United Way Picked to Help Allocate Funds

Accused of bias and political machinations, an AIDS advocacy panel has recommended turning the final say on allocating $300,000 in federal grants over to a neutral United Way of Ventura committee.

“It is very important to the consortium process that it appear to be as fair as it could possibly be,” said Edie Brown, who heads the Ventura County HIV Care Consortium. “There was an appearance of bias, and we want to be sure it didn’t happen.”

AIDS Care, a local nonprofit agency that had received federal funds for the past three years, raised the bias allegations after getting no money in this year’s grant awards.

The agency argued that the head of the decision-making panel, Patrick Mayers, had a conflict of interest because he quit his job at AIDS Care angrily and now works for the county’s Public Health Services Agency. The county department received $159,000 from the consortium.

A three-member appeals panel, made up of consortium members, voted Tuesday to recommend turning the matter over to United Way of Ventura. That agency would draw up a new allocation committee with no members affiliated with any AIDS organizations. The recommendation is expected to be approved by the full consortium.

AIDS Care officials said they were pleased with the compromise. “It’s a victory in the sense that a completely new, impartial panel will look at all the applications for funds,” Executive Director Doug Green said.