Lessons are still being learned by the more than 4,000 Central Texas charities one year after an Austin non-profit in the business of helping children and parents shut its doors for good after a major scandal.
In early April of 2010, Family Connections shut its doors after prosecutors say executive director Louann Aponte fled to Venezuela.
An external audit found that Aponte may have siphoned millions from the charity over years. In the process, more than 20 employees lost their jobs and hundreds of young people and their parents who relied on their services were forced to go somewhere else.
Louann Aponte allegedly bought luxury items like a Mercedes Benz and a boat with money she’s accused of stealing. Her husband, Marco Aponte, is also charged with money laundering.
“Maybe next to the Legislative budget cuts that are pending, it's the number two topic that I hear talked about at non-profit board meetings,” said Matt Kouri, director of Greenlights, a non-profit which teaches other non-profits how to run their agencies more efficiently.
Kouri says that since the Family Connections saga, classes helping other executive directors of non-profits run their charities better have increased significantly in participation.
“People are certainly responding well to get the knowledge they need to know on how to manage these organizations that are held in the public's trust, to manage them better and more transparently and more effectively,” added Kouri.
KVUE also learned that the vast majority, if not all of the former Family Connections employees laid off last year, have been able to find work.
“I'm very appreciative to agencies like Austin Recovery, Any Baby Can, Lifeworks, Work Source, Easter Seals, Child Inc., those agencies that took on some of the programs that we had,” said Trish Rivera, a former Family Connections employee who worked there for 14 years.
Money from the City of Austin allocated to Family Connections has now been split between three other non-profits, all of whom are absorbing the clients left behind when the non-profit closed up shop. Those non-profits are Any Baby Can, Child Inc. and Easter Seals.
“We've seen a great impact. We have seen probably 200 children, served 200 children in the program and about 175 adults,” said Miriam Nisenbaum with Easter Seals of Central Texas.
Louann Aponte remains in the Travis County Jail. Both she and her husband Marco have another pre-trial hearing set for April 19.
Any non-profit needing more information on Greenlights, the non-profit which helps other non-profits run more efficiently, can click here.
