Community Action Duluth now under ‘Enhanced Monitoring’ by the state
Community Action Duluth Logo
DULUTH, Min. – The Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families is now doing what they are calling “enhanced monitoring” of Community Action Duluth (CAD).
Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) tells FOX21, “DCYF observes board meetings as part of the standard grant monitoring and program oversight processes. Staff are conducting enhanced monitoring in response to recent concerns and allegations about Community Action Duluth, which included an in-person presence at the December CAD board meeting.”
DCYF says “Enhanced Monitoring” can include a number of actions, depending on the situation.
In the case of Community Action Duluth, “enhanced monitoring follows state and federal program regulations requiring the agency (Community Action Duluth) to develop a Quality Improvement Plan to address concerns. DCYF’s role includes, but is not limited to, approval and oversight of the Quality Improvement Plan, regular attendance at board meetings, technical assistance meetings, tracking changes to staffing and board membership, and more frequent program and fiscal reviews.”
Recently vendors from CAD-sponsored farmers markets have complained reimbursements have not been made in timely and transparent manners.
A union representing about a dozen CAD employees has also recently raised issues about CAD leadership.
The union, AFSCME, filed a grievance. That grievance stepped from the union claiming an employee was hired with a certain title and wage, but that employee has taken on new roles. The union believes they should receive a new job classification with a higher wage. AFSCME also claims the Executive Director threatened to discipline another employee because they were a witness discussing that new job classification. AFSCME also claimed the Executive Director threatened to “demote the employee that held the new job.”
RELATED: CAD Staff: We’d rather have Community Action Duluth fail than see Classie Dudley succeed
RELATED: Farmers market vendors say they are still waiting on payments from Community Action Duluth
RELATED: Community Action Duluth employees host press conference amid management complaints
RELAETD: Community Action Duluth responds to recent criticism
The DCYF does yearly “monitoring reports” of all agencies that receive money from that state agency.
The monitoring reports follow attending board meetings.
The 2022 DCYF “monitoring report” of Community Action Duluth referred to CAD as a “chaotic organization”.
The following DCYF reports in 2023, 2024 and 2025 painted a better picture.
