Bronx nonprofit gets woman full pay -- after a year

BRONX, N.Y (WABC) -- A teacher who worked with at-risk kids and was paid sporadically said she is owed thousands in back pay going back to May 2013.

Erika Felipe, 22, said she has been waiting almost a full year to consistently receive the salary she started making almost a year ago at the non-profit Children's Arts and Science Workshops in Washington Heights. "It's ruining my life," she said.

In a sense, she grew up with the group. "I've been a part of this agency since I was 5. They've been a big part of my life," she said. "It makes me really sad."

She became an assistant director at Workshops and managed the Out of School Youth project. "I love seeing these kids come in and they had no GED, no job experience and they would turn themselves around," she said.

But Workshops paid her inconsistently, skipping week after week. Bills piled up and she was quickly ruining her credit, forced to borrow money to pay her tuition.

She also was forced to budget and she was forced to take another job. "I had a meeting that they were fully paid out and yet I haven't received my funds," she said. "Where did those funds go?"

It turns out budget issues were a problem at Workshops. A spokesman from the city's Division of Youth and Community Development said it tried to help with ongoing poor performance, but dropped Workshops' contract after fully reimbursing Felipe's program.

With the help pf 7 On Your Side, Felipe received a check for $7,500, after taxes. "It feels amazing. I can finally pay my bills," she said.

The director of Workshops said for the past year "financial hardships" have plagued the organization. It is happy to be "putting this incident behind" the organization.