Escambia County Commissioner Lumon May is disappointed that the $5.1 million handed out by the Escambia Children’s Trust last week didn’t focus on the children living in pockets of poverty. He believes the staff and application review committee tried to spread the money around the county.
“I’ve said this multiple times that it’s very unfortunate that the children in the inner city and the urban core were used on all the propaganda material to get this tax passed,” he said on WCOA. “Overwhelmingly, it was supported by people who are living in these pockets of poverty — 32501, 32053, 32505 — because they had lost hope and they needed an opportunity.”
He continued, “I think that we want to help all children of Escambia County, but we have to be laser focused on designated areas. I certainly think that the emphasis should have been put on those that were utilized to get the tax passed and those who are in the greatest need.”
Inweekly interviewed similar trusts around the state and found the best ones talked about how they trained their application review committees and how they narrowed the scope of requests for proposals to better meet specific needs – Read Not Alone in Growing Pains.
We’ve written about how poverty is impacting our schools – Poor Students, Poor Schools and Forgotten Families in 32505.
Objective data shows were the needs are – ECT: A failure to connect. And we have pilot programs that have worked, and more are needed – More Pilots Needed.
It’s not difficult to understand Commissioner May’s frustration.
I do agree with your assessment but would add that if Commissioner May feels this strongly, he should have attended the last Trust meeting and said so from the dais, as a member of the board – or at least offered an explanation as to why he wasn’t there. He has a literal seat at the table and shouldn’t complain on the radio about what’s being done if he’s not going to use his role on the board to impact change.
On a separate note, why isn’t anyone pushing back on the Trust’s work to duplicate what United Way 211 already does – in Escambia County and all across Northwest Florida? The LAST thing we need is another resource guide…