This September, the Kajsiab House, a unique therapy program for the city’s Hmong population, was saved with community money after a funding problem threatened to end the program.
But now Freedom Inc., a social justice organization for communities of color, is criticizing the management of the replacement program, known as Hmong Kajsiab.
Freedom, Inc. hosted a press conference at its office Wednesday, Nov. 21, in a room crowded with dozens of Southeast Asian elders. Freedom, Inc. leaders asked that funding be redirected from The Hmong Institute and Anesis Therapy, the current fiscal agents for the program, to the Southeast Asian Healing Center, currently housed in Freedom, Inc. offices.
“There is no split here,” Vaj said. “There is a group of two individuals who took over the project.”
THE CONFLICT
Kajsiab House was a program of Journey Mental Health Center that served Hmong elders, including refugees and veterans who fought for the U.S. in the Vietnam War. Journey also offered a mental health program for about 125 members of the local Southeast Asian population.
After Journey announced it was ending both programs, the community raised $125,000 to provide services to the end of the year.
The program, now called Hmong Kajsiab, relocated to the Catholic Multicultural Center off South Park Street. They city and county supported the program for 2018 and 2019, with much of the money directed to The Hmong Institute and Anesis Therapy as the fiscal agents.
Peng Her is the CEO of the Hmong Institute and his wife Mai Zong Vue is board president. Freedom, Inc. is accusing the pair of seizing control of Kajsiab and working against longtime program manager Doua Vang.
Vang eventually resigned as program manager of the new Hmong Kajsiab, but continued to volunteer until he was barred from doing so by Her. This led some Hmong elders to leave Hmong Kajsiab in loyalty to Vang.
Now, Freedom, Inc. is hosting services to Hmong elders at its facilities via an organization known as the Southeast Asian Healing Center, or SEAHC, while the Hmong Kajsiab program continues to provide services with Anesis Therapy at the Catholic Multicultural Center.
THE CONFERENCE
According to Freedom Inc., a group of volunteers for Kajsiab House, including Vue, started meeting regularly in August to discuss the future of Kajsiab House, eventually calling themselves Friends of Kajsiab House. Freedom, Inc. says the group decided in September that no decisions about Kajsiab would be made without the approval of the group.
But they realized something was wrong at the Sept. 28 celebration of a new home for Kajsiab House, Vaj said. They had questions about the contract with CMC, hiring decisions and the decision to name the program “Hmong Kajsiab," which they said was not inclusive to other Southeast Asian communities that Kajsiab is meant to serve.
Vaj said they’ve made several attempts to talk with Vue and Her, but they aren’t willing to come to the table.
Vaj said city and county officials and staff have accused Freedom, Inc. of advocating on the issue “for show.”
Vue was contacted Wednesday, but had no comment on the press conference.
ELDERS SPEAK
Several Hmong elders spoke at the press conference with the help of a translator.
“They came in and lied to us that they were helping. We are not happy about this,” said elder Nao Yee Thao, who said he hopes government officials “really look into this.”
The Capital Times also talked to several Hmong elders at Freedom, Inc. on Tuesday, with Vaj translating. The elders said Vang was a good leader, and they had never had problems with him in his years leading Kajsiab House.
“If our old leader is not able to lead us anymore, I am making a decision not to go to the new place. Because that place cannot help me. Those people I do not know them, I do not trust them,” said Ana Tong Vang, a younger Hmong woman who has relied on help from Kajsiab House in the past to help her find housing and get access to a wheelchair.
See Vang, a longtime participant, agreed.
“Doua (Vang) is the one that’s been helping us,” she said. “He’s loved us and now we’re not going over there anymore.”
A couple of elders also expressed feeling used by the Hmong Institute.
“It’s like they used us to scam for this money and now they have the funding,” Vang said. “No one is telling us to say this, we are saying this by ourselves.”
Vang and another elder suggested putting the idea up for vote among the elders: “Put these two pictures up and we will select who we want to follow,” Vang said.
At the press conference, said Vaj there were allegations that Freedom, Inc. is coaching the elders. She denied this, saying the elders are intelligent war survivors with agency.
MONEY
For 2019, the city has budgeted $115,000 for Kajsiab, but did not specify a fiscal agent to receive the funds. Jim O'Keefe, director of the city's Community Development Division, said that with two parties interested in the money, the city will likely have to conduct a Request For Proposals process.
Vaj ended the press conference with several calls to action, including asking the city and county not to give any more money to Anesis or the Hmong Institute. She also asked those who had made a donation to save Kajsiab House to follow up on their donations and ask what is happening with their money.
