Tammy Greer, the executive director of the Escambia Children’s Trust, responded to my and Commissioner Lumon May’s comments about the Help Me Grow program that the ECT staff is asking the board to approve tomorrow.
In her first comment, she says Help Me Grow is not a hotline but “a system to connect (beyond just giving out phone numbers) parents to resources for children ages 0-8 who have developmental delays or disabilities and need early intervention to get them ready for kindergarten.”
The ECT agenda provides the public no information on Help Me Grow. The taxpayers have only the Invitation to Bid to read. The price tag is $1.6 million for the first year.
I asked Greer for the specific data on developmental delays or disabilities for Escambia County children and on those living in Attucks Court and Oakwood Terrace, and reports on her conversations with parents and the current intervention programs in those neighborhoods. She says she will send the analysis to me later today – which I will post on the blog.
Greer writes that the out-of-school funding was done “in line with the strategic plan approved by the full ECT Board,” and “I stand behind the strategic planning process.” However, staff is asking the board to approve either $112,802-$86,533 for a new strategic plan after only one vendor responded to an Invitation to Bid. If the strategic plan is so good, why spend another $100K on new one?
Return on Investment
She writes, “We are looking to invest in programs that will provide the greatest return on investment.”
However, the programs funded last summer for Kindergarten Summer Bridge failed to provide much ROI. In June 2022, ReadyKids! FL was approved for $27,700, and Potential Preschool Academy was approved for $40,000.
ReadyKids! was slated to receive $27,700 to put on three workshops for a minimum of 60 children and a maximum of 150. The average cost per child was $185 if 150 children enrolled. ReadyKids! only worked with 17 preschool children.
Potential Preschool Academy agreed to enroll 25 additional students in its preschool program. The cost per child was $1,600. The school never worked out a deal for the money. The board minutes don’t tell what happened here.
In August, the staff tried to get the board to approve $444,400 for public awareness campaign managed by the Studer Community Institute. Quint Studer pulled the request because he believed the money would be better spent on programs offering direct services to children. The idea was dropped by staff.
In December, the staff brought before the board a request from the Sherriff’s Office for 1) Sheriff’s Movie Nights $120,000; Paid public service announcements and billboards $150,000; 2) AXON-Simulator, a virtual reality training for law enforcement trainees $456,603.42; 3) Real Time Crime Center $440,300.00. The board rejected it, but how did it even get on the agenda? What was the ROI for children? The sheriff has said staff asked him to make the proposal.
It’s too early to learn the ROI of the out-of-school programs approved last month.
Greer’s Criteria
She closed her first comment with: “It is easy to say we need to ‘put money on the ground’ – but I believe voters want assurances that money is going to proven programs that are likely to yield success, to providers that have the capacity to account for public dollars, and to programs that will show real improvements.”
Among the $5.1 million awarded for out-of-school programs was $397,556 for Urban Development Center’s YouthFirst Century program – which will supposedly serve 720 children in a town with a population of 1,719 people. The U.S. Postal Service reports that the Century zip code (32535) only has a total of 692 children from ages 10-19 – that target age group is 11-18 for the program. The nonprofit has no funds and asked the Town of Century to advance it some money. It is focusing on four of the district’s better schools – Bratt Elementary (2022: A), Byrneville Elementary (B), Ernest Ward Middle (B) and Northview High (C). Its proposal was cut and pasted from Censuss reports with little specifics about the teens and preteens in the Century area. All sorts of red flags are going off, but this was one of the top grants awarded. (Yes, I know the PNJ is coming out with an article lauding the program, but the reporter did no analysis.)
Other programs that received grants don’t fit Greer’s professed criteria.
Begging for Ideas
In her second comment, Greer writes, “I keep hearing that we need to put money into this area or that, but no one has presented the Trust with a concrete plan or recommendation for a specific project to serve the communities that need so much help.”
The Trust has received concrete plans without bids and approved them:
Legal Services of North Florida: $617,034 to 1) Expand representation for children in or facing dependency; 2) Provide legal assistance in education issues for 90 children.
Community Health Northwest Florida: $72,837 to match a grant from Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration to equip a dental van for public schools.
Children’s Home Society: $77,658 to match a UCF grant to fund the Community Partnership School model at Pine Forest High School.
Please note Community Health and CHS used ECT funds to match larger grants – this would have been a good requirement for all requests because it leverages tax dollars for greater impact.
How to Hear
She then adds: “We will never make everyone happy, but I am open to hearing legitimate, fundable solutions – with more details than just ‘put the money out.’”
Greer knows how to do this. ECT needs to solicit Invitations to Bid for specific indicators in its Needs Assessment to create pilot programs that are scalable – such as dealing with infant mortality or low birth weights. She could have done this for the early intervention of developmental problems without forcing providers to adopt Help Me Grow – let the frontline providers offer solutions.
Transparency Needed
She writes, “I continue to seek input and welcome ideas for research-grounded solutions that we can fund.”
Really? Where are you seeking input? How much time is being spent with parents in the pockets of poverty? We have a Needs Assessment Report that fails to show where the needs are most acute.
And “All I ask is that residents please give us the chance to explain the rationale for the Trust’s plans before categorically rejecting them.”
Public buy-in requires transparency, posting of information, and public input before a plan goes before the ECT board for approval. This isn’t happening. The Help Me Grow initiative should have been vetted with the public long before asking the baord to approve an Invitation to Bid for a program that will cost $1.6 million in its first year.