Hasshan Batts and Broken Promises Neighborhoods

Ex-con Hasshan "Fuck the Police" Batts has parlayed his past felony convictions into quite a few gigs. In addition to his role as Promise Neighborhoods' Executive Director, he's supposedly a "consultant" at Catalyst IpF, The TEA GROUP, Bonafide Life Enhancement Services and Practitioners Research and Scholarship Institute. He also lists himself as a social worker at Lehigh Valley's Neighborhood Health Centers, although his social worker licenses lapsed a few years ago.* I could and perhaps should take a closer look at all his boasts. This story, however, is about Batts and his unlikely connection to Promise Neighborhoods. With him at the helm, it should be called Broken Promises.

Promise Neighborhoods Was Supposed to Be Valley-wide Educational Program

Promise Neighborhoods is actually a U.S. Department of Education initiative authorized under the Every Student Succeeds Act. Its noble, if somewhat overambitious, goal is neighborhood-level education reform, from cradle to college.

Here in the Lehigh Valley, Promise Neighborhoods was originally part of the United Way, but became independent in 2015. Its first Executive Director, Dr. Yamil Sanchez Rivera, was an educator. He conducted door-to-door surveys and town halls in the Lehigh Valley's three cities, and set up community-specific programs in each. He also conducted annual block parties in each of the three cities. He established nine promises, which might more appropriately be called goals: (1) get children ready for kindergarten; (2) keep the kids and their families healthy; (3) keep kids safe and in stable communities; (4) support their learning experience; (5) give them access to 21st century learning tools; (6) help them transition from middle to high school; (7) make sure they become proficient in core subjects; (8) help them graduate from high school; (9) prepared for college or a career.

Dr. Rivera even established a "report card" from which, at least initially, you could monitor how well things were going.

Unfortunately, Dr. Rivera left Promise Neighborhoods in late 2016 and is currently the Chief Administrative Officer at Reading School District.

Why An Educator Was Replaced by an Ex-Con

Given the goals of Promise Neighborhoods, you'd think Dr. Rivera would be replaced by an another educator. Instead, ex-con Hasshan Batts ended up at the helm, even though he has no training as an educator. How the hell did this happen?

This is when it's helpful to look at 990s. Those are the financial returns that nonprofits are required to file annually with the IRS. At Guidestar, I was able to examine the 990s for 2016-2018. The 2018 return was for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2018, and was due on November 15, 2018. It was filed late on May 15, 2019. Its returns for the fiscal years ending June 30, 2019 and June 30, 2020, are still unfiled.  But the limited information I have is very informative.

During the period between 2016 and present, there's been one constant. Rev. Gregory Edwards, Pastor of Resurrected Life Community Church and former Congressional candidate, was a board member and eventually became Chairman. It's a position he currently holds.

In February 2017, Batts was enlisted at Promise Neighborhoods.

Batts was supposedly a reformed criminal who had turned his life around. In 2007, he was the Director of Children's Services at Northwestern Human Services in Allentown. He was actually a drug kingpin. A raid at his home revealed 5 kilograms of cocaine in a safe in the basement. There were two bales of marijuana in the family room. Six loaded guns, including an assault rifle and shotgun, were strategically placed. And there was $50,000.

After five years in the can and a few more degrees, Batts claims he's reformed again.

Honest!

And those cops are really bad.

Fuck the police!

He's no Jean Valjean

Interestingly, Batts just happens to be a Board member at Resurrected Community Development Corp. (RCDC) Can you guess who the President and CEO is? If you thought it just might be Greg Edwards, you get a pop tart and are a bottom-feeding-blogger-in-training.

So Edwards is Chair of the Board that Batts serves, while Batts is on the Board that Edwards serves.

Can you say conflict of interest?

This musical chair arrangement should send up a few red flags.

RCDC is actually the umbrella for two educational programs, Resurrected Life Children's Academy and The James Lawson Freedom School. On the surface, these seem to be consistent with the nine promises of Promise Neighborhoods. But a third movement, Campaign for Change, is premised on the contention that Allentown School District is a failure. This is inconsistent with the goals of Promise Neighborhoods.

Under Batts, Promise Neighborhoods Has Failed to Keep Its Nine Promises

How much Batts is paid as Executive Director at Promise Neighborhoods is unclear. The 990 only requires that compensation be listed if it exceeds $100,000. So as of June 30, 2018, Batts was making less than that sum. Whether it's been increased will be seen when more recent returns become public. What is clear, however, is that Batts has failed to achieve any of the nine promises.

He's abandoned Bethlehem and Easton, for one thing. Promise Neighborhoods now only operates in Allentown.

He's actively worked against keeping kids safe and in stable communities. Instead of doing that, he has led chants of  "Fuck the Police" on his bullhorn and has done his best to undermine public confidence in public safety.  This former drug dealer, who has already ruined a number of black lives, was just this weekend soliciting volunteers for arrest.  He has sent gang members out to deliver diapers to expectant mothers, but has done nothing to help school-aged children actually learn. As a result, Allentown School District continues to suffer. In 2020, the graduation rate at William Allen was just 69%. Only 41% of the students were proficient readers, and just 31% grasped math.

Promise Neighborhoods needed an educator. It got a troublemaker.

Batts' failure is evident in the funds he has garnered. In the 990 for June 30, 2018, he reports revenue of $294,577. That's less than half what this nonprofit received the previous year. After expenses that included $163,393 in salaries for five employees, he had just $3,888 left.

In September 2019, he got a $150,000 grant to help stop youth violence, but has instead done everything he can to pit Allentown's youth against police. That grant should be pulled.

What Batts is really doing is what CACLV Executive Director Alan Jennings does to banks. It's a shakedown. Jennings threatens banks and the wealthy until they give him money and then becomes their cheerleader. Batts is pretty much doing the same thing. But he wants the money taken, not from banks, but the City's public safety budget.