In this conversation on our podcast, Lindsey Cannon, the executive director of the Escambia Children’s Trust, discussed the Trust’s various Out-of-School programs, the challenges faced in grant applications, and the importance of effective program evaluation.
Last week, her board voted to hold off approving the third year of funding for four OST programs to give the staff more time to work with the providers.
MORE CONSISTENCY, BETTER METRICS
“Some of the parameters that were in that original proposal, they talked about serving a lot of children thinking that there wouldn’t be that many providers,” said Cannon. “Initially, I believe there were 19 that were funded, and so a lot of them were looking to target the very same children. There are only so many kids to go around and only so many parents that may want to engage that as well or that didn’t have those opportunities. “
She added, “There are always obstacles and barriers you can’t predict. Here we are. And so, we’re looking at it a couple years down the line saying, okay, you might’ve said you were going to serve 250 kids, and you’re serving 150, but are you reasonably going to serve 250 kids this year? And if not, then we need to, let’s focus on those 150 that you are going to serve. Let’s reduce the contract dollars you’re not going to use and make sure it’s holistic. Now that’s my recommendation because I don’t want 150 kids not to have that place to go.”
When Cannon took over as the executive director earlier this year, the Trust staff was well into negotiating the agreements for the second year of the OST providers. Cannon has had several conversations with the providers to improve consistency and accountability.
“Since I’ve come on board, I’ve really been working with our providers to put the things in writing because conversation is just conversation, but you’re not going to hold me to a conversation. You’re not going to hold our taxpayers to that,” she shared. This needs to be an agreed-upon part of the contract. If things are changing and maybe it doesn’t work to your benefit, maybe it’s time for you to step away, or maybe you can just do it at a smaller level.”
The executive director continued, “But that’s really up to the program committee to decide. So we really started bringing those things back in. If you need to do a change of scope or re-look at your budget, it needs to be contractually bound.”
Cannon has hired new staff to help her improve metrics and transparency. “I’m very fortunate to have the people on my team that I do. What I love specifically is that we all have different areas of expertise and can actually have some debate about it. And I love that because I don’t pretend to know everything about education.”
She added, “I will tell you what we have here is small, but it’s mighty, and there’s a lot more work to do. And I can say that I think we genuinely love our jobs.”
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Photo by Phil Hearing on Unsplash
