Rainbow House board president says state is investigating internal misallocation of funds

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The board president of Rainbow House said Thursday the state is investigating the organization for an alleged internal misallocation of funds.

"There is a state investigation," Board President Tyler Willy said over the phone. "It has gotten to an investigation and it's a misallocation of funds internally."

Willy explained Rainbow House is an umbrella organization over both its emergency shelter and the Child Advocacy Center, which is monitored by the state and receives state funding.

He announced Wednesday the emergency shelter will be shutting down its services on Friday due to financial issues, while the Child Advocacy Center will continue operating. This comes as Rainbow House was in the midst of a capital campaign project to renovate the shelter, according to the organization's website.

Willy said the investigation is looking into how Child Advocacy Center funds were handled across the two separate departments.

"There's an investigation on how CAC funds were handled across our umbrella between the two departments that we do have," Willy said.

He did not share which state agency is conducting the investigation, due to privacy with the investigation.

Willy said the only person with access to the funds in question was terminated from Rainbow House in August. He said he and some other members at the time reached out to the state with concerns of potential misallocation of funds, which is when they formed the decision to fire the unnamed employee.

"The only person that had access to allocating those funds, though, is no longer with the organization and everyone a part of the organization now is actively working toward stopping this lapse in services on both sides," Willy said.

According to the Missouri Network Against Child Abuse, there are 15 Child Advocacy Centers across the state. A Child Advocacy Center is a safe space for children involved in alleged abuse, and includes an interview room and advocacy services. Boone County's center serves an 11-county region.

The CAC is currently in a temporary location, due to the Rainbow House shelter being under construction.

Willy said advocacy centers are very closely watched by the state, and the Boone County location will continue its services with state funds. He said those services for children cannot stop.

Missouri Network Against Child Abuse Executive Director Jessica Seitz said the state is doing everything in its power to keep the Boone County location running.

"I want to pull every lever possible to ensure that there is not a disruption in CAC services," Seitz said.

While the CAC is a separate department under Rainbow House, Seitz said she did start to become concerned in June when she said the center had a low number of staff numbers and was unable to fill vacancies due to financial strain.

Seitz said the CAC currently has three staff members, but should have triple that amount of staff for its service size.

"A financial strain on the whole agency is going to hit the whole agency," Seitz said.

She said while most advocacy centers are standalone nonprofits, it's not unheard of to have some overseen by other nonprofits, such as Rainbow House in Columbia.

However, she said this staffing situation is not sustainable, and the state may look at taking the CAC out from under Rainbow House's jurisdiction.

"We are navigating to find what's healthiest for the CAC of Boone County," Seitz said. "It may make sense that there be a Child Advocacy Center of Central Missouri on its own."

However, Willy said Rainbow House is not shutting down. He said the community can assist with donations during this time to go toward the CAC and help make discussions easier about how to bring an emergency shelter back to Boone County.

"Any funds donated will remain within Rainbow House and the CAC and it can help make decisions quicker on how we can get shelter services, whether it's with us or with something else, back online," Willy said.

He said overnight shelter services stopped in May while the building underwent construction, with plans to offer that service again after construction was complete. Not having overnight services will impact the most children, Willy said.

He said the shelter currently offers daytime services at a different location, which will impact between five-to-seven children when those services are suspended on Friday.

Community members are heartbroken hearing the emergency shelter is closing.

Ashley Turner was the Rainbow House shelter director from 2002-07. She said she was with the organization when it transitioned to its current location on Towne Drive.

"I just never dreamed that this would happen to Rainbow House," Turner said.

She is now part of a Facebook Group titled, "Save the Rainbow House CoMO." While she doesn't know what "saving" the shelter would look like right now, she knows the community needs a shelter to meet children's and family's needs.

"If it has to start from scratch, let's start from scratch," Turner said. "But, it needs to be rebuilt, whatever we have to do."

County leaders are also wanting to fill the gap. Director of Boone County's Community Services Department Joanne Nelson said the county provides funding for the emergency shelter. She is hopeful a shelter will able to reopen in Boone County.

"I would hope that somebody would definitely see the need for this in our community," Nelson said. "Maybe another nonprofit try to incorporate this type of services into what they currently do. It's a definite need."

Nelson said Boone County is also working behind the scenes to ensure the CAC stays in Boone County.

Meanwhile, Willy said there are no concerns with Rainbow House board members. He said every board member who left within the past year left due to personal reasons and current board members are currently figuring out the next steps.