KANSAS CITY, Mo. — SAVE Inc., the nonprofit that reopened Kansas City’s LGBTQ+ youth homeless shelter Teresa’s Place in August, has fired a number of staff members, citing funding issues that have also led to a lack of food at the shelter and other cashflow problems, according to staff.

Ten employees were let go across the organization on Nov. 15, according to Patrick McLaughlin, CEO of SAVE Inc. One of them was the manager of Teresa’s Place, the midtown Kansas City shelter focused on providing housing for LGBTQ+ youth who are unhoused.

In a statement, McLaughlin blamed the uncertainty around federal funding for the cuts.

“We are operating as efficiently as possible and while the funds are there to do that, the anxiety level of staff and residents is very high,” McLaughlin said in a statement to The Star in late November.

In August, SAVE Inc. reopened Teresa’s Place, formerly known as Pride Haven. That shelter closed last fall due to lack of funding, but a generous gift from a family foundation earlier this year, as well as funding from the city’s low barrier shelter initiative, allowed the shelter to resume operations, McLaughlin previously told The Star.

This past summer, they renovated the home and hired new staff, a majority of whom previously lived at Pride Haven.

Despite reassurance from SAVE Inc. leadership, employees at Teresa’s Place experienced tight purse strings as they continued operations after the layoffs. Natalie Cable, a caseworker at Teresa’s Place, told The Star that an employee had to call various restaurants throughout the city Nov. 17, in hopes one would donate pizza to feed the youth. Two days later, they received another meal donation from a local church.

Several other employees, both current and former, told The Star there were recent issues with the company card not working, resulting in employees having to pay out of pocket to feed clients, lack of food in the shelter and issues with employees not being paid in full.

In a statement responding to The Star’s questions late last month, McLaughlin said he wasn’t surprised that employees paid for food, but said they were never asked to do so.

“I’m not surprised staff have bought food, their generosity and kindness is admirable,” he said in a statement. “However, no one has asked them to do this. Any such action is voluntary and without consultation, as we have resources for food.”

McLaughlin said he was not aware of employees not being paid for their time, and added that no reported hours on time cards have ever been denied.

“Like food donations, if they are working hours that are unreported, it has not been at the direction of supervisors,” he said.

McLaughlin admitted that the company card at times reaches its limits, and that when it happens, they use their resources that are “less than desired due to the need for more community support.”

“The fridge and freezer, in my experience, are always full. Further, clients have their own fridge to put their own food items in that they buy themselves with their own money or SNAP benefits,” he said.

On Nov. 21, Cable, a caseworker, had several caseworkers from other homeless shelters begin continuation of care plans, the first step in transitioning Teresa’s Place clients to other programs.

“The alert signals have already been sent, you can’t put this back in the jar,” she said. “… I already told (the clients) that I was trying to place them elsewhere because I didn’t know the future of the shelter was certain.”

Cable said she was fired the next day for violating policy, including having unauthorized conversations with the media, according to her termination email.

Since 2020, the shelter in midtown has been a place where queer, unhoused youth in the metro between ages 18 and 24 could go to sleep, eat and find housing resources. In the 2022 fiscal year, it provided nearly 150 LGBTQ+ youth with housing, according to Pride Haven’s impact report.

“Like many organizations serving unhoused and vulnerable individuals, we have been impacted by the uncertainty surrounding federal funding,” McLaughlin said.

Cutting SAVE Inc.’s staff, McLaughlin said in a statement, was necessary to protect long-term sustainability and ensure clients are not at a higher risk of being unhoused again due to the nonprofit’s funding limitations.

“Despite this operational challenge, SAVE remains fully committed to our mission, and will continue to serve people living with HIV, individuals experiencing mental illness, and young adults in a variety of programs including our recently re-opened shelter, Teresa’s Place,” he said in a statement.

Recorded conversations foreshadow a darker future for SAVE Inc.

In a recorded conversation The Star was given access to, which reportedly happened Nov. 20 between Cable and Mary Brewster, the assistant program and services director at SAVE Inc., Brewster admitted that the layoffs were done to preserve Teresa’s Place, adding the filled beds were keeping the lights on.

“What reassurance do you need to have?” Brewster asked Cable. “The whole world is collapsing. SAVE Inc. is focusing its energies on holding the shelter up. This is the program they’re focusing all of their fundraising on, all of their money.”

