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SALT LAKE CITY — A contract for Nomad Alliance, a nonprofit serving those experiencing homelessness, was terminated and its funding was revoked from the Utah Office of Homeless Services following an investigation into complaints about a calendar it created of homeless men and the release of funds raised in a GoFundMe campaign.
The Utah Homelessness Council had awarded the Nomad Alliance a grant for outreach work that amounted to $25,000. The contract was terminated Friday after the office "determined that Nomad Alliance failed to adhere to the provider code of conduct." The nonprofit was a newly contracted provider and did not yet receive any of the funds, according to Sarah Nielson of the Utah Office of Homeless Services.
"OHS remains committed to ensuring that our partners maintain the standards for conduct that we require, and that they comply with their contractual obligations," Nielson said.
The investigation into Nomad Alliance began after Carol Powell, a retired Utah Human Services employee who had begun volunteering with the organization, filed a complaint with the state office. The complaint stemmed from the nonprofit's "Sexy Nomad" calendar, which features a 12-month spread of unsheltered men in seductive poses.
The men are photographed shirtless, occasionally with props such as a bicycle or shopping cart, and often where the man has been sleeping. The 2024 edition will be the organization's third calendar, which is currently in the process of being photographed and finalized.
Finding models can take some time and convincing, admitted founder Kseniya Kniazeva. Amid the investigation, Kniazeva collected some models from past and present calendars to talk about their experiences with the calendar and the nonprofit itself.
"This allows us to identify the men that are willing to take a step into doing something new or novel that might be a little scary. But if we know that if they take one step toward us then we will take nine steps toward them," Kniazeva said.
Three unsheltered men slid from the small van marked "Nomad Alliance" in blue letters across the side, equipped with Slurpies and cigarettes from the gas station down the street.
Kenneth Urianza, 39, said he expressed hesitation at first when Kniazeva asked him to pose in the calendar. He recalled looking at his clothing and asking, "Wearing this? Are you sure?" to which Kniazeva reassured him that he "was beautiful." The models are given haircuts and showers ahead of the photo shoot.
The sexy nature of the calendar attracts controversy, Kniazeva admitted, but serves a purpose beyond attention. The men are asked to pose shirtless as an equalizer and to remove any identifying marks, stains or brands the clothing could carry to a viewer, she said. The men are also asked to share a write-up of their lives — including any dreams, passions or experiences from living unsheltered.
"I've long realized a crisis of self-esteem and self-love is the deepest barrier for these men to get off the streets because they've long given up on themselves and their dreams due to a lifetime of trauma. The stories coupled with the beautiful faces humanize a population that too often is dehumanized," Kniazeva said.
"I remembered that I had a name again," Urianza added.
Volunteers and organizers say the experience can be uplifting or empowering for the men who participate in the calendar.
"We're being exploited more in the streets than in the calendar," said AJ Lonewolf, 62.
But some critics argue the calendar is exploitive, despite whatever may be the intention.
The Mills family
Late this summer while the Nomad Alliance was in the process of shooting the calendar, it was also in the process of helping the Mills family. The Mills family had taken in what turned out to be a stolen Shih Tzu dog belonging to an elderly woman who had been carjacked, but the family did not receive the $2,500 in reward money offered by the owner for the dog's safe return — that went to the man who alerted authorities to the dog's location.
So, Nomad Alliance set up a GoFundMe account to try and raise $30,000 for the family because of their kindness to the animal.
"Twenty-five hundred dollars could have changed their life, as their most pressing need is to buy a newer trailer that would comply with KOA standards and move the family off the streets," the GoFundMe stated. The family had been given a rapid rehousing voucher but had been having difficulty accessing housing due to the father's criminal record.
Soon, the donations began rolling in and a little over $36,000 was raised. The family met frequently with Kniazeva and Moriah Mills, a mother of four, said she considered Kniazeva a friend. But that friendship began to deteriorate as Kniazeva "began talking about getting a house."
"I told her that I don't want a house. It is not feasible for me to be able to put my whole life and my kids' lives and our living situation on a GoFundMe that you're gonna raise again. I can't, I just don't have an income," Mills said.
"I said I want to start out small and get the trailer because then I can move up from there, because we'll be in the trailer for however long we need to be in there. So I can get the money up that I need so I can get the income that I need, get a secure job and then move forward from there," she said.
While the donations were being sought, Mills said Kniazeva asked her husband to pose in the Sexy Nomad calendar.
"We didn't want to do it from the very beginning. Neither one of us did. My husband's biggest point is: 'I've been married for 13 years. I don't need to show my body off to anybody for any reason,'" Mills said.
But after Kniazeva bailed out Mills from jail, the family said they felt as if it were "a bargain." Mills recalled sexualized comments being made toward the men during the photoshoot.
"Us being homeless, we don't have a voice. Nobody's gonna listen to us, especially with somebody in the position that she's in. They aren't gonna listen to us, we live on the street," Mills said.
But Powell, who had been working with the family as a volunteer, did listen. Powell told the Washington Post she filed a complaint with the state about the "exploitation of the Mills family and the sexualization" of the husband "being coerced into posing for the Nomad Alliance Sexy Nomad calendar." The complaint included screenshots of messages between Mills and Kniazeva that she believes contained verbal abuse.
The photos of Mills' husband were ultimately pulled from the calendar.
Following the formal complaint and article by the Washington Post, the Mills family was asked to sign a contract by the Nomad Alliance in order to receive the trailer purchased from part of the money raised in the GoFundMe account. The contract included clauses that restricted both the nonprofit and the family from "publicly commenting on social media or other communication platforms in a way that would disparage or defame the other."
Additionally, the contract required that the family park the trailer "off-street in a safe and legal location," otherwise it could be repossessed by the organization. The family has since obtained the trailer and located a place to stay with the help of Powell and her daughter Heather Hendrickson. When Powell pressed to be reimbursed from Nomad Alliance for a required background check for Mills, Nomad Alliance board member Soren Simonsen replied:
"I appreciate that your intentions are good and you want to help the family. However, I want to let you know that your complaints to the state of Utah and to GoFundMe are not accurate and based on a lot of speculation that is not substantiated, and that doing this has not only created a lot of additional work for me and other volunteers to address these complaints while we are trying to help the family, but has also jeopardized them not receiving any of the funding at all. I don't know how to say this without being blunt, but you have nearly cost this family all of the donations we received on their behalf. I respectfully ask you to discontinue these complaints and interrogations."
