“ACFJC” = “Alameda County Family Justice Center”**

“ACFJC, Inc.” defined:

Precisely. That’s quite a trick — and whose definition counts? Theirs? Mine? or something less Public Relations and Grants Solicitation — and more solid, for example, is this a government agency, and if it is, why is it also a California corporation (as of 2007) and a nonprofit (as of 2010, when California Attorney General’s Office finally got on their tails to register)? Or all of the above?  and what’s Justice got to do with it?

In this blog’s context, they are a place in Oakland, California (which is in Alameda County) that I walked into for HELP last October, 2013.  In fact I walked in on 10/4/2013. In the public/PR area, the websites and news media articles say they help people like me, i.e., they deal with family violence, stalking, domestic violence, elder abuse, sexual assault. Also, where there is a District Attorney in any county, it’s that District Attorney that decides whether or not criminal activity they are made aware of is, or is not, actually prosecuted.

When D.A.’s or other criminal enforcement people are made aware, and do nothing about it — and the aggressor (criminal, perp, whatever) then realizes this — the situation is worse afterwards, the person seeking help has spent precious survival time not getting it, and checking off a decreasing list of survival options.

So, from my perspective, in asking the public to put some positive pressure on Jean Pfann, I said:

And while you’re at it, cc to District Attorney Nancy O’Malley, Oakland, California and ask her office to look into my case, for real this time!

I already did, last October, after walking into the “Family Justice Center,” and saying “please help!” expressing that I felt this situation also placed my daughters at risk. I also offered feedback, having previously come through their nonprofits on the way out of a violent marriage.

This is the public spin:  ACJFCJ (website) “Justice is not served til Crime Victims Are!”

Meet the Executive Director:  Cherri N. Allison (click and read), who is absolutely highly qualified and recognized in the field of domestic violence.

The description also says that before functioning as Executive Director and a founder of the ACJFCJ here, Ms. Allison was Executive Director of “the Family Violence Law Center.” [“FVLC” for short]

As we can see [California Secretary of State, Business Entities Search] , FVLC is a California corporation with a registered agent, and a birthdate — 7/12/1978:

Ms. Scott has been been Associate Director of the FVLC organization since February 2009.  FVLC doesn’t approve of “myopic solutions” [such as??]  but wants to influence the larger culture.

Instead of myopic solutions, FVLC focuses on long-term social change and the larger culture of violence, in order to lay the groundwork for a stronger DV field of the future. By developing effective business and evaluation strategies, the Center provides a model for other DV organizations working to maximize the impact of their resources and ensure their sustainability. – See more at: [StrongFieldProject]

Erin Scott (LinkedIn, or google) is a clearly very smart, well-educated, and very busy attorney.  Background:  Princeton Day School, Swarthmore (BA with Honors, History and English Lit) and NYU School of law.  That’s for starters — then see the professional experience.  She is also (concurrently) a Board Member of Family Violence Appellate Project (formed only in 2012) and California Partnership to End Domestic Violence (“CPEDV”) another LARGE one formed by merger of certain others:

The California Partnership to End Domestic Violence is a statewide membership coalition of domestic violence agencies and victim service providers that was formed in 2005 through the merger of the California Alliance Against Domestic Violence (CAADV) and the Statewide California Coalition for Battered Women (SCCBW). These two organizations joined together to form one state coalition to foster unity within the domestic violence movement in California.

Like other Domestic Violence Coalitions throughout the U.S. States and Territories, The Partnership is rooted in the battered women’s movement and the values that define this movement, including working towards social justice, self-determination, and ending the oppression of women. No other organization in California has the resources to recognize and recruit support from related organizations such as the national coalition or law enforcement agencies that can play a powerful part in helping end domestic violence.

The California Partnership to End Domestic Violence believes that by sharing expertise, advocates and legislators can end domestic violence. Every day we inspire, inform and connect all of those concerned with this issue, because together we’re stronger.

