Correspondence Between LeaderShop and Lyons Township

lyse Hoffenberg From: Elyse Hoffenberg Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2023 1:18 PM To: Alan Morales Ce: Jazmin Lopez; Brian Miller Subject: LTMHC Holiday Party Alan, We received your phone messages. Please let this letter serve as notice of your inappropriate behavior at the Lyon’s Township Holiday Party/Ron's Retirement Party. Of note, you: * Made inappropriate and offensive comments about the things you would like to do to our co- worker, Carrie Bernardoni; + You invaded both of our personal space and made us feel uncomfortable; + You insisted that Jazmin dance with you and then told her to make eye contact with you, you moved your hand down her back multiple times despite her attempts to push it back up, you told her to move her hips stowly, you said Augie is a lucky man, and you explained that you are breaking up with your girlfriend soon. ‘We are gravely concerned about this behavior. We see the turn-over rate at the LeaderShop and now ‘Strongly suspect that things we have heard about your treatment of females in your employ may be Credible. We are also deeply worried that someone with bad judgment and bad boundaries is running an ‘Organization that works with children and teens. Please consider this notice that the Lyons Township Mental Health Commission ('LTMHC") will no longer bbe working directly with you regarding any business of the Commission and the LeaderShop. The LIMHC ‘Wishes to continue its relationship and work with your organization, but we are formally requesting that ‘Cathy Pierson be the representative of your organization moving forward. If you personally communicate ‘With thee LTMHC please only communicate in writing. We will not accept your calts. In addition, although you have the right as a public citizen to attend the public LTMHC meetings, and you re not barred from doing so, we are asking that you send Ms. Pierson as representative of the LeaderShop going forward. You are not welcome to attend private events of the LIMHC, Ifyou have any questions about this letter, please contact the LTMHC’s attorney, Brian Miller, at 847- 970-8812 or [email protected]\cerely, Elyse Hoffenberg President of the Lyons Township Mental Health Commission Jazmin Lopez Executive Director of the Lyons Township Mental Health Commission13-20-92 Elyse and Jazmin, [wanted to provide you with a follow-up to our conversation on December 20, so I’m sending, you this summary of the actions we have taken as a result of Alan Morales’s behavior at the December 14 Lyons Township holiday party. | will not be able to provide many specific details nor the names of individuals except for Alan, because of his legal right to privacy and the necessity for confidentiality with which this information is being shared with you, I have been working with the members of The LeaderShop’s Executive Committee and the Chair of our Personnel Committee on a plan regarding Alan. In doing so, we have followed the advice and recommendations of legal counsel and an HR expert. Aspects of the five-step plan have already been implemented; others will soon be under way. In addition to taking action with regard to the Alan's behavior at the holiday party, we wanted to address the concern you expressed that Alan’s behavior with, and treatment of, women is responsible for our turnover rate. We have conducted an investigation and in doing so, talked with former female employees and a long-term female volunteer about their experiences in working with Alan. While they each indicated that Alan can sometimes act as if he hasn't completely incorporated the kind of interpersonal boundaries expected by professional women in today’s workplace, important to note that none of them stated that they felt offended, much less threatened, by his behavior or that it was extreme enough to warrant disciplinary action. In the case of the employees, they were asked why they left employment with The LeaderShop. None of them indicated Alan was the cause of their departure. They said they left for better pay and more professional opportunities that advance them in their careers~facts those of us on our Personnel Committee know are challenges for our agency. We have been able to make some improvements with regard to compensation for employees. However, that issue, in addition to the necessity for staff to have to work evenings and some weekends because that’s when program participants are available, will no doubt always be challenges for our agency. So will the fact that because The LeaderShop is so small, there is no real career ladder for staff. As a result, itis likely that they will eventually want to advance their careers elsewhere. That obviously is not the most optimal situation, but it is the reality we have to attempt to address within the restrictions of our limited budget and scheduling challenges. In closing, | want you to know that all of us in leadership roles for The LeaderShop are committed to doing what is right and ultimately what is best for the youth we serve. We hope to be able to expand the reach of our programming because we know our approach is unique and is successful in making 2 positive difference in the lives of teens, preteens, and younger children our community. Your commission's support of our mutual work in serving our constituency and the community as a whole has always been, and will continue to be, valued and greatly appreciated. Sincerely,Linn Meyer, President, Board of Directors, The LeaderShopElyse Hoffenberg From: Linn Meyer Ser Tuesday, February 6, 2024 2:09 PM To: Elyse Hoffenberg; Jazmin Lopez Subject: [External] FYI and Update Elyse and Jazmin, sm writing to provide you with a follow-up to our conversation on December 20 regarding the unfortunate event that occurred at ‘the December 14 Lyons Township holiday party and to bring you up-to-date on the various actions we have taken in response toi. | have been working with the members of our Executive and Personnel Committees, and we have undertaken a number of necessary actions to address the situation. In doing so, we have followed the advice and recommendations of legal counsel and a Human Resources expert we have retained for this purpose. Aspects of the plan we have developed have already been implemented; others will soon be under way. As | agreed when we spoke on December 20, Cathy Pierson will now be the official liaison between The LeaderShop and Lyons ‘Township Mental Health Commission. As has previously been communicated to you, the only exception is the grant submission process because Cathy has no experience with it. For now, Alan Morales will continue to handle the process, but he will ‘communicate with Jazmin only via email as you have requested. In the future, aur Development Manager will be the main contact for grant submission to LTMHC. | also want you to know that we have addressed your concern that Alan's behavior with, and treatment of, women is responsible for ur turnover rate. We conducted an investigation, and in doing so, talked with former female employees and a long-term female volunteer about their experiences in working with Alan. While they each indicated that Alan can sometimes act as if he hasn't ‘completely incorporated the kind of interpersonal boundaries expected by professional women in today’s workplace, itis essential that we can assure you that none of them stated that they felt offended, much less threatened, by his behavior or that it was extreme enough to warrant disciplinary action. In the case of the employees, they were asked why they left employment with The LeaderShop. Not a single one indicated Alan was the cause of their departure. They said they left for better pay and more professional opportunities that advance them in their careers~facts those of us on our Personnel Committee know are challenges for our agency and that we are also addressing. Please know that all of us in leadership roles for The LeaderShop are committed to doing what is right and ultimately what is best for the youth we serve. We hope to be able to expand the reach of our programming because we know our approach Is unique and is. successful in making a positive difference in the lives of teens, preteens, and younger children in our community. Your commission's support of our mutual work in serving our constituency and the community as a whole has always been, and will continue to be, valued and greatly appreciated, If you should have questions or concerns now or in the future, please feel free to contact me. Sincerely, Linn Meyer President, Board of Directors The LeadershopFwd: [External] Hello and FYI Elyse Hoffenberg Thu 5/16/2024 4:14 PM ‘Tosazmin Lopez BecElyse Hoffenberg @ 1 attachments (16 KB) Letter to Elyse and Jazmin 124,doc, FYI Begin forwarded message From: Steve Palmer Date: May 16, 2024 at 3:25:05 PM CDT. To: Elyse Hoffenberg Subject: Fwd: [External] Hello and FYI Sent from my iPhone Begin forwarded message: From: Linn Meyer Date: May 9, 2024 at 5:41:00 PM CDT To: [email protected] Subject: Hello and FYI Hello Steve, | think you are aware that Alan has told me about the information you recently shared with him about LTMHC’s current feelings about him and The LeaderShop. Please know that | fully understand and respect the position you are in and that | expect nothing from you. | just want to avoid the possibility of your feelings about The LeaderShop being tainted. You have been a very long-term friend and supporter of our agency, and you have been a friend and colleague to Alan. Itis in light of that friendship that | want to share some information and thoughts with you. | am greatly troubled by the fact that apparently our Board of Directors is regarded as not having “done enough” regarding Alan's behavior at the December 14 Township holiday party. | find that very troubling because we, in fact, have undertaken several stepsregarding the problem. | shared information regarding our actions in a January 25 letter to Elyse Hoffenberg and Jazmin Lopez. | am attaching a copy of that letter for your information. We never received a response to the letter nor even acknowledgement that it was received. Although | hope you have been informed of my previous communication describing the actions we have taken regarding the incident Alan caused in December, at this point in time. | would like to recount how we responded to the concerns that were expressed to us. First and foremost, Alan was issued a formal warning signed by me as President of our Board of. Directors letting him know that if he ever causes an incident like that again, he will be terminated immediately. Second, Alan was evaluated for alcohol abuse by a professional at Rosecrance. He was found not to have a problem with alcohol, and no treatment was recommended. Third and