In a letter dated Oct. 20, the Pensacola Little Theatre (PLT) formally resigned withdraw from its Escambia Children’s Trust grant.
- PLT was in the last year of its three-year Out-of-School-Time grant, which totaled $356,618. As of Sept. 30, $173,022 had been spent. The Trust’s Contract Schedule shows the theatre company surrendered $186,596. See Contract Schedule 9-30-25. The program, Character Building through Building Characters at Pensacola Little Theatre, was for six-week acting classes for at-risk students.
Why? PLT’s lead teacher, Kimberley Scott, has resigned, so the nonprofit could “no longer fulfill the grant’s parameters.” PLT noted that its 2025 summer camps served nearly 120 students “that were planned by Kim but executed by other teachers under the leadership of Topher Warren, our Education Director.” Read PLT Letter.
Auditor General
In August, Escambia Children’s Trust executive director Lindsey Cannon said the Trust had asked the Florida Auditor General to review the $65,632 reimbursement made by Pensacola Little Theatre in July.
“ECT was made aware of concerns regarding the potential misuse of funds by Pensacola Little Theatre and their retention of a forensic auditor to review all their financial operations. As soon as this came to our attention, ECT took immediate steps to review records and suspend reimbursements,” Cannon told Inweekly. “Pensacola Little Theatre did reimburse ECT all misappropriated funds as determined by their forensic accountant. ECT has notified the Auditor General as required by law, and there are no other updates to report at this time.”
Status of Other Grants
The Trust had $22.6 million in cash on Sept. 30. There is a balance of $8,612,293 left on awarded contracts, and $17,808,367 remaining in funding requested by current providers.
Its Outstanding Contracts include:
- Matching Contracts (Early Learning Coalition) through 9/30/26: $238,875
- Sole-Source Grants (CHS/Pine Forest Community School, Legal Services of NWFL) through 10/30/27: $3,844,899
- Help Me Grow (Arc Gateway) through 6/30/26: $1,129,446
- Out-of-School Time Programs through 7/31/26: $4,341.848
- Mental Health Programs through 9/30/26: $2,673,278
- Healthy Schools through 10/31/27: $5,192,253
- CARES Grants through 4/30/26: $387,765