I just feel like how low it was. There I am. Okay. Good evening people and audience and everyone involved. We are here
uh to begin with prior to our uh regular meeting to uh have some discussion and uh all regarding the proposed at this point um tax rate for the funding that funds the children's trust. And we are looking at a couple of different options here that we'll be discussing this evening. I have received two requests to speak. If there are other people who would like to speak, we would certainly
uh like to uh encourage that and welcome that. The form to fill out is pretty simple. It's over here where you see the hand sanitizer on the table. Fill that form out. You can hand it in to Alma or one of the uh staff in the front. They'll hand it to me and then during the uh public discussion, we'll certainly uh welcome you all. will step to the podium here. We have a uh three minute excuse me limit on time for uh the sake that immediately following this
meeting scheduled at 5:30 we will be having our usual board meeting. So uh but we do want to encourage and invite uh everyone's comments and participation with it. So um this is again the Escambia Children's Trust preliminary. There will be another followup trim public hearing. U and I'm going to call this to order now at 502. U Miss Ellis, uh will you please proceed with the roll
call? Thank you. Uh I have Tina Kaine as excused. Mr. Leonard here. Commissioner May. Dr. Northup here. Miss White here. Mr. Williams here. I have the judge as excused and Miss Woods present. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Uh again, be calling for public uh comments later. We'll begin the
um public hearing on the proposed millage rate for 2526. Our fiscal year runs from October 1 through September 30th of uh the year. So, uh, we've got a little bit of time before we finish out this fiscal year. And what we are going to be discussing again is the millage rate, uh, for the upcoming fiscal year that will provide funds for the children's trust. Um, and along
those lines, Miss Cannon, do you have any comments at this point? Yes, I do. Thank you, Dr. Northup. So, um, wanted to just talk about some updates since our workshop that we had as a board where we were discussing particular issues going on in our community related to um, cuts in funding for our early learning coalition, closure of program and cuts related to Head Start. Um, and then also other special projects that were going to be coming our way
um that we have been meeting about. Uh, one of the things that we've been able to do since that workshop is meet with all of those folks and really kind of get an understanding of what um what the cuts, if any, to our early childhood system looks like would be. Um, what I will tell you is we had some good news uh just today. In fact, um, from the early learning coalition, although they're sustaining a cut, it's about half of what they thought it was going to be. um and the gap that they are experiencing they were thinking before would be four to 500 kids. They've
been able to look at that through attrition um to see and the gap would be around 140 children. That's significantly different and that's going to be a lot less funding if we do decide as as the trust to um put in dollars there to make sure that our working families still have the care that they need for their children. Um we've also met with Head Start. We had a conversation about what their match looks like um and what a proposal would look like around that. I feel like there is a whole lot of other match that they'll be bringing to the table around in kind um and
and Tammy of course is a guru with that. So we'll be able to really look at that. So, so what I do want to share with you is when we started really hearing those things as we're going through mental health renewals that we'll be talking about at our regular board meeting tonight, we are going to be recapturing dollars and we're not going to have to dedicate dollars that we were thinking might be significant cuts in our community. And those were major drivers I would say from the workshop for us saying we need to stay at our same millillage rate because we were somewhat not somewhat I know I expressed that I was very worried about our working families and the safety of our kids. Um
but it doesn't look like we're going to have to stick with the same millillage um to manage those crises if you will in our community. So we do have the opportunity to go back to roll back. Um, I will tell you we also have entertained a lot of phone calls at our office. Not just me. Tammy's spoken with people, Alma spoken with people that have called. They've been completely wonderful and asked a lot of really, really in-depth questions um about what we do. And I will tell you, I felt really comfortable with the conversations. We do have a lot that are grandparents in our community.
