ProCAP's Frank Shea: 12 Who Made a Difference in RI in 2012

ProCAP's Frank Shea: 12 Who Made a Difference in RI in 2012

When Frank Shea was appointed acting executive director of the Providence Community Acton Program (ProCAP), in late 2011, the city’s best-known antipoverty organization was on its last legs.

Riddled with scandal and more than $2 million in the hole, ProCAP filed for receivership and Mayor Angel Taveras warned that “staggering mismanagement” had placed the future of the organization in jeopardy. At risk was millions of dollars in federal funding for the city’s poorest residents.

The 48-year-old organization, which was established under President Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty” program, was designed to assist the city’s poorest residents with home heating costs as well as several other initiatives. But an audit unveiled a “series of inconsistencies” with health benefits, educational subsidies, cell phone usage and vehicle usage within the organization. Court-appointed receiver Thomas Hemmendinger, said “mismanagement and poor performance” landed the organization in a position where it “lacked the funds to stay in operation.”

Shea, a Harvard graduate who was leading the Olneyville Housing Corporation and who had served as director of program development for the National Association of Housing Partnerships, was tasked with rebuilding the embattled organization.

A year later, the organization is emerging from receivership with a new name—the Community Action Partnership of Providence (CAPP) — new leadership and renewed confidence from state and federal authorities. Federal funding has been restored, a new board has been appointed and the organization is no longer under a cloud of uncertainty.

Now Shea finds himself transitioning out of his role and moving back to his full-time job position with Olneyville Housing Corporation and Melissa Husband has been appointed to lead the new and improved CAPP.

Mission accomplished.