First Look: The state’s Quality Improvement Plan draft to Community Action Duluth
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DULUTH, Min. – FOX21 has obtained an initial draft of the Quality Improvement Plan given to Community Action Duluth (CAD) by the Minnesota Department of Children Youth and Families (DCYF). The plan is a roadmap the state believes CAD needs to use to improve operations.
The document lists 15 “identified deficiencies” within Community Action Duluth. These deficiencies range from not making timely payments to poor communication and from board of directors’ structure to conflict of interest concerns. Some of the concerns paint more broad possible missteps to specifics of even having a CAD vehicle being repossessed.
Community Action Duluth needs to send a response to the Department of Children Youth and Families draft by January 31 with proposed fixes.
The document says a representative from the Minnesota Department of Children Youth and Families will attend all monthly board meetings for the entirety of 2026. There will also be quarterly “monitoring visits” to CAD.
FOX21 has asked Community Action Duluth Executive Director Classie Dudley for a response to the draft and have not received one.
Report included concerns that FOX21 has reported on from both vendors and employees.
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The 15 identified deficiencies:
The DCYF draft points to one issue with organizational leadership. It says CAD had not provided sufficient evidence that they had completed an organization-wide comprehensive risk assessment over the past two years.
There were two issues within board governance there were noted in the draft. The board had vacancies within all three of its “tripartite board structure.” The document also pointed to a concern about board meeting timing. Part of that timing concern was redacted because the document is still in its draft form.
Two human resources concerns were also noted. It says the organization’s job descriptions are outdated. It also said staff had been hired without updated job descriptions, requirements, and salaries. There was also no proof that the board had done an annual performance appraisal of the CEO/Executive Director. As part of human resources concern it was also noted the “succession plan” was not followed, but the document did not specificity which role or entity did not follow the succession plan.
It then listed 10 more “Additional Areas of Concern”.
*Timely and Accurate Reporting: The DCYF says staff “experienced difficulty obtaining data from the previous year’s annual report.” It added DCYF staff took, “unusually large amounts of time reconciling data and providing technical assistance to [CAD] staff.”
*Staff Capacity to Operate Programs and Staff Turnover: The DCYF report says there have been reports of staff turnover leading to paused programs and services. The draft report also says “hostile work environment has been claimed leading to staff turnover.”
*Allegations of Sexual Harassment and a Hostile Work Environment: The report does not make any specific notes on this topic other than staff turnover.
*Accountably of Consultants and their Deliverables: This item noted three things within it. It says there were delayed or missed vendor payments. It also says the Executive Director time card was not approved based on SNAP outreach monitor. The third item said, “Staff reported the human resources consultant does not handle matters related to sexual harassment and referred staff to the board.” The report said CAD needs to, “provide an appropriate human resources avenue for staff to report harassment claims.”
*Vendor Payment Issues: The draft said delayed or missed payments were reported. The draft did not say how many delayed or late payments were reported.
*Program/Service Instability: There were three topics in this section. One noted the staff turnover leading to pauses to services as it had been noted in other place in the report. Secondly, a vehicle used for the construction program was repossessed. Plus, the Farmers Markets were, “abruptly ended in October 2025 without proper notification to vendors or the community.” The draft noted when programs need to pause, there should be ample notice to all related parties.
*Adhering To The Agencies Approved Whistleblower Policy: The draft says staff believed internal whistleblower complaints are “minimized by the board”. It also says the human resources consultant does not handle matters in a way that follows whistleblower policy.
*Timely Communication from the Executive Director and the Board: This section was highly redacted in three parts, but the guidance from the Department of Children Youth and Families said CAD must communicate in a timely manner with the Office of Economic Opportunity, grant funders and staff.
*Adherence to the Agency’s Fiscal Policies and Procedures: This section said vendors were not paid “in time” and employees’ fringe benefits were not paid in a timely manner. It also said policies should be approved of an adhered to by the board.
*Adherence to the Agency’s Conflict of Interest Policy: The section says there have been reports of “possible and perceived conflicts of interest between CAD’s Executive Director and CAD’s board members.” This section also recommends that CAD provide proof that possible and perceived conflict of interest does not exist and if it does exist, it should be disclosed. It also recommends a conflict of interest policy be approved of by the board. It also recommends there should be signed conflict of interest statements made every two years.
