Seedco

Seedco, the Structured Employment Economic Development Corporation, was founded in 1987 and is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing economic opportunity for people, businesses, and communities in need. Seedco's headquarters are located in New York City and the organization does work in Arkansas, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, New York, and Tennessee. Seedco formerly invested in low-income communities in many areas of the country to create jobs and support small business owners through its subsidiary, Seedco Financial. Seedco Financial was spun off into its own company in 2012 now under the name TruFund Financial Services.

Seedco
MottoImproving lives, growing communities
Formation1987
Typenon-profit
Location
  • New York, NY
Executive Director
Tara Colton
Websitewww.seedco.org

Seedco operates as both a direct services provider and an intermediary organization, helping community-based organizations expand outreach and secure funding, and is an affiliate of the Acacia Network.  

Seedco’s major initiatives include:

  • Workforce development -- Using a long-term career case management model, Seedco helps individuals with barriers to employment obtain, retain and advance in jobs.  
  • Work and family supports -- Seedco helps low-income families successfully enroll in benefits and assistance programs and move towards self-sufficiency. Seedco’s proprietary EarnBenefits Online (EBO) software is central to this work.

History

Seedco was founded in 1987 as a community development intermediary with funding from the Ford Foundation to help urban institutions such as universities and hospitals revive their inner cities. By 1997, Seedco had partnerships with 105 institutions and 90 community-based groups in 58 sites nationally.

Beginning in 1998, Seedco embarked on a new series of programs that allowed local community-based organizations to enhance their efforts in providing employment services to welfare recipients. Seedco formed a network of CBOs in New York City called the EarnFair Alliance and provided local CBOs with funding, training, operational support, and technical assistance that enabled them to focus on delivering quality job training and career counseling services to residents of disadvantaged communities. By 2004, the EarnFair alliance had 10 CBO partners, annually placed more than 1,000 low-income people into jobs, was funded by about $6 million a year in government contracts, and had been recognized as a Promising Practice by the U.S. Department of Labor. In 2006, EarnFair placed 4,400 individuals into jobs at an average starting wage of $10.80 an hour.

Following the September 11 attacks in Lower Manhattan, Seedco was asked by the Ford Foundation, the New York Times Foundation, and others to implement a disaster-recovery initiative for small businesses and their workers. The Lower Manhattan Small Business & Workforce Retention Project ultimately issued more than $26 million in loans, offered more than $8 million in grants, and provided technical assistance to nearly 400 businesses and organizations. The $45 million program was credited with saving or creating over 6,000 jobs in Lower Manhattan.

Seedco has continued its model of CBO networks and now develops new and innovative programs in the fields of workforce development, asset building, career advancement, small business services, housing assistance, and community lending. Seedco mobilizes public and private funding and coordinates these programs across its networks of CBOs in New York City and around the country.

The core populations served by Seedco are:

  • Young adults
  • Parents and families
  • Individuals with criminal justice involvement
  • Uninsured individuals
  • Jobseekers

In 2017, Seedco became an affiliate of the Acacia Network, the leading Latino integrated care nonprofit in the nation that offers the community, from children to seniors, a pathway to behavioral and primary healthcare, housing, and empowerment.

City & Federal Investigation of Fraud

In August 2011 the New York Times published an article[1] in which a whistle-blower came forward with evidence of fraudulent job placements being submitted at the Seedco operated Workforce1 Career Center in Upper Manhattan. The center was operated under contract with the New York City Department of Small Business Services and supported with federal Workforce Investment Act (WIA) funds. An investigation by the New York City Department of Investigation[2] found that Seedco had falsely claimed to have helped at least 1,400 people with finding jobs. The report stated that Seedco “developed systematic practices to report false placements” to the city’s Department of Small Business Services. As a result, the New York City Department of Small Business Services transferred Seedco's $7 million annual contract to several other nonprofit organizations.[3] The US Attorney's Office also launched an investigation into Seedco (and seven former managers) and filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit claiming:

"SEEDCO and the Individual Defendants engaged in this fraudulent scheme to maintain SEEDCO’s contract in connection with its Upper Manhattan Workforce1 Career Center, and to acquire its contract to operate a WorkForce1 Career Center in the Bronx, as well as to increase its compensation in connection with both centers. SEEDCO caused false and inflated placement figures to be reported through New York City and New York State to the United States Department of Labor to receive federal subsidies for its job program. Moreover, through their participation in the fraud, the Individual Defendants maintained or acquired managerial positions. Each of the Individual Defendants who did not already hold the position of Center Director at the beginning of their work with SEEDCO achieved a promotion during the period in which he or she participated in the fraud."[4]

In December 2012 Seedco agreed to pay $1.725 million as a settlement of the civil fraud lawsuit brought by the US Attorney's Office.[5]


References
  1. Powell, M. (2011, August 8). When Scandal Is Outsourced . New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/09/nyregion/seedco-official-reports-fraud-in-jobs-program.html
  2. Hearn, R. G. (2012, March) Investigation of Seedco's Workforce Center Contracts with the New York City Department of Small Business Services. Retrieved from http://www.nyc.gov/html/doi/downloads/pdf/mar12/Seedco%20Report%20March%202012.pdf
  3. Powell, M (2012, March 9) Fraud Found in Jobs Effort; Blow to Bloomberg . New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/10/nyregion/city-job-agency-accused-of-filing-false-job-claims.html?pagewanted=all
  4. The United States Attorney's Office Southern District of New York (2012). Manhattan U.S. Attorney Sues SEEDCO And Seven Former Managers For Falsely Reporting Job Placements In A Federally-Funded Program [Press release]. Retrieved from "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-09-27. Retrieved 2013-09-22.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. Powell, M. (2012, December 19). Agency Will Pay $1.7 Million for False Job Placement Claims. New York Times. Retrieved from http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/19/agency-will-pay-1-7-million-for-false-job-placement-claims/
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