Escambia Children’s Trust renews funding for 11 providers, 4 others to be re-evaluated
By Mary Lett
Eleven Escambia Children’s Trust providers were recently approved to receive a third year of funding for their programs.
Four other providers are under review and a fifth – the Gulf Coast Freedom Schools – is on hiatus and did not seek additional funding.
The Escambia Children’s Trust was approved by voters in 2020 and is responsible for allocating more than $10 million annually in property taxes to fund initiatives and services to help children and their families, especially those with the greatest need.
The 16 providers were the first to be awarded funding for Out-of-School Time (OST) programs from the Children’s Trust in February 2023. OST programming is defined as a structured, supervised learning or youth development program offered to a distinct group of children or youth before school, after school, on weekends, or during seasonal school breaks, including summer.
Each provider was approved for annual contracts with the option to renew for up to three years – based on outcomes and approval of the ECT Board of Directors, said ECT Executive Director Lindsey Cannon.
The three-year cycle will expire in February 2026. The board, however, voted on Dec. 10 to extend contracts for the approved programs to May 31, 2026 – if the provider didn’t provide summer programming as part of the original proposal.
Contracts for providers that provide summer programs will end on July 31, 2026. Cannon said the 11 approved providers were on track to meet dosage numbers and changer outcomes. The approved providers include:
- The Boys and Girls Club of the Emerald Coast’s Great Futures in Escambia County, which provides afterschool and summer services to children ages 5-18 at a three-year proposal cost of $2,135,054.
- The Children’s Home Society’s SAIL at C.A. Weis Elementary School, which provides afterschool services to children ages 5-10 at a three-year proposal cost of $750,242.13.
- CMB Visions’ Be a Success in School, which provides afterschool, breaks and summer services to children ages 5-13 at a three-year proposal cost of $1,086,818.
- Dixon School for the Arts and Sciences’ Dixon After Dark, which provides year-round services to children ages 5-18 at a three-year proposal cost of $900,000.
- James B. Washington Education and Sports, which provides afterschool and summer services to children ages 5-18 at a three-year proposal cost of $885,000.
- Omega Lamplighters’ Project Ignite, which provides afterschool and summer services to children ages 6-18 at a three-year proposal cost of $421,410.
- Chain Reaction After School, which provides afterschool and year-round services to teens 14-18 at a three-year proposal cost of $585,829.
- Epps Christian Center’s Steps to Success, which provides Saturday and summer services to children ages 7-12 at a three-year proposal cost of $697,000.
- Pensacola Children’s Chorus Sing to Succeed, which provides afterschool and weekend services to children ages 8-18 at a three-year proposal cost of $484,887.
- SALT Ministry’s Excellence on Your Level Be You, which provides services three weeknights to children ages 9-18 at a three-year proposal cost of $38,000.
- YMCA of Northwest Florida's YREADS, which provides afterschool and summer services to children ages 9-18 at a three-year proposal cost of $2,647,286.
Cannon recommended that four other providers be re-evaluated by the board in January.
The providers include:
- City of Pensacola Parks and Recreation Free After School, which provides afterschool and school break services to children ages 5-12 at a three-year proposal cost of $1,620,123.
- Covenant Care Camp Monarch Grief Camp, which provides four annual sessions (six meetings per session) to children ages 5-17 at a three-year proposal cost of $612,550.
- Pensacola Little Theatre’s Character Building Through Building Characters, which provides fall and summer session services to children ages 7-15 at a three-year proposal cost of $319,681.
- Pensacola MESS Hall’s Science After School, which provides school year services to children ages 8-11 at a three-year proposal cost of $205,496.
“We do have four providers that have had some challenges. The rest, we are recommending moving forward with for Year 3. That means they are meeting their financial obligations, they are meeting their data obligations, and they are meeting the dosages they promised,” Cannon told board members.
“The other four – we need more time with, and we really do need to sit down and find out what is going on.”
She also noted the Gulf Coast Freedom Schools will not receive ECT Year Three funding “due to unforeseen challenges with staff changes, facility relocation and low enrollment.”
“The Gulf Coast Freedom Schools needs to regroup, it lost its executive director Torrey Jones,” Cannon told the PNJ.
The free six-week summer literacy and cultural enrichment initiative served children in communities where quality academic enrichment programming is limited, too expensive or non-existent. It targeted elementary school children living in areas of concentrated poverty and who attend consistently low-performing Escambia County schools.
The Gulf Coast Freedom Schools’ Expanding Summer School initial proposal was to provide six weeks of summer school to children ages 5-14 at a three-year proposed cost of $645,135.
Before discussing Year Three funding, Cannon assured board members that providers are serving Escambia County’s children.
“I just want to make clear, and I want to assure all of you, children are being served, regardless of what you see in this report. There are children that are in need. There are children that are being fulfilled in these particular programs, but we do have to look at this from a financial standpoint – a perspective of what was proposed versus what’s being provided,” she explained.
“So what you are seeing in here is not necessarily outcomes, because we’re going to look at that in May. What you see here is dosage and financial, related to what (providers) applied for, initially, or what we have gone in and done in change of scope related to.”
She added that programs were funded differently.
“We have different levels and that’s something, I don’t think, everyone, especially the public really understands. When this was funded, it was funded with varying levels of service to children,” Cannon said, adding ECT providers offer traditional after school, specialty or summer programs.
“So, you’re not going to see apples to apples in every single part of this. You’re going to see apples to oranges or to bananas and that’s OK for now. We will be looking at this very differently as we release an OST going forward for Year Four – to have some metrics for everyone to achieve.”
In other business, the ECT board also unanimously approved a 4 percent merit raise for Cannon – effective February 2025.
The board voted Cannon in as the new executive director in January at an annual salary of $125,000. She does not receive benefits. She replaced Tammy Greer, who resigned in August 2023. Cannon was the previous executive director of the Children's Home Society of Florida for the western and Emerald Coast region.
Board member David Peaden will leave the board at the end of December. A gubernatorial appointment, Peaden also served as the board’s treasurer. His term ends on Dec. 31.