ACCOUNTABILITY

Children’s Trust Reaches $76,437 Settlement With New World Believers

Five months after canceling the youth mental health provider’s contract, the Trust has agreed to pay for services rendered and swap vehicle titles to close out the dispute.

On June 9, Rodney Jones, founder of New World Believers and its H.O.O.P.S. youth mental health program, stood before the Escambia Children’s Trust board and asked to be paid. He said his team had worked through Jan. 15, 2026, but had gone uncompensated for services provided in November and December 2025, and into January, before the Trust canceled the contract on Jan. 30.

“I think it’s a travesty when you talk about helping children when you move on your emotions and rumor and conjecture rather than evidence and proof,” Jones told the board.

At the time, board attorney Megan Fry confirmed New World Believers was represented by counsel and that a settlement offer had already been sent to the nonprofit’s attorney. Commissioner Lumon May urged staff to move quickly, telling the board not to “spend more money litigating depositions, mediations, than we’re going to spend in giving the money.”

The resolution: On July 14, attorney Sallie Neese of Clark Partington told the board the two sides had reached terms. Under the agreement:

• The Trust will pay New World Believers $76,437.72—the exact amount staff could verify through invoices and documentation.
• New World Believers will return a 2010 Dodge Caravan and a 2015 Ford Transit to the Trust, and remove the ECT logo from both vehicles at its own expense.
• The Trust will deed a 1998 Honda Odyssey to New World Believers, formally severing any ECT connection to that vehicle.
• Both sides will sign a mutual settlement release and cover their own attorney’s fees.

Chair Dr. Rex Northup pressed Neese to ensure the vehicle transfer wouldn’t allow New World Believers to later claim an ongoing tie to the Trust, citing earlier media coverage of an ECT-marked vehicle turning up in unrelated circumstances. Neese said the disclaimer language addresses that directly.

The board voted unanimously to authorize Northup to sign the settlement, which still requires approval from New World Believers’ own board.