The Escambia Children’s Trust review committee for the next executive director met yesterday. The committee passed on to the entire board for consideration in January:
Lindsey Cannon, Regional Executive Director for the Children’s Home Society and
Walker Wilson, Executive Director of the Downtown Improvement Board.
Both have been named Inweekly Rising Stars – Cannon 2012, Wilson 2017.
The committee had two no-shows for the Zoom session:
Anthony Houston, project coordinator for Cleveland, Ohio’s Community Relations Department and
Nikkia Mosley, director for Telamon Corporation’s Georgia Migrant and Seasonal Head Start program.
The behind-the-scenes politicking for the position has been non-stop, with Cannon and Wilson getting the most lobbying. Stay tuned.
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The advisory committee established to revamp the Continuum of Care (CoC) had its Monday meeting canceled by Florida Housing’s Amanda Rosado who sent out an email to committee members:
“Good morning everyone, I’m out sick today and need to cancel. I’ll catch up when I’m back in the office. Stay well!”
Per its agenda, the group was set to discuss CoC Leadership Council Language – 1) What is a Leadership Council? 2) Review Current Structure and 3 )Breakout Groups to Discuss New Language.
The next scheduled meeting is 10 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 18.
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I have requested a meeting with State Attorney Ginger Madden to discuss a grand jury investigation into the Escambia Children’s Trust. Is the ECT providing the level of accountability and the outcomes promised voters? How much much has actually been spent on children? How can ECT and its processes be improved?
Another possibility is for either Clerk Pam Childers or the Board of County Commissioners to pay for a deep audit of ECT and its operations. I worry that would keep backroom politics in the picture.
ECT isn’t the only problem. There is the same lack of accountability in how other local governments fund non-profit requests for public money. There’s no real vetting process and people with the non-profits lobby elected officials behind the scenes for the money. Such requests include asking the BOCC for money to host a champagne brunch at the Portofino Island Resort. If the public knew what was being done they would be very mad.