Taking a note from the Achieve Escambia notebook, the Escambia Children’s Trust is holding a daylong “Passing the Mic to Providers” event from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 16, at the Pensacola State College Warrington Campus.
Rather than meeting individually with the top providers, the Trust wants community leaders and providers to share their insights from working directly with children in a series of two-hour sessions. People can attend in person or via Zoom.
The “Listening Session” is divided into four segments:
· Healthy Children and Mothers (8-10 a.m)
· Juvenile Justice-Involved Youth (10 a.m-noon)
· Child Abuse and Neglect (1-3 p.m.)
· Success in School and Life (3-5 p.m.)
“Broad community input will help the Trust better understand the community’s needs and opportunities for improving child outcomes,” Trust staff said in its release. “Providers, parents, and caregivers from all areas within Escambia County as well as public and private sector organizations, community leaders, pediatricians, faith groups, funders, etc. are invited to participate in the listening session.”
For more information, contact the Escambia Children’s Trust via email at info@escambiachildrenstrust.org?or visit?escambiachildrenstrust.org.
In its early days, Achieve Escambia held long day and half-day sessions that wore out community leaders and providers. Inweekly would ask attendees what was discussed, and few could remember, saying the meetings were filled with ice-breakers, gobbledygook and meaningless buzz words. Company heads began to ditch the meetings, assigning mid-level staff to attend.
Participants were asked to “engage in constructive dialogue” and encouraged to “align community resources so everyone is empowered to achieve success.” In the end, Achieve created a dashboard, but the needle didn’t move much on any of its goals. However, Achieve did successfully campaign for a referendum to create the Children’s Trust.
For the past year, Achieve Escambia has been in limbo, failing to produce an annual report for 2021.
With $20 million of tax dollars in its coffers after Oct. 1, the expectations for the Trust are much higher.