The founder and CEO of a prominent racial justice nonprofit in Portland, Oregon, announced Thursday that he will continue to lead the organization after being suspended last week over unspecified allegations.
Cameron Whitten, who founded Brown Hope in 2018, made the announcement after the group’s three-person board, which includes Whitten, held its first meeting in at least 14 months on Wednesday, according to OregonLive.
“The Board of Directors met last night and voted to reaffirm my role as active CEO of [Brown Hope]”Whitten said in a statement. “It is impossible to provide a detailed explanation of recent media articles as they involve confidential personnel matters.”
“I can confirm that our third-party human resources and legal staff are working with the Board of Directors to ensure a fair and thorough investigative process,” Whitten added.
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“To be honest, I come back to work a little shaken, a little bruised. But more importantly, I am inspired by the outpouring of support that Brown Hope staff and community members have shown for justice and due process.” process,” Whitten also said.
Gregory McKelvy, who served as Brown Hope’s board chairman, announced last week to employees and the press that both Whitten and Dahsia Fontleroy, the third board member, had been suspended amid allegations he did not detail. He also announced that he was serving as the organization’s new interim president.
The downtown skyline and the Broadway Bridge are seen early in the morning on February 11, 2012 in Portland, Oregon.
(Photo by George Rose/Getty Images)
In his announcement Thursday, Whitten explained that the board had voted Wednesday to add two new members and reaffirm him as chief executive, as well as reinstate Fontleroy and make her interim president.
In addition to its internal investigation, the Oregon Department of Justice, which oversees nonprofit organizations in the state, announced it would also open an investigation into Brown Hope.
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Oregon DOJ spokeswoman Ellen Klem told OregonLive Monday that the agency’s Charitable Activities Section is preparing to investigate the group in the coming days.
Klem also told the outlet that the organization did not provide its 2021 tax returns by November 15 as required by state law.
“I wouldn’t say that’s common,” he said. “But I wouldn’t say it raises big alarms either.”
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Brown Hope’s mission, according to its website, “is to plant and nurture seeds for racial justice and healing. We serve and mobilize communities to heal our collective soil from the poisons of our past and present, so that our future roots can prosper.”
Projects include empowering Portland’s black community through social gatherings, mutual aid, job training at a local bakery, COVID outreach, and providing a guaranteed three-year monthly basic income for 25 black people.
In this Sept. 5, 2020 file photo, police use chemical irritants and crowd control ammunition to disperse protesters during a demonstration in Portland, Oregon.
(AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)
Brown Hope has found itself cash-rich in recent years, especially in the wake of the death of George Floyd, raking in more than $3 million over a six-month period in 2020, according to Williamette Week. More than $800,000 of his money in 2020 came in the form of government grants, according to filings.
That number marked a sharp jump from the $39,000 it reported in 2018 and the complete lack of income it reported in 2019, the outlet noted.
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Brown Hope and the Oregon Department of Justice did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