Their Board of Directors and related organizations, incl. Ms. Scott for FVLC

In fact I have come to the conclusion that so long as there is this so much money, and so many careersto be made in the industry of Ending Domestic Violence or Stopping Family Violence (etc.) we (and “the public) can forget ending it.  Where are all these violent people coming from, and how come they keep either being bred – or slipping through the cracks of the legal system, HUH?

On July 24, 2010 the FVLC got a Delinquency Notice from the California Office of Attorney General [“OAG”] (which runs the registry of charitable trusts, i.e., nonprofits etc. in the state.  These charities have to file a simple “RRF” form annually and provide copies of their IRS tax returns too, so we know what public (gov’t) sectors are contributing to them.  This one was getting big around that time:

FVLC Charitable Registration Details:   FVLC Charitable Details=Assets,Revs, and Filings 2001-2013 (run @Apr2014)

FVLC Delinquency Notice: FVLC’s July 24, 2010 Delinquency Notice re Yrs 05,06,08 and 09 Tax Returns, from California OAG (Compare to ACJFCJ 2010 notice from OAG to file as a charity)

(sent to FVLC — click above to see)

RE: WARNING OF ASSESSMENT OF PENALTIES AND LATE FEES, AND SUSPENSION OF REGISTERED STATUS

July 14, 2010

The Registry of Charitable Trusts has not received annual report(s) for the captioned organization, as follows:

1. The $150.00 renewal fee for the fiscal year ending: 6/30/09 was not received. Please send a check in that amount, payable to “Attorney General’s Registry of Charitable Trusts”.

2. Registration Renewal Fee (RRF-1) Report (s), together with required renewal fee, for fiscal year(s) ending: 6/30/08.

3. IRS Form 990, 990-PF, or 990-EZ report(s) for fiscal year(s) ending: 6/30/05, 6/30/06, 6/30/08, & 6/30/09.

Failure to timely file required reports violates Government Code section 12586.

Unless the above-described report(s) are filed with the Registry of Charitable Trusts within thirty (30) days of the date of this letter, the following will occur:

1.The California Franchise Tax Board will be notified to disallow the tax exemption of the above-named entity.In addition, the above-named entity will be billed $800 plus interest by Franchise Tax Board, which represents the minimum tax penalty.(See Revenue and Taxation Code section 23703).

2.Late fees will be imposed by the Registry of Charitable Trusts for each month or partial month for which the report(s) are delinquent.Directors, trustees, officers and return preparers responsible for failure to timely file these reports are also personally liable for payment of all late fees.

WHASSUP with NOT FILING THEIR IRS form with the State for:  2005, 2006, 2008 and 2009, not turning in their RRF-1 for 2008, and apparently sending in 2009’s RRF-1 without the required fee OR the required tax return?  The website I got this from shows (from their 2009 RRF-1 they finally submitted) that in that year, they had gross revenues of $3.25 million and assets of $1.4 million.  What we are talking about here, is record-keeping and timely reporting.

• These government agencies contributed, per that same Yr 2009 form:  City of Alameda, City of Berkeley Housing, City of Hayward, City of Oakland Measure Y (see bottom of this post), City of Oakland OFCY (Office of Family Children and Youth, I guess), City of Oakland CDBG (Community Development Block Grant), AND, City of San Leandro, COUNTY of Alameda (see map below, know that it includes Berkeley, Oakland, Alameda, San Leandro, Hayward, and more), FEMA in San Francisco, and Legal Services Trust Fund, State Bar of California.

I’m not sure, but I’ll bet this happened while FVLC was actually housed within the same ACJFCJ which is County of Alameda Real Estate!  Erin Scott (smart, active and educated attorney with multiple board memberships now, and others before in her career) was Associated Director at this time, and Cherri Allison, Esq. LinkedIn says she was Executive Director of this organization from Feb. 2003-April, 2011.  In April 2011 she moved to running the ACJFCJ (in the same building).

