Several people were surprised to hear that the Escambia Children’s Trust board had already approved Help Me Grow as part of its initial strategic plan.
“This was one of the services that we had put down as a tactic, and it was to be rolled out in the third quarter,” ECT executive director Tammy Greer told the board last Tuesday. “So we’re right on target with our current strategic plan.”
I pulled up the strategic plan, and it wasn’t as specific as Greer described, but it appears Help Me Grow is what she and her staff in mind, even though it only focuses on part of the tactic – early developmental disabilities.
The tactic approved by the board last September: “Issue an ITB and fund a local provider to develop a comprehensive, coordinated system to perform routine health assessments including preventive care/wellness visits; mental health; immunizations; screenings for vision, hearing, and speech; dental; and developmental status.”
Note: The tactic doesn’t specify an age group.
Local providers have shared that Help Me Grow was an initiative that Achieve Escambia was interested in doing until the state cut funding. ECT will be now be the funding source.
The Invitation to Bid approved unanimously by the board was for a “qualified entity to implement the Escambia County Help Me Grow Collaborative in Escambia County for early identification of developmental and/or behavioral concerns in children from ages birth through 8 years old, including linking families with community-based services and supports.”
Routine health assessments including preventive care/wellness visits, mental health, immunizations and dental aren’t mentioned in the ITB.
“Early Development identification of developmental status and/or behavioral concerns” qualifies as developmental status, and possibly the Escambia County Help Me Grow Collaborative will provide screenings for vision, hearing, and speech. But that’s only a fraction of the tactic.
No one on the ECT. board questioned what about “a comprehensive, coordinated system” of health services for children older than 8 or how the missing services would be provided for all age groups.
Will there be another ITB for routine health assessments, wellness visits, immunizations and dental care not only for infants and toddlers but all children through high school?
It appears the staff had a specific program for a specific purpose it wanted to implement and disguised it with a very general, vague tactic that would cover it…and almost any other health care initiative.
That being said, it’s impossible to argue against providing more intervention in identifying and treating developmental issues among infants and toddlers, but the issue is a statewide problem. Escambia County has 16% of its public students dealing with disabilities; the state average is 15%.
We are asked to trust the ECT staff and its processes, but it’s difficult when hidden agendas pop up with little time for public input or board scrutiny.
Future ECT Surprises?
Here the other strategic plan tactics yet to be implemented:
Issue an RFP and fund proposals for mental health support services for children and youth who do not have a diagnosed mental illness
Designate funding for special projects that address unanticipated or emergency needs (e.g., hurricane, fire, pandemic, etc.) that cause a disruption of services to children.
Introduce outcomes/results-based system of continuous program evaluation that engages all stakeholders in the analysis and reporting of child outcomes.
Convene inaugural Children’s Summit.
Develop an annual communications plan.
Contract for development of a unified public awareness campaign in the target service area.
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We will have to wait and see what the staff recommends and whether they had programs in mind when they drafted the strategic plan.