Um, we have folks that are on fixed incomes and this does create a burden for them. Um, but they love what we're doing for kids. And so I will tell you that I felt good about every one of those conversations, but I think we need to look at that whole picture as a board too. If we can still meet the needs of our kids at roll back, I would ask you to strongly consider that. Okay. Thank you, Miss Ken. Now we have questions andor discussion from the board meeting. Again,
we'll be uh looking at considering and recommending either the current millage rate uh which is what discussion came out of the workshop to do that and based in large part again on the variables that uh Miss Cannon has just outlined several of which uh we have found fortunately are going to have less negative impact than what we were thinking and so the other alternative is to look at a roll back uh proposal or roll back rate which would
uh decrease uh the amount of funding that we would get but uh would still felt to be adequate to meet our obligations responsibilities and help the community continue these things. Uh questions or further comments from the board? I have a question uh and you know what it's going to have to do with which is the northern part of our county right off the bat and the closure of the Head Start
uh program up in that part of our county and that impact and where any of these variables that you just mentioned and updates might impact on that particular program. Absolutely. I've met with the mayor up there. He's we had really great like a two-hour conversation really about what's going on in that community. He is concerned about child care. He does understand the reasons why that closed. Um but they also have employees in that community too that are trained and his desire really is to build out um some providers essentially in there which I think we could do
with the early learning coalition. Um you know if we're able to support not necessarily financially but as a partner help bring some people to the table. Um he also was expressing that there were a lot of youth in that community that he sees at the summer that are, you know, walking around. They don't have a whole lot to do. And so he's really started bringing in that sports, youth sports aspect. Um baseball particularly, so you baseball people I know will love that. Um but he really wants to see a more robust sports um network up there and opportunities for their youth just outside of the high school. So some of that wreck ball um in a variety of ways for for
um and has been working with Pensacola State College I think on that and facilities. So there will be opportunities as we go to like out of school time looking at our next RFPs um that we have the opportunity to bonus points if you will around those RFPs for those that are serving areas that are currently underserved. Um, and I I think that's really not any different than we did with the CARES grants. If you had a focus on juvenile delinquency and making sure that our kids and youth violence was reduced, you got extra points on that for doing a project like that. And,
you know, I I think that a lot of them were very successful this summer. So, what I will say is those are ongoing conversations. Um Dave, that's now the city administrator up there is someone that's engaged with the trust before, so I've already connected back with him um to start discussions. So, there's movement there. we just need to find out what what kind of things that that they really want in that community and who would be best suited um to apply and come to the table. Um but I know that that early childhood piece and then youth sports were the two that they really hinted on to me. Okay. So, I know the mayor up there
appears to be very interested and proactive. And Megan and I were just looking that apparently uh Dave Meren has now signed his uh employment contract as the first ever city manager up there as well. And so it sounds like they're trying to bring some organization structure and be looking not just at us but countywide and even statewide for grant funding and other support to uh help stabilize and grow that area. So that is certainly encouraging. So the question before us as a board,
welcome commissioner is uh looking at uh do we have more in favor of sticking with our current uh millillage andor is there more uh inclined to look towards the roll back to the uh lesser amount that is felt to still be uh certainly adequate and sufficient to meet uh the board's needs at this time. Is this when you want a motion? Or have we have public comment first? Oh, well, okay. I would
prefer the roll back rate. I feel like that we just like what Miss Canon said that we're going to have yet we have um we have some some great news in the community and that we've also been able to recapture some funds. But I also want the public to know that the trust is making a difference. We had that Civic Con, you had the providers come up. Um, we've seen schools go, it's a, it's a, it takes a village. We've, we've seen schools go from C's to B's, B's to A's, and it takes a village. And we've seen um the number of arrests go down, the number of gun violence go down in
