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Moisés Pérez, co-founder, president and CEO of Alianza Dominicana, one of Northern Manhattan’s largest nonprofits, is negotiating with the city to hold onto his position after an investigation found that a company he briefly invested in and earned a small profit from several years ago had also loaned money to Alianza, according to sources. Two of the nonprofit’s board members have reportedly also been asked to resign. The company that Pérez invested in made loans to nonprofits.
The city’s Department of Investigation learned about the transaction as it continues its sweeping look into the ledger books of Upper Manhattan Council Assisting Neighbors (UCAN) in the wake of uncovering the financial misdeeds of former City Council Member Miguel Martinez, who pleaded guilty last year to stealing about $100,000 in taxpayer money by routing it through nonprofits such as UCAN.
But since the dividend check Pérez received from the company only amounted to about $3,400 and he was only invested in the company for a few months – compared to the millions of public and private dollars he’s successfully handled through Alianza’s budget over a 25-plus-year career – Pérez’ supporters are working through back room connections to convey the message that the punishment – forced resignation – is too harsh.
The city first contacted Pérez several weeks ago about the check and this week his supporters began to rally around him in earnest.
Pérez, considered by many to be one of the most respected and forceful voices of the Dominican community in the country, helped found Alianza in the 1980s. At first the organization’s focus was on combating teenage pregnancy with an $85,000 operating budget and two staff members housed in a storefront at Amsterdam Avenue and W. 176th Street. It has grown to a multimillion operation spread over 11 sites, including the South Bronx, with an international impact.
Alianza’s staff of 350 provides a full range of services for youth and families: education, arts, folkloric appreciation, substance abuse treatment, HIV/AIDS education and prevention, health promotion and child abuse prevention.
When it was founded, Alianza was one of the few organizations helping to stem the fallout from the drugs and violence that at the time infested Northern Manhattan. With those years of crisis receding further into the past, Pérez’ main focus in recent years has been the construction of Alianza’s new headquarters, a six-story, 48,000-square-foot triangular building at the intersection of W. 166th Street and St. Nicholas and Audubon Avenues. He envisioned it as both the premier Dominican cultural center in America and the symbolic heart of Northern Manhattan, open to all neighborhood residents and visitors to the area.
The scaffolding has come down from the building as the two-year effort to construct Pérez’ vision comes to a close.
As negotiations continue over what price the city will have Pérez pay for his $3,400 transaction, it’s unclear if the triangle building will also mark a career that ended prematurely.
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