Discovering Amistad says it may be forced to shut down

Organization needs state funding to operate

The chairman of Discovering Amistad said Thursday that his organization will have to shut down if it does not receive the remaining $105,000 of state funding it expects to receive this year.

The comments by Len Miller of Essex came several days after state Rep. Diana Urban, D-North Stonington, said she has told legislative leaders that when the General Assembly reconvenes in the coming days to address a $54 million shortfall in the Medicare Savings Program, she would recommend that the $210,000 slated for Discovering Amistad this year instead be used to help restore the Medicare deficit.

Urban had said that preserving money for the Amistad while cutting health care funding for low-income seniors and disabled individuals sends the “worst possible message to the residents of Connecticut.”

But Miller, whose organization has repaired the schooner and developed an education program which it offers for free to 30 struggling school districts across the state (including Groton, New London and Norwich), said the remaining state funding is critical for his organization to continue operating through June 31 as it continues to seek private funding from foundations, businesses and individuals.

He said his organization has had promising discussions with some of those it has approached for support but at this point its focus is on obtaining funding for 2018-19, when no money has been appropriated in the state budget for the ship.

Miller, a CPA who founded the successful SoundWaters schooner program, said he agrees that it is not healthy for Discovering Amistad to depend on one major source of funding, whether it is the state or anyone else, and that is why it is working hard to line up new donors.

And while Urban has talked about reducing the organization’s funding in the past, Miller said he and his fellow board members were surprised by Urban’s latest comments. He said they plan to reach out to legislators to try and preserve the funding, $105,000 of which the organization already has received.

Miller explained that another problem it faces is that cities and towns across the state have seen cuts in state education funding, money that could be used to access Discovering Amistad’s educational programs.

Unlike the program designed by the ship’s troubled previous owner, Amistad America, which focused on the history of the original schooner, Discovering Amistad’s educational program focuses more on current topics such as social and racial justice in connection with the ship’s history.

Discovering Amistad’s mission “is to teach students Amistad’s historic story of enslavement and empowerment, oppression and freedom and to engage students in conversations and experiences, making the Amistad story relevant to today’s urgent need for improved race relations, appreciation of diversity and cultural competence.”

Miller said that while his organization can operate on about $350,000 a year, a total of about $700,000 optimally is needed so positions such as a paid executive director and education director can be added.

As for why large corporations, foundations or celebrities are not rushing to attach their names to the ship and its mission of racial cooperation and justice, Miller said the problems of Amistad America have hurt Discovering Amistad.

“People who have given before have not stepped forward,” he said, while potential new donors are familiar with the troubles of Amistad America.

“As different as our two organizations are, we still have something in common: the name of the ship,” he said. “We haven’t been able to overcome that, yet. We’ve had major foundations say no to us because of that.”

Miller said that’s why it’s crucial for the ship to obtain the rest of the funding so it can continue operating and show potential donors it is a new organization with a new plan.

He said that is why Urban’s call to cut funding is particularly damaging. Not only could it end the ship’s operation but it is making potential donors rethink about giving money to Discovering Amistad.

Last year was the first season the schooner operated under Discovering Amistad and Miller said there are many educators, organizations and businesses “who believe we are on the right path.” The ship is spending the winter at Mystic Seaport, where it was built, and is slated to resume operations in the spring.

In a letter to The Day on Thursday, Miller wrote “We disagree strongly with Representative Urban in her continuous and prolonged attack on Discovering Amistad, and her apparent unwillingness to recognize the work we have done and are trying to do with public school students in Connecticut. Further to seek to hold the present organization responsible for the debts of a completely unrelated organization is nonsensical and distasteful. Most irresponsible is her refusal to acknowledge that our educational programming regarding social and racial justice in our country is not only informative and inspiring, but necessary in today’s climate of race relations.”

He said that Urban’s statements indicating that funding Discovering Amistad is wasteful and unworthy of public support are uninformed and unfortunate.

He added that, “When Discovering Amistad was organized to take over the Amistad mission, it was an important understanding that Amistad, as the State’s officially designated Tall Ship, would receive some measure of public funding until its early successes were sufficient to garner private support.”

Amistad America, formed in 1998, lost its nonprofit status in 2012 for failing to file three years of tax returns. Nevertheless, the state continued to make an annual $360,000 payment to the organization, which fell deeper and deeper into debt, until finally freezing funding for the 2014-15 fiscal year as controversy over the organization’s lack of fiscal accountability intensified.

Following stories by The Day about how Amistad America had spent $9 million in state funding, and calls for an investigation by Urban, the state conducted an audit, seized the ship in the summer of 2014 and sold it to Discovering Amistad for $315,000. The state then provided $957,000 to Discovering Amistad so it could purchase and repair the ship.

When Amistad America shut down, it owed more than $2 million to a large group of organizations, banks, individuals and small businesses. Those creditors were never paid.