the past year, and it's not just because of us. I know I'm I know that, but it's also it all everyone works together and so the money is making a difference even so, but I know the people are struggling financially, so roll back rate was what I would go for. So appreciate that. Other comments uh input. Can I ask a question of what you said so I can understand? Oh, I said for the roll back rate. Okay. So as opposed to what I got in the mail about a one-third increase. It's not just one second. I'll let you answer. It's not time for discussion yet, sir. No, I just want to understand
if you're saying you're not looking at the one-ird increase. You're suggesting something else or not. you will address my comments, but I don't I'm not sure what you're saying. She is actually in favor of the roll back rate decreasing the amount but still uh having adequate amount to meet uh the needs of the community the programs that we've already committed to uh and in large part on the comments that Lindsay was making that a number of these grants like the early learning coalition and
uh some others were being if I can use the word threatened with facing significant cuts to their operation. That for example, the Early Learning Coalition itself was facing cuts that were going to require uh decreasing the students um services by up to 400 children. Now because of some uh legislative funding changes as the uh session rolled through and other things,
the update now is that they are looking at still a decrease but uh in the range of 140 children and that looks like a number that we will be able to address without uh needing to even stay with the current amount much less increase the millillage. uh we have the what the voters approved early on was up to a uh 0.5 uh% millage rate. We have currently the current millage rate is at uh 0.043
and the roll back rate will go down to 03798. That's what I thought I heard her saying. I wanted to make sure I understood. Thank you. Thank you. and I appreciate uh asking for that clarification. And along those lines, any other thoughts regarding the decision? Again, this is the preliminary hearing and things, but it's still to help allow public uh awareness, public comments, public feedback, as well as discussion among the board here. And we will be having a follow-up
meeting as well. But uh now the discussion is leaning more towards current or more towards the roll back rate. Um, I've always been in favor of the roll back rate, so I still am in favor of the roll back rate. Okay. Thank you. Others on the board. Yeah. I just want to make sure, Lindsay, you're very confident that we'll still be able to offer the services to the community at the roll back, rate. Yes, sir. We we, you know, we've done that five-year plan that we looked at.
And so that's a moving plan like Tammy adjusts that all the time related to unspent dollars. Um you know we if we don't ever collect 100% of the taxes um but sometimes we get more than we were expecting. Um so we have variables in there. Um, but based on those meetings that we're having, um, and the information that we've been given, I feel confident we might have to make some tough decisions on funding some other things, um, as a board, but but I'd rather have a tough decision,
um, and and us be able to still support some of those things that are definite necessities in our community. Um, but as a team, I think we all feel very comfortable with that. I think Tammy was sharing with me also just prior to this meeting that we have had yet further uh turnin of funding. That is one thing for you all to understand is that as we get to the end of fiscal years, if funded programs have not utilized all of their funds, uh those monies revert back to the trust
where we then have the ability to use those funds to supply other uh providers to uh supplement all the services or that type of thing. So those monies do not go out just in one direction and they're done with whatever may happen. They get expended for the contracted service in the ways that are monitored by the staff. And if at the end of that fiscal year all of those funds have not been utilized according to the contract and to achieve the services that uh they were meant to,
those funds do revert to the trust. And so we've just had a reversion of a significant amount of those dollars. And so it's that type of thing also that comes in that uh helps us be able to uh fund uh all of the various providers that uh are needed and those that may be even exceeding the provision of services. They've had more children involved than they thought or they're needing uh more supplies or whatever it may be. have an opportunity to come back to the board and
request a consideration for the provision of additional funding or conditional funding. So that is another source that uh continues to come in and be available to us and more importantly available to the community to achieve the purpose that uh you all as taxpayers and that we all as taxpayers intended those monies to be spent for. So with that in mind, it sounds like we have uh a desire from the board here to move towards the roll back rate. And as I discussed earlier,
the proposed millage rate under the roll back will be decreasing to uh 0.03798, 03798 which is a 0% increase over the uh roll back rate um of the 0.39% and the total millage for that uh will be uh 0.03798 03798. I know there's a lot of decimals there and all the operating millage
rate will be the same. And uh I will be reading the resolution uh for that uh as proposed uh in my packet here. Thank you. Lots of papers up here. A resolution of the Escambia Children's Trust adopting the tentative millage rate to be levied for the 2025 tax year declaring that the
