UPDATED 5:32 P.M.
PEORIA, Ill. – The head of the Peoria Citizens Committee for Economic Opportunity says help will still get to the people that need it the most.
PCCEO CEO Denise Moore spoke on Friday, after learning this week that the agency would lose around $3 million in state grants for LIHEAP and community service block grant efforts.
“There’s an emergency provider who will be working here in Peoria doing exactly what PCCEO was doing,” Moore said. “It may not be at PCCEO’s address, but those people will still receive service. That’s a fact.”
TazWood CAA will be the emergency provider for LIHEAP assistance from October to August of next year, while CSBG will be run by PCCEO until the end of the calendar year, and then be decertified.
The grants are being terminated over what DCEO says is “persistent organizational and fiscal instability.” Moore says it was a problem in the past few years that was caused by prior leadership at PCCEO.
“I said to the staff they have done nothing wrong, they did everything they were supposed to do,” Moore said. “They were let down by their leadership, by their board, but the CEO and the CFO.”
Moore says, at this time, no employees are being let go. She says the emergency provider for the LIHEAP grants will interview current employees in that system for potential future jobs.
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PEORIA, Ill. – An organization that helps low-income families in Peoria County has been stripped of state grants.
Denise Moore, CEO of the Peoria Citizens Committee for Economic Opportunity, announced Friday the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity has terminated grants totalling close to $3 million to the group.
Moore says PCCEO’s low-income energy assistance grant was valued at around $2.2 million, while the Community Service Block Grant was around $679,000.
In a letter from DCEO Deputy Director David Wortman, the state agency cited “several years of persistent organizational and fiscal instability.” Part of that includes high turnover among senior leadership and board members.
PCCEO also reportedly did not meet a deadline to submit its 2023 audit, despite extensions given. The audit was originally due on September 30th, 2024, and has yet to be submitted. The pending audit submission has put PCCEO in default status.
The letter also thanked Moore and Kelly Stewart for their work in stepping in during the crisis at PCCEO, but says the fiscal challenges were too much to overcome.
Wortman confirmed the contents of the letter to WMBD Radio, but did not speak further on it.
Past turmoil at PCCEO included five CEOs since McFarland Bragg stepped down in 2022, as well as the firing of five employees in April 2024 for alleged misuse of client gift cards.
Moore says TazWood CAA will be assisting as the LIHEAP provider for one year, while PCCEO will continue to service block grants until the end of the calendar year.
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