PHA Paid $17k For Diversity Party

PHILADELPHIA - Belly dancers, rented costumes and even yodelers were incorporated into a diversity training exercise in 2006, which was paid for with $17,150.21 of taxpayer money.

The belly dancers came at cost of $1,200, costume rentals ran up $540, while food and training materials for 200 employees of the PHA accounted for the rest of the cost of the March 21, 2006 diversity event. The person at the helm for the PHA event was its then-executive director, Carl Greene, who has since been fired.

A PHA spokesperson said the agency conducts a variety of training programs to address workforce issues, and the funding comes from the PHA training budget.

“Diversity trainings were planned as a means to promote cultural awareness among our diverse workforce. These training components of diversity became important in our environment for several reasons, including the necessity of compliance with anti-discrimination laws, the increasing demands of the multi-cultural world that we service, and recognizing the different perspectives of our workforce,” said PHA spokesperson Nichole Tillman Sunday.

The PHA has become the target of investigations. Greene, who was fired as a result of a sexual harassment scandal, has filed a lawsuit for wrongful termination.