percentage change in the property tax levy as defined under Florida statute section 2000.065. Whereas pursuant to that chapter and the Escambia County Ordinance, the Escambia Children's Trust of Escambia County, Florida, held the first public hearing to consider the proposed millage rate to be levied for the 2025 tax year in order to raise sufficient revenues for the fiscal
year ending. As I said, it runs from October 1 through to September 30th of 2026. And those are the revenues that we are talking about generating through this millage rate. And uh therefore be it resolved that the proposed miller's rate to be levied in order to produce sufficient advalorum taxation revenue which when combined with other projected general revenue funds will be adequate to pay the appropriations in the budget for that fiscal year beginning October 1,
2025 and ending September 30th, 2026 shall be the operating millage rate of 0.03798 with the total millage rate of 0.03798. The tenative operating millage rate of 0.03798 will result in a property tax increase of 0% over the roll back rate of 0.03798 03798 computed according to the procedure set forth under chapter
200.065 of the Florida statute. Now, following on all of that, a second public hearing and the final resolution is presently scheduled for September 22nd of this month, 2025 at 501. And that will be held Lindsay and others here in this boardroom at 501 September 22nd, 2025 and duly adopted in regular session the 10th day of September uh today of uh 2025. So
and again touching on the first part of that the resolution adopting the tentative millage rate. Okay, now after reading of that, thank you Miss White. Uh now will be the time for our public comment. Hopefully that will have clarified things to some extent. But I still would like to uh I am going to with there being two ladies first. So Mary Kepica is that even close to
things? Okay. Uh comments. Okay. Let me take care of my sugar real quick. Okay. If you need some time, I could call Mr. Waldo if you would prefer. I got it. Okay. Hi, my name is Mary Kabka. Um, I am wanting Children's Trust to go back to ballot. I
understand what you're doing. That money is my money. It's everybody's money. It doesn't fix everything with every child. And it should in these difficult financial times. I think that it would be much better for people to select what they can support,
what they want to support. and if they just need the money to support themselves because the county is looking at some huge increases. So, I think it's fair that this go back to vote. Commissioner, thank you.
Thank you. Okay. The next individual requesting uh comment is Mr. Michael Waldo. By the way, thank you for the clarification. You just eliminated about a third of what I had to say. But you may not like what I do have to say. Uh good afternoon. I here to speak because I looked at my proposed tax assessment and saw a proposed increase of one-third over 30%. I didn't know what Children's Trust was. So,
I tried to research it on the internet. Far and away, what I found was reports that showed bad management of a funding which was voted on with good intentions by the public. I can skip my original comments about considering a possible increase. Thank you for eliminating a lot. Um, however, from my research, I will quote from a W report uh dated May 21st, and I suspect you're probably all well aware of it. In that report, 88% of the expenditures by this board was for
salary and benefits. I'm going to refer to that as administrative. Thus, about 11% went to actually benefiting the children. In the article, Lindseay Cannon responded that it was actually 58%. And she gave some details and mentioned some grants the board gives out. I don't know what math you used, but my opinion, if the Children's Trust gives out a grant of 100 thou to some group or organization and that group or organization has 65% of their expenditure is salary in administration,
then guess what? 65,000 of that money ought to be counted as part of your so I don't know how you come up with your calculation but whether it's 88% or 58% or something in between such as 75% that amount sounds like poor fiscal responsibility by this fund. If a funds, my opinion, if a fund's expenditures provide less than 75% to the actual beneficiaries,
then that board is doing a bad job. I also support the thought that I saw that possibly the county commissioners might consider an independent audit of this board's expenditures and to make such a uh audit report, detailed report public. But basically guys, y'all have spended way too much on administrative. Shame on you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Uh, anyone else has got any comments or anything at this point?
Did you H submitted it? I guess really yes Mark I'm uh really I guess a lot was answered one my concern was that the
millage rate was going up to a maximum of 5.5% and instead now it seems to be boating to go back to the roll back. So that addresses that concern. Um my other concern was basically what was just covered um reporting that um lots of or the majority of the money dispersed is being used for salaries or benefits instead of for actual you know good to children. And uh that was concerning
to me that you know one the amount was going to be going up and that's a concern going on right now that needs to be investigated. Hopefully there is