Open Letter from CEO Ed Blackburn to our supporters:
I take very seriously the trust that you place in our organization, and would like to share some information with you in the spirit of transparency about an issue that was addressed in a recent Oregonian story.
Although the headline of the story was, “Big Nonprofit’s Legal Director Was Not A Lawyer,” Central City Concern was not in fact seeking to hire a lawyer when we hired Mr. Brian Lee. Mr. Lee was originally hired as a paralegal through a temporary staffing agency to work with outside legal counsel. Throughout Mr. Lee’s tenure at our nonprofit agency, Central City Concern continued to retain the services of established Portland-based law firms including Stoel Rives; Ater Wynne; Bittner Hahs; Schwabe, Williamson and Wyatt; and others. While the article gave the impression that Mr. Lee represented us in litigation, that was not the case. He served as our staff liaison to the various law firms mentioned above.
Shortly after being hired as a paralegal, Mr. Lee was promoted to Contracts Manager, a position where his standing as a licensed attorney was still not a necessary consideration because he was not authorized to give legal advice. He was a graduate of the University of Oregon School of Law. Months later, when Mr. Lee was promoted to become our Director of Legal Affairs, his bar status was not an immediate issue because the position description required:
• A Juris Doctorate degree;
• 5+ years of pertinent related legal experience; and
• Admission to or the ability to be admitted to practice law in the State of Oregon
It is true that we relied upon the temporary staffing agency to verify the facts stated on Mr. Lee’s resume, including his assertion that he was a practicing attorney in the state of New York. It is also true that for a time, we believed Mr. Lee’s assurances that he had passed the Oregon State Bar. I deeply regret this error.
Once I realized Mr. Lee had misrepresented himself, I immediately terminated his employment and reported his conduct to the Oregon State Bar and to Central City Concern’s Board of Directors. We then hired outside legal counsel to determine that none of Mr. Lee’s work for Central City Concern jeopardized any of our transactions. Central City Concern’s financial records and transactional documents are also reviewed by our lenders, and are independently audited every year. At no point has there been any indication of malfeasance by Mr. Lee or any other Central City Concern employee in any of those areas.
Immediately after ordering Mr. Lee’s termination, I ordered an internal review of the credentials for each of our Directors to ensure no other credentialing problems existed. No other issues were found. In addition, I ordered a review of our protocols for verifying credentials across the entire organization, both at the point of hire and when existing employees are promoted, and took steps to make our process even more rigorous. When a job offer is extended for any position at Central City Concern, a member of our Human Resources Department personally verifies an individual’s:
• Eligibility to work in the United States;
• Required education, directly with schools or through a clearinghouse called Pacific Screening;
• Licenses and/or professional credentials required by the job description, directly with each issuing body;
• National criminal history checks, as well as a special in‐depth criminal history check for employees providing services to vulnerable mental health clients;
• Urine analysis results to test for illegal drug usage; and
• Mandatory communicable disease screening
An employee may not begin work until the above steps are satisfactorily completed.
For all of our health care positions, Central City Concern’s Business Office checks the National Provider Data Bank for a history of actions taken against a given provider. On an employee’s first day of work, our Business Office also verifies each provider’s eligibility to bill for services, and enrolls them with the insurance companies we utilize. Thereafter, on a monthly basis the Business Office checks the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Provider Exclusion Database to ensure that all of our health care providers continue to maintain eligibility to bill Medicare and Medicaid. On a monthly basis our Human Resources Department also checks to make sure all expiring licenses are renewed. Central City Concern’s Credentialing Policy has been posted on the Job Section of our website. I invite you to review this policy and share your thoughts, questions, and concerns with me.
In addition to the internal audits I’ve described above -- and due to the diversity of services we provide and the vulnerability of the population we serve – Central City Concern is subject to regular operational and compliance audits by federal, state, county, and city government agencies. These audits regularly examine all of our services and practices to ensure that we are providing high quality care while operating within federal and state guidelines. In the past 12 months alone, our programs have been audited by 23 different government agencies. We rarely receive findings from these audits, and when we do we take them very seriously and respond promptly to fully resolve any identified problems.
Central City Concern also has an exemplary history with financial management, including receiving clean, unqualified financial audit opinions from external auditors for over 10 years. It is important to note that we have achieved these results during a time when we have increased our impact in the community dramatically; expanding both the scope of our services and the number of individuals and families we serve.
It is my sincerest hope that we will continue to earn your trust as we work together to end homelessness in our community. Thank you for your support and commitment to our worthwhile mission.
Sincerely,
Ed Blackburn
Executive Director
Central City Concern
When Central City Concern gave me housing, healthcare, and addiction treatment services, they didn’t change the world. But for my daughter and me, the whole world changed.
Arrogant, unstable, unwilling to change. 
