Bullied by Government: How the South Shore Chamber of Commerce Resisted Defeat

Pro bono attorney Yates French of Kirkland & Ellis LLP has gone to bat many times for community organizations facing legal issues. In 2016, he represented the Greater Auburn-Gresham Development Corporation (GAGDC) and successfully proved that they did not owe $15,000 to the state of Illinois, a sum they couldn’t afford. Recently, he did it again. Representing the South Shore Chamber of Commerce, Yates went to court three times over the course of three years in order to show that the small nonprofit had neither misspent nor improperly withheld $17,000 in government grants. A judge cleared their name in a final ruling last month.

“It feels like a weight was lifted off my shoulders,” says Tonya Trice, Executive Director at the South Shore Chamber.

“We can again focus on serving the community and do the work that we’re charged to do.”

When Tonya first joined the organization as a Program Manager, it had only 3 employees. Over the last six years, she has helped double the group’s size and expand its programming to support small businesses through education, networking, and advocacy. The Chamber also helps to run a Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and serves as a business liaison to the City of Chicago.

These services are essential to communities like South Shore that have suffered from disinvestment for decades. Home to former First Lady Michelle Obama, South Shore still experiences higher rates of poverty and unemployment than many parts of the city.

In 2011, South Shore Chamber received around $200,000 in state grant money from a new agency called the Illinois Violence Prevention Authority (IVPA) to provide violence-prevention trainings and seminars. 30-year-old Ciera Whitaker was a ‘Parent Lead’ at South Shore Chamber during that time.

“It was an amazing program,” Ciera recalls. “We were working with community residents who were facing some tough things.”

Parents who attended the South Shore Chamber’s programs learned about trauma response and how to communicate with their at-risk children, some of whom were involved in gun violence.

“Just to be in the room with other parents who are facing similar issues, it let them know that people care,” says Ciera.

From left: Ciera Whitaker, Cory Thames, Tonya Trice, and Helena Wright of the South Shore Chamber of Commerce.

The IVPA later was the subject of mismanagement and patronage allegations, leading to a Cook County criminal probe and a federal investigation. It was replaced with a new agency, the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA), tasked with overseeing the $55 million in grants it had handed out to community anti-violence organizations.

Over the last nine years, ICJIA has raised concerns and allegations about some of the grant recipients of the program, including small nonprofits operating in disinvested communities of color. One group, the Greater Auburn-Gresham Development Corporation (GAGDC), was accused of misspending nearly $15,000 in funds. After connecting with Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, GAGDC went to court with a volunteer attorney to clear their name. In 2016, they won their case.

Tonya Trice came across the story in GAGDC’s newsletter, and she felt a flutter of hope. In fact, the South Shore Chamber of Commerce had also been threatened by ICJIA for “misspending” funds from the violence prevention programs, and now Tonya had to find $17,000 to pay back ICJIA.

“At the time, we did not have many reserve dollars in our budget,” Tonya recalls. “The funds were not misappropriated in any way; we just needed someone who could argue that case for us.”

Tonya reached out to Jody Adler, former director of the Community Law Project at Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, to find pro bono assistance. Jody quickly connected her to Yates French, the same attorney who had successfully represented GAGDC in court. As a partner at Kirkland & Ellis, Yates had the experience and the confidence to litigate the case for South Shore Chamber. He jumped into action.

“Everything was done pro bono which was a really big help, because we just did not have a budget to litigate a case like this,” says Tonya.

Ciera Whitaker, the former intern and ‘Parent Lead,’ is now the South Shore Chamber’s Office Manager. She went searching through years of records with Tonya, looking for individuals who’d been involved with the program years ago in order to meet ICJIA’s exacting requests for documents. That was a challenge because the program was seasonal, and many of those involved with the lead funder organization were now retired or deceased.

“A very common issue with these grants is when the grantee does a good job, but not a perfect job,” Yates explains. “That’s what happened with South Shore.”

At a full-day evidentiary hearing before an administrative law judge, Ciera Whitaker testified that the grant money had been used for payroll and other program expenses. Born and raised in Englewood, Ciera had never had to testify before. Yates called her “exceptionally persuasive.”

“I knew that I was being honest and transparent,” she recalls. “It felt good because I knew deep down in my heart that we did the right thing.”

Adam Tymowski, Director at AlixPartners, also testified during the hearing. As a CPA who has audited groups ranging from Fortune 500 companies to mom-and-pops, he analyzed the South Shore Chamber’s records and found that they had documented more than 95% of the money they used, from CTA reimbursements to food delivery for community meetings.

“I didn’t see a receipt for every single dollar, but these people aren’t accountants. They’re not used to keeping the types of records that are being asked; it’s just not fair.”

“They had meticulous records,” Yates agrees. “What they were missing were individual paystubs. For example, copying at Kinko’s. They actually had receipts for every single one of those expenses and submitted them to ICJIA. But they hadn’t written ‘IVPA’ on the receipt, so it wasn’t enough. I’ll tell you what, corporate America doesn’t maintain records like that.”

During cross-examination, Yates even got ICJIA’s witness to admit that “there was no evidence that South Shore was improperly withholding” the funds. It was devastating when the judge nevertheless ruled against South Shore Chamber, finding that all of the funds were being improperly withheld. Yates didn’t give up. In April 2019, they sued ICJIA in state court seeking administrative review of the decision, and it was reversed. However, the original judge was given a chance to cure the order, and once again ruled that South Shore was improperly withholding the funds.

So Yates and the South Shore Chamber sued ICJIA in state court once more. The same thing happened; the decision was reversed and remanded, but the original judge once again ruled that the full $17,000 was being improperly withheld.

Tonya was very disappointed in the ruling.

Yates French is a litigation partner and trial lawyer at Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

“I just could not understand why an agency of that size would be so determined to recover a nominal amount […] I couldn’t understand why they kept pursuing $17,000 with no proof that the funds were misappropriated.”

Yates’ work was instrumental, because without pro bono help, it would have cost the South Shore Chamber upwards of $100,000 to go to court so many times.

For a third time, Yates moved to sue ICJIA in state court. This time, the judge delivered a final ruling in their favor, entering as a matter of law that “ICJIA did not and could not prove by preponderance of the evidence that South Shore misspent or improperly withheld $17,064.52 funds at issue.”

“When I got that final call, I felt so grateful and so relieved,” says Ciera. “Yates didn’t give up, he fought to the end, and I was just happy that it was over for the South Shore Chamber.”

“I have to thank Yates French and his team for their diligence and for offering their support,” says Tonya. “They had the skill and the competency to deal with ICJIA. I’m also very grateful to Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for providing these services to nonprofits.”

ICJIA has tried to recover thousands from small organizations on the South and West Sides of Chicago over the past several years. Without the resources to fight in court, it’s highly likely that some have had to pay that money or face repercussions.

If your nonprofit is being unfairly targeted by ICJIA, contact Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights at probonoworks@clccrul.org