specifically cited the agency’s efforts in seeking help from state and other officials as a basis for the punitive action. Under the settlement, the sanctions are permanently lifted, according to the ACLU.

“Sojourner House is grateful to the ACLU’s attorneys for representing us in this matter,” said Volz. “These restored funds will allow us to better meet the needs of the survivors and victims who seek our services on a daily basis, 365 days a year.”

In the past year, Volz said, requests for Sojourner House services increased more than 100 percent, and the agency appreciates the help from the ACLU because it ensures the availability of services among individuals affected by domestic violence and childhood victims of sexual abuse.

The only agency of its kind in the city, Sojourner House helps victims through advocacy programs and local housing. For many years, the agency had applied for and received funds from two city-administered programs that support its operations, but the “abrupt and arbitrary” cessation of what the ACLU calls these “pass-through grants,” originating from the federal government, prompted Sojourner House to file suit.