Wanda Alston Foundation Named Receiver for Casa Ruby
The D.C. Attorney General’s Office has named the Wanda Alston Foundation as the receiver for local LGBTQ nonprofit, shelter, and community center Casa Ruby, which has come under investigation for alleged financial mismanagement.
June Crenshaw, the executive director of the Wanda Alston Foundation, told Metro Weekly in an interview that she would be seeking to find a lawyer to represent Casa Ruby as the issues concerning the organization’s finances and nonprofit status are worked out.
She also noted that the Wanda Alston Foundation would be consulting experts on how to perform forensic examinations of Casa Ruby’s finances and determine best practices for receivers while being transparent about its actions or decisions in order to restore trust in the organization.
“We are tasked with determining whether there are any assets remaining at Casa Ruby,” Crenshaw said. “And after that determination, we will need to look at how to pay creditors, pay outstanding paychecks to employees, see if there’s some option to satisfy our debt with landlords, and just assess the landscape of the financials, including what resources are available, whether government grants may be stopped because of some compliance issue that we could easily satisfy. That’s the first part.
“The second part is to make a determination, based on that information, whether the programs can be stood up again, whether Casa Ruby can start serving clients, providing housing, and serving all of the folks that they’ve served over the many years, those very vulnerable members of our community who are going without services right now. It’s important for us to figure that out. And if that is the case, then we have to figure out how to identify a board and activate the board again.”
