Escambia County, City of Pensacola, Opening Doors Northwest Florida have been on the path to revamp the Continuum of Care, which receives federal and state grants to help people move out of homelessness in Escambia County.
Since September, an advisory committee was selected by Opening Doors executive director John Johnson to set how the CoC should be reorganized after HUD official Dr. Joe Savage came to Pensacola in the spring to meet with area officials. Savage questioned Opening Doors running the CoC and giving itself funds.
John Johnson said the advisory would finish its work by December. However, he abruptly announced his resignation this month. The Opening Doors website has no updates on the advisory committee’s discussions.
The CoC holds a meeting today at 2 p.m. Stay tuned.
Will Trust Spend $5.7 Million Again?
The Escambia Children’s Trust’s program committee meets in commission chambers today at 9:30 a.m. The group will make recommendations on whether to renew for a second year out-of-school time grants totaling $5.7 million.
The staff report has little information on how effective any of the programs have been. The focus has been on the lack of participants — note only six of 19 have met or exceeded the number of new children they committed to help — and on dollars –the cost per child is exorbitant for some programs.
Not one agency provides report card data on its participants. We should have their last report card for the 2022-23 school year and their first report for this semester.
The best recommendation that the committee can make is to hold off renewals until the end of the 2023-24 school year. Only renew the grants that show academic improvement and have the best rate of return for the money spent.
Imagine how much real good could be done with $5.7 million – especially in health care such as glasses, dental work, and prenatal care and infant mortality.
Someone has to look at the waste and seek the highest and best use of these taxpayer dollars.
