VIDEO: Providence Councilwoman Harris Calls for Neronha to Look Into John Hope's Management
GoLocalProv News Team and Kate Nagle
VIDEO: Providence Councilwoman Harris Calls for Neronha to Look Into John Hope's Management
On Thursday, Harris was joined by community leaders Lisa Scorpio and Suzette Cook on the sidewalk outside of John Hope, where they requested a meeting with the John Hope board -- and Neronha -- for answers.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe moves comes after community members had expressed concerns about a potential deal for a proposed charter school to be housed in the non-profit, which was called the "selling out of John Hope" in a community petition to stop it.
The school ultimately missed the deadline to open in the 2019-2020 school year.
Harris on Record
"Our community needs to understand what exactly [Neronha's] office does — this is a fine time for us as a community to be educated around exactly what different agencies and entities play in our government," said Harris. "We know that everything is there to hold us all accountable, and on this issue, we’d like to see that happen here on John Hope."
"[We want to know] the process and procedure in which [John Hope] operates. We would like to know whether there were any minutes submitted, we want to know whether there are reports being filed. We want to know exactly any public assistance they have. We want to know as a public exactly financially what kind of condition this organization is in," said Harris.
"I think that’s where we’re stuck at, because we’ve not had the opportunity to [get] transparency. The distraction is that the community, over and over, and not just in this period of time, but historically, has been trying to find out information," said Harris. "What are the by-laws? Those things are very important to the community — for those people who have sweat and blood in this agency."