Enforcement and Self-Accountability
Status: Commitment. These commitments will be formally adopted with the board's policy vote, which is required before the first class. The independent reviewer described below has not yet been identified.
Policies only protect children if someone makes sure they are followed, including by the people at the top. This page explains how Ras Tafari Inc. will hold itself to its own rules.
1. Rules apply to everyone, leaders first
Every policy applies equally to the President, the other officers, coaches, mentors, volunteers and vendors such as Q-Ality Sound. There is no exception for seniority, for founders, or for anyone who is "too important to the program."
2. Independent reviewer
Ras Tafari Inc. commits to inviting an independent reviewer: a person with child-safety or nonprofit-governance experience who has no financial or family tie to Ras Tafari Inc. or its officers. The reviewer has not yet been identified. Once named, the reviewer will:
- review the annual safety review and the community accountability report before they are published, and add their own comments;
- be able to receive concerns directly from families, staff and volunteers, including concerns about any officer (concerns about any adult's conduct with children still go to the Chicago Park District (Rainbow Beach Park office, (312) 745-1479, or any Park District staff member));
- have access, under a confidentiality agreement, to the records needed to check that policies were followed (screening completion, incident logs, sign-out logs, complaint files);
- be free to say publicly that they disagree with us.
We will post the reviewer's name and how to contact them on this page once they agree to serve.
3. Public reporting
- The Launch Readiness Checklist shows what is done and what is not, with dates.
- After each season we publish a community accountability report, including incidents, complaints and their outcomes, and any times we fell short of our own policies.
- We do not hide bad news. If a policy was broken, the report says so, without identifying any child or family.
4. What happens when a policy is broken
| Who | Possible consequences |
|---|---|
| Coach, mentor or volunteer | Retraining, supervision, suspension, or permanent removal from work with children. Any act that endangers a child means immediate removal from the classroom. |
| Officer (including the President) | Removal from all child-facing duties while the matter is reviewed; review by the other officers and the board, without the officer involved; possible removal from office under the bylaws and Illinois law. |
| Q-Ality Sound (vendor) | Its staff are removed from the session if they cross the line into supervising children, photographing or recording them, or soliciting families; a breach of the agreement's safety, data or conduct terms allows immediate termination. See the vendor agreement. |
| The organization | If a launch requirement lapses (insurance, permits, CPD background checks, vendor certificates), classes pause until it is fixed. |
In every case:
- Suspected abuse or neglect goes first to the DCFS Hotline (1-800-25-ABUSE / 1-800-252-2873) or 911, as Illinois law requires, before any internal process.
- Concerns about any adult go to the Chicago Park District (Rainbow Beach Park office, (312) 745-1479, or any Park District staff member). Ras Tafari Inc. passes along anything it receives, cooperates fully, and does not investigate in place of the Park District. Background checks are the Park District's, under its rules.
- Breaches of the conflict of interest policy go to a director with no stake in the Lab (named in the policy once appointed) or to the Park District, and the board decides the response.
- Anyone who covers up a violation, or retaliates against a person who reported one, faces the same consequences as the person who broke the rule. See the whistleblower policy.
5. If the concern is about the President
Stephen Henry leads the Lab and is the main family contact. A concern about him must never have to go through him. Concerns about the President go to:
- the Chicago Park District (Rainbow Beach Park office, (312) 745-1479, or any Park District staff member), for any concern about his conduct with children, like any other adult;
- Paul Kelly, Vice President and Treasurer, or Albert Harris, Corporate Secretary (see the whistleblower policy for how to reach them);
- the independent reviewer, once named;
- outside authorities: DCFS, the police, the Illinois Attorney General's Charitable Trust Bureau, or the Chicago Park District.
The President takes no part in reviewing a concern about himself.
6. Checks we run on ourselves
- Before every class: a check that at least two adults cleared by the Park District's background check are present, the ratio is met, and a first-aid-certified adult is in the room. If not, the class does not run.
- Every month during a season: a spot-check, by an officer other than the President, of the sign-out log against the authorized-pickup lists.
- Every season: a check that every adult's Park District clearance and Lab training are current, and that Q-Ality Sound's insurance certificates are on file.
- Every quarter: a board review of Lab payments. The person who selects a vendor doesn't approve its invoice, and neither of them signs the payment.
- Every year: conflict-of-interest disclosures from every covered person, and a published summary of disclosures and recusals.
- Every year: the annual safety review.
7. Changing these commitments
These commitments can only be weakened by a board vote, with 30 days' public notice on this page first.
Report a concern
See Report a concern and the grievance procedure.