Fourth, Alan took one-on-one anti-harassment training with an HR professional and also participated in all-staff training for that issue. Fifth, we conducted an investigation whereby we interviewed former female employees and a female volunteer about their experiences in working with Alan. You will find the results of that investigation in the third and fourth paragraphs of the attached letter. In the course of dealing with this situation, we consulted with legal counsel who deals with employment issues and, equally if not more importantly, with an HR executive. Both said the steps we have taken are exactly what should have been done, and that nothing beyond. that should happen. The HR executive, in particular, said she would definitely not recommend termination for Alan, especially in light of the plan we implemented. | don’t want to bore you with all the details of my background, but | want to reassure you that | am not naive nor ignorant when it comes to these kinds of issues. Before I retired, | \was an executive at a national nonprofit located in Chicago. | ran one of its five divisions and was responsible for a $4 million budget and a staff of 19 employees. Fourteen of those employees were women, and five were men. Most of my staff were dedicated, hardworking professionals. However, as you might imagine, over the years | had to deal with a variety of personnel problems and issues. My point in telling you those things is to say | have dealt with the ins and outs of personne! matters for a very long time. ‘My colleagues on our board are all professionals from varied backgrounds and experiences. But we all have one thing in common. And that is, we are volunteering for The LeaderShop. not because its a prestigious appointment that provides us with perks and status in the community. It's laughable to even think that. We are involved because we all truly care about the kids in our community, especially those from more underserved areas. We know the difference our programs can, and do, make in their lives, and we want to continue helping generations of children as our agency has done for more than 46 years. | apologize for the length of this note, Steve, and | hope what | have written will eliminate any doubts you may have about our intentions and the actions we have taken. If you should have any questions, please let me know. Most importantly, thank you so much for all you have done for The LeaderShop over the years. With all best regards, Linn Meyereso BUILDING LEADERS, CHANGING LIVES June 1, 2024 Brian Miller Del Galdo Law Group, LLC 1441 S. Harlem Avenue Berwyn, IL 60402 Re: Your letter noting that LTMHC has declined The LeaderShop’s request for Fiscal Year 2025 funding, Dear Mr. Miller: ‘On behalf of The LeaderShop and The LeaderShop's Board of Directors we are requesting to know why ‘our funding request has been declined by the LTMHC without warning and a word of explanation after 25 plus years of funding and successful programming. This information should be communicated in writing directly to me and the President of The LeaderShop Board of Directors. You are advised that the Commission's action in denying our request will almost certainly result in the shut-down of the organization, and/or a significant reduction in staffing and programs. {t would mean that robust programming could no longer be provided for the children and families of Lyons Township. In either case The LeaderShop will need to share with the staff, parents, children, other funders and the ‘community that LTMHC is no longer funding The LeaderShop. We look forward to your response. Sincerely, £2 KE Alan Morales Executive Director, The LeaderShop cc: Elyse Hoffenberg Commissioners, Lyons Township Mental Health Commission Jazmin Lopez Linn Meyer Board of Directors, The Leadershop www.theleadershop.orgDEL GALDO LAW GROUP, LLC Attomeys & Counselors June 3, 2024 Alan E, Morales Executive Director The LeaderShop 4903 Willow Springs Rd. La Grange, IL 60525 VIA EMAIL Re: Denial of Fiscal Year 2025 Funding Application Dear Mr. Morales: The Lyons Township Mental Health Commission (the “LTMHC") is in receipt of the LeaderShop’s June 1, 2024 correspondence. In the letter, you request to “know why our funding request has been declined by the LTMHC without warning and a word of explanation.” can assure you that you and your board President Linn Meier are aware of the concems of the LTMHC about your behavior as Director of the Leadershop. I would direct your attention to previous communications that were sent to both you and the Leadershop. On or about December 19, 2023, President Elyse Hofienberg sent you an email regarding your behavior at the LTMHC Holiday Party. In that email, President Hoffenberg outlined your inappropriate behavior at the event including 1) making inappropriate comments about things you would like to do to Carrie Bemardoni; 2) your invasion of the personal space of President Hoffenberg and LTMHC Executive Director Jazmin Lopez, making both feel very uncomfortable; and 3) your insistence that Jazmin dance with you and then told her to make eye contact with you, move her hips slowly, mentioned that her partner, Augie, isa “lucky man,” and explained that youare breaking up with your girlfriend soon. The email also stated “[the LTMHC is] gravely concerned about this behavior. We see the tum-over rate at the LeaderShop and now strongly suspect that the things we have heard about your treatment of females in your employ may be credible. We are also deeply worried that someone with extremely poor judgment and boundaries is running an organization that works with children and teens, As you are also aware, the LTMHC requested that Cathy Pierson assume your responsibilities with the LTMHC to ensure proper relations with the Leadershop. The LTMHC also requested that you not attend meetings of the LTMHC and that you send Ms. Pierson in your stead, On of about January 25,2024, President Meier sent President Hoffenberga letter in response. In that letter, President Meier acknowledges your behaviorat the Holiday Party and states that“Ihavebeen working with the members of The LeaderShop’s Executive Committee and the Chair of our Personnel Committee ona plan regarding Alan. In doing so, we have followed the advice and recommendations of legal counsel and an HR expert, Aspects of the five-step plan have already been implemented; others will soon be under way.” No specific steps or plan were mentioned in that letter. In fact, the letter denied that your behavior contributed to any turnover of employees at the Leadershop. On or about February 6, 2024, President Meier again referenced that the Leadershop had “undertaken a number of necessary actions to address the situation. In doing so, we have followed the advice and recommendations of legal counsel and a Human Resources expert we have retained for this purpose. 1441 S. Harlem Avenue © Berwyn, 1.60402 © telephone (708) 222-7000 © fax ‘www diglawgroup.com. smile (708) 222-7001Aspeets of the plan we have developed have already been implemented; others will soon be under way.” Again, no specific actions werereferenced.as to the plan. President Meierthenconfirmed that Cathy Pierson would be the contact person for the Leadershop with the LTMHC: except for the grant submission process would continue to be conducted by you. President Meier also stated that the Leadershop conducted an investigation of your treatment of female staffand found that “none of them stated that they felt offended, much less threatened, by his behavior or that it was extreme enough to warrant disciplinary action.” ‘The LTMHC metas a full commission to review the actions taken by the Leadershop in response to your behavior and found them lacking. As expressed multiple times in correspondence, your behavior is very troubling, as you lead an organization that works with children and teenagers. The example set by the Leadershop in response to your behavior cannot be condoned or encouraged by the LTMHC Furthermore, the LTMHC has serious concems about the structural stability of the Leadershop’s revenue. The Leadershop’s reliance on the LTMHC for almost half of its annual funding is not sustainable and does not reflect proper stewardship of the organizations fiscal health. As evidenced by the Leadershop’s response to your behavior, the precarious financial state of the organization can cause itto topple for any reason, atany time. This financial insecurity mustbe properly planned for andaddressedby the Leadershop to demonstrate to both Lyons and the wider funding community that the organization is being responsibly managed. In addition, the excessive compensation paid to executives at the Leadershop also demonstrates poor fiscal management and misplaced priorities. The LTMHC is proud of the relationship it creates with its community partners that it funds. The LIMHC works very closely with those agencies to create a joint effort to improve the lives of countless Lyons Township citizens, The LTMHC strives to support its partner agencies and to improve their inner workings to ensure that they are efficiently and effectively addressing the needs of those they serve. As such, the LTMHC will only support organizations that maintain and respect that partnership. The LTMHC has does not believe that the Leadetshop has properly maintained its partnership with the LTMHC. ‘The LTMHC encourages the Leadershop to reflect on the consequences of its response to your behavior and the resulting lack of funding. Very truly yours, DEL GALDO LAW GROUP, LLC (sl Brian Miller By: Brian Miller Commission Attomey cc: Linn Meyer, President Hon. Elyse Hoffenberg, President Jazmin Lopez, Executive Director Members of the Lyons Township Mental Health Commission Page 2 of 2Cee Bader Shop ‘ag BUILDING LEADERS, CHANGING LIVES Brian Miller Del Galdo Law Group, LLC 1441 S. Harlem Avenue Berwyn, IL 60402 Re: Your correspondence, dated June 3, 2024---The LeaderShop June 21, 2024 Dear Mr. Miller: On behalf of The LeaderShop’s Board of Directors, I am writing in response to your June 3, 2024, letter to Alan Morales. This letter is not intended to continue dialogue with the Lyons Township Mental Health Commission (LTMHC) about its ill-considered denial of The LeaderShop’s 2025 grant funding application-— LTMHC has made it abundantly clear that would be pointless. Rather, this letter is being sent because the LTMHC’s apparent violation of sections 7(1)(b)(c) and (g) of the Illinois Freedom of Information Act requires an addressing of the many factual errors, mischaracterizations and, frankly, attempted after-the-fact justifications for the LTMHC’s decision included in your June 3 letter. First, on December 19, 2023, LTMHC President Elyse Hoffenberg and Executive Director Jazmin Lopez wrote an email to Mr. Morales in response to his phone calls attempting to apologize for his conduct at the LTMHC Holiday Party. In that email, they made it clear that “[t]he LTMHC wishes to continue its relationship and work with (The LeaderShop)” but set several conditions for doing so. They stated that Mr. Morales must be replaced as “the representative of (The LeaderShop) moving forward” and that he must not attend any LTMHC public meetings or its private events, Second, I then personally took charge of resolving this deeply unfortunate situation and spoke with both Ms. Lopez and Ms. Hoffenberg by phone on December 20° I accepted the conditions identified in the LTMHC’s email on behalf of The LeaderShop and explained that we would be taking additional steps to address both Mr. Morales’ conduct and Ms. Hoffenberg’s stated “concern” about the turnover rate among our employees. And The LeaderShop did exactly that. In an early February 2024 email to Ms. Hoffenberg and Ms. Lopez, I first reconfirmed our agreement with the conditions previously set out by the LTMHC regarding Mr. Morales’ non-involvement with the organization going forward. Afier pointing our Mr. Morales” legal right to privacy as an employee, I then explained that The LeaderShop undertook a series of specific remedial steps to both address Mr. Morales’ conduct and to investigate whether his conduct (or any other aspect of The LeaderShop’s culture) in any way contributed to the turnover rate among our employees Ms. Hoffenberg speculated upon. We talked with current and former women employees and volunteers, and as T wrote in that email, “it is essential that we can assure you that none of them stated that they felt offended, much less threatened by (Mr. Morales”) behavior or that it was extreme enough to warrant disciplinary action.” (One of the interviews waswith a former LeaderShop employee who is now employed by the LTMHC who shared that sentiment during our interview.) Your June 3 letter does not challenge any of the above, and indeed, really doesn’t even try to. Rather, you acknowledge our findings about how current and former women employees view Mr. Morales, which you do not dispute, and you further acknowledge our informing you generally about the steps we were taking. You do, though, complain that “no specific actions” were referenced in my description of our remedial plan. Both our employment counsel and Human Resources consultant urged us to remain mindful of Mr. Morales’ legal privacy rights even under these circumstances. Perhaps your firm’s employment law counsel can clarify Mr. Morales’ rights for you, and, as it turns out, for the Commission’s entire staff. We recently discovered that written information about this situation was shared with someone who is neither employed by LTMHC or a member of its board, That is a totally inappropriate, and legally dangerous, occurrence Unable to meaningfully refute what actions we undertook, the LTMHC has now expressed formal concern about our salary structure “and precarious financial state.” The fact is our financial status and salary structure have been known to the LTMHC for many, many vears and have never been raised in a formal written communication as an issue of concern by the LTMHC. Ever. Third, we never received a response, or even an acknowledgement of receipt, of our early February email, so we proceeded with our FY25 funding application in March of this year. And we still never heard a word from LTMHC that the issue of Mr. Morales’ conduct remained an open matter. At least not until May 13, 2024, when one of our employees in our marketing group contacted the LTMHC about participating in our annual SK race in early June. Here is a screenshot of the response she received. eon ececary Pgs neat To be clear, then, before the LTMHC’s FY25 grant budget had even been formally presented to its Board and well before that budget was adopted by vote of the Board, Ms. Hoffenberg told one of our employees that the LTMHC “can no longer support The LeaderShop.” That response caused confusion and concern among our staff. Pethaps that was Ms. Hoffenberg’s intent That occurrence, coupled with the sharing with a non-staff person of what LTMHC should consider confidential information, is very concerning. We encourage the LTMHC to reflect on how this level of unprofessional conduct in meddling in the internal functioning of a grant applicant will be viewed in the larger Lyons Township social services community.Fourth, and finally, Ms. Hoffenberg states in her December 19 email that the LTMHC is “deeply worried” that Mr. Morales is running an organization that works with children and teens, You and the LTMHC need to have a very clear understanding of the facts: In his 20-plus years of service at The LeaderShop, there has never been even the hint of a suggestion that Mr. Morales represented any kind of a threat to any child working with our agency. Nor has this ever been a question during Mr. Morales’ 40-plus years as a youth services professional. This type of reckless suggestion appears to be yet another unprofessional gaffe by apparently inexperienced managers. We urge the LTMHC to act and speak with greater care, Representing The LeaderShop’s Board of Directors, Linn Meyer President Ce: Elyse Hoffenberg, President Jazmin Lopez, Executive Director Members of the Lyons Township Mental Health Commission www.theleadershop.org

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