In the recording, Brewster said she understood why Cable started to move clients over to other nonprofits, but said that she couldn’t do that even if she knew the future of the nonprofit was unstable.

“I have not heard about a plan of any kind of phasing out, but for now, the effort is to stay open,” Brewster told Cable.

Brewster added that the future of the Continuum of Care Program run by the Department of Housing and Urban Development in Kansas City isn’t guaranteed funding because Kansas City will have to compete with the whole country and said she believes that the federal government could dissolve the program entirely.

“We’re f----d. We’re absolutely f----d. All these programs will end in 2027,” she said, adding about Teresa’s Place’s future, “It’s still thin ice.”

Brewster also outlined the chaos and confusion in the days leading up to the layoffs. Earlier that week, she told Cable she was informed by Cara Ramsey, director of programs and services, that the agency was shutting down. Then came an emergency board meeting, followed by the layoffs.

“I mean literally the week before all of this, I thought we were fine,” Brewster said in the recording.

“We need a new leader. Fundraising is not going to get us out of this,” Brewster said, alleging that as of Nov. 10, the organization only had $3,000 in the bank.

Brewster also disclosed to Cable that she had a conversation with Ramsey to discuss whether it was ethical to take in more clients for SAVE Inc.’s rapid rehousing program, a two-year program that helps chronic homeless individuals find permanent housing. The funding for the program dries up next October, not giving participants nearly enough time to reach stability, she said.

Cable expressed her determination to not take in new clients at Teresa’s Place because of having to promise the 90-day program, and Brewster asked Cable what she thought of changing Teresa’s Place to an emergency shelter.

Eight clients had already begun the process of transitioning to another nonprofit with Cable’s help. Another was expected to receive housing vouchers from the Youth Disability Housing Program.

“It’s a moot point because that program’s being completely dismantled, and we’re not gonna have it anymore,” Brewster said in response to the vouchers.

In a statement Nov. 25, McLaughlin said SAVE Inc. started a new grant agreement that would end Nov. 30, 2026. They don’t know if HUD will fund after that, which he said is the same with all HUD funding.

He also confirmed HUD is prioritizing transitional housing, substance use treatment and employment programs but said there has to be more investment in housing, not less.

“One of the values I bring to SAVE and the community is my relationships with agencies that makes the competition what it should be, to best serve the community and not our own self interests,” he said in the statement.

McLaughlin made assurances in a statement that the layoffs were to preserve SAVE Inc. as a whole, and not just Teresa’s Place, and that the board had strict criteria before opening up the shelter, which included enough funding for six months and the ability to cut back services without ceasing services altogether.

In regard to the $3,000 in the bank, McLaughlin said money typically fluctuates, but said it’s incorrect to say that’s all the money the organization had in the bank.

“We hold numerous bank accounts with various amounts of money in them. They sweep and ebb and flow with revenue and expenses,” he said.

SAVE Inc.’s plan to get back on its feet

McLaughlin said in a statement Nov. 21 they hope upcoming fundraising efforts with the community and the government will help sustain their work and raise the $1.2 million they need to continue their work.

In an email sent to employees at SAVE Inc. Nov. 21, McLaughlin said the nonprofit feels financially secure through the gala they plan to have in May, but it did not specify the funding sources they’re using to stay afloat.

An employee at SAVE Inc. who did not want to be named in fear of losing their job, said that McLaughlin informed employees in a meeting that he had known the organization was in trouble six months to a year ago.

“He wants employees to continue to take the burden upon themselves,” the employee said. “I’m pissed. I am upset, but really my focus is on my clients.”

In a previous statement to The Star, McLaughlin said he was determined to find more funding to hire more staff.

“We know that our current operation is understaffed, and we are actively assessing that to make the case for dedicating new funding to positions that we cannot currently afford,” McLaughlin said in the email.

Part of the financial strain may originate from the fact that management at Teresa’s Place was reportedly never given a budget, according to some staff members. In the recorded conversation between Cable and Brewster, Brewster acknowledged that she was never shown a budget.

“We have budgets,” she said, as she then questioned the nonprofit’s leadership. “It’s just not shared with me. When I’m saying we need new leadership, this is what I’m talking about. We need someone who understands how to run a business. This is a business.”

SAVE Inc. has over $1 million in outstanding and pending grant applications, according to the email. They hope funding streams from the federal government and community will help further secure their work, McLaughlin has stated.

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