If that’s not enough to keep track of, it seems to me that the ACJFCJ,  incorporated (below) in 2007 (although funded through Alameda County itself, through Federal Grants to — in part, this FVLC), but got a May 2010 notice to register as a charity, did so then made more excuses.   Who is keeping track of this shell game, or has time to?   Was  Ms. Allison was simultaneously on the boards of TWO nonprofit corporations, neither of which was filing correctly and both of which were housed in county facilities and taking a variety of public funds in a variety of manners.  Since ACJFCJ has been around, it also appears to have been running Gala fundraising events.

The ACJFCJ as we’ll see below is (in one of its several appearances) actually corporation with by-laws stating that its Board of Directors include one representative from the DA’s Office, and one from leading nonprofit agency providing DV services (link below, for exact description).

I’d rather have been, and would still rather be working (i.e., with income, i.e., paying my own bills)  and dealing with my own children regularly, to help them, than stuck asking for help and forced year by year to explore the entire (sure seems like) social service and family court, child support, and law enforcement infrastructures in two different counties, with no end in sight!

All systems have some operating principles, and they have financial incentives.

So? I went looking for answers. You should too (notice date: April 15th!).

Below, they will talk repeatedly about how wonderful and centralized (versus “fragmented”) it is for such victims to come to the lovely facilities.  But what I’m going to talk about is their business entity and corporate structure.  Which is downright strange.

You might want to look at it IF you’re going to actually contact this DA on my behalf.

I’m almost afraid to say more (like what else I already know about the system– ask for if you want the links). I’m not the only person aware of the situation, but may be one of few who have a pretty good handle on the corporate/nonprofit setup here — and in San Diego, and how this relates to getting favorable legislation passed, etc.     FYI this is a long post. Two-for one perhaps.  (It takes a while to lay out the information.)

I assure you, this post is relevant. You’re UNlikely to get this information elsewhere.

On the other hand, if the public has become such passive spectators we don’t, won’t, or can’t afford the time to follow District Attorneys and their favorite projects, (which the public funds; these are civil servants, right?), we might as well just give it up, and not complaints when justice doesn’t come back out of that slot machine we took a chance on when we pay taxes.    Also then don’t complain when people like me (in my situation, or worse) are forced onto welfare (or homeless) and when we, also hoping for justice, then come on the web, or to you if we’re associates/ friends/ colleagues — asking for help, in the process of staying alive, fed and housed when we can’t just WORK instead.  I learned this the hard way, and at a very high cost.  Perhaps there are better ways to learn — if you’re willing.

“Down the Rabbit Hole” defined:

 California Registry of Charitable Trusts, among other places trying to identify what kind of creature is a One-Stop-Justice-Shop that takes funding, uses public employees, exists in a county building — and dumps cases.

Why would the top enforcement official of any county — which is last I heard, the District Attorney– need to go set up a corporation (to be run right from a county building) to do what their public office already says is to be done — prosecute crimes, including domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, elder abuse, and against children?

I dare anyone to straighten out the public versus private funding in this model, and figure out if services claimed are actually being provided to the victims, and whether (appears likely) or not (a slim chance) there is a built-in, inherent conflict of interest with sane people and taxpayers.

It doesn’t sound like they can keep themselves straight either.  I don’t feel comfortable, really, with having an organization or agency investigate a complex matter (which they are in the business to do) when this was submitted as an excuse for requesting an extension on their first tax return.  Seriously:

Alameda County Family Justice Center EIN: 26-1141080 Schedule E Line 5

Request for an extension of time for failing to file form 1023 within 27 months from the date of formation:

“In early 2009, Form 1023 was filed on-line and a fee was paid to an agency, which we believed was the IRS. It wasn’t until we inquired into the status of our filing later in 2009 with your agency (IRS) that we discovered there was no record of our filing and in fact the agency was in fact a private company with no affiliation to the IRS. In good faith, we believed we had filed 1023 with the IRS but in fact were misled.”

[see Page 17:  ACJFCJ %22FoundingArticles%22 Applic for IRS Tax Exemption, See p10, last pg%22 000F105E-10  More on this below…]

(No proof attached.  Can the rest of us use this excuse with the IRS too?)

Why this post:

I have attempted to leave a violent marriage and stay employed in a neighboring county, without violating court orders specific to our case, without cutting the father of my daughters out of their lives, and unfortunately, without understanding who I was dealing with in the various government agencies, criminal and family court sectors — and how they interact with each other, and how their operations relate to their federal grants, and state, local and county matters.

I wanted to know WHY I couldn’t leave a violent relationship and stay re-enaged in a wonderful profession, and maintain my ability from then on, not to be economically entrapped into very bad relationships involving the family members.  Or, to ever again have to resort to welfare.

I wanted to know why the word “family” when it applies to blood or marriage relationship, should be allowed to cover up so much violence, destruction, and hatred, such evil intent.  I don’t believe that blood or marriage relationship should pre-empt the restraints of criminal law.  If I had to choose between a known, destructive criminal who was also a family member (by birth or marriage) and a stranger, client, or colleague (co-worker, etc.) who wasn’t, I’d go with the stranger.

I also after 2006 absolutely wanted to know why a crime isn’t a crime if the case lands in “family court,” which is where, I found, public servants whose duty is to enforce the law (which includes standing court orders) want cases to go which otherwise qualify as crimes.

I’m not the first person to notice that the “outbox” of the criminal enforcement of family violence is the family court system and the “inbox” (“ka-ching!”) for the collaborative service “centers” (hybrid public/private operations) includes the word “family.”   The buzz, the myth, is that, it’s better to reunify families than break them up because single parents (especially single mothers) are a drain on the public.  This is inconsistently applied — they certainly broke up my family and household!

SF BAY AREA

Well, I learned how that works in Contra Costa County, California after leaving Alameda County, California  (scene of major trauma) many years ago with energy, hope, employment, and growing children in my household.

These are the 9 San Francisco Bay Area Counties: (Association of Bay Area Governments)

• Alameda County
• Contra Costa County
• Marin County
• Napa County
• San Francisco County
• San Mateo County
• Santa Clara County
• Solano County
• Sonoma County

Berkeley (UCBerkeley), Oakland and other cities (“East Bay”) are in Alameda County

San Jose, Palo Alto (I.e., Stanford University), Silicon Valley are in Santa Clara County

The California Judicial Council  is in San Francisco (City and County), California having the largest court system in the country, and many (not all, but many) programs influencing court programs seem to center around the Northern California San Francisco Bay Area and its nine counties.

   Center for Families and Children in the Courts

• Court Programs and Practices for Working with [prisoner] Reentry 
• Community Justice Summit 2014: International Summit
  • April 22-24, 2014  San Francisco
    The Center for Court Innovation, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice’s [“USDOJ”] Bureau of Justice Assistance and the [California Judicial Council’s] AOC [Administrative Office of the Courts], will host a conference for judges and criminal justice and social service partners working together to implement evidence-based practices addressing addiction, mental health, homelessness, recidivism and reentry issues among high risk or hard to reach populations
• Ending the Criminalization of Homelessness: The Role of Courts, Lawyers and Advocates
  
• • April 25, 2014 San Francisco
  • In conjunction with the Community Justice Summit, the ABA’s Commission on Homelessness and Poverty will offer a California Homelessness Summit.
• The Juvenile Dependency Court and You – A Guide for Parents
• Juvenile Dependency Mediation Resources

• FAMILY LAW: Access to Visitation~ Child Support~ Family Dispute Resolution ~Unified Courts for Families/ Court Coordination

• etc.

Others, around Los Angeles, and still others in San Diego, including the first insemination of this Family Justice Center idea.

However the main idea of the Family Justice Center Alliance was it seems the USDOJ federal grants hookup.  

The Alliance is the coordinator of the current California Family Justice Initiative, funded by the Blue Shield of California Foundation, which has helped start ten new Family Justice Centers in California in the last three years. The $2 million Blue Shield of California Foundation California Family Justice Initiative is funding development of a statewide network of Centers made up of core criminal justice system professionals and a host of community-based non-profit and government agencies. Today, the Alliance is assisting with the start up of fifteen additional Centers in California.

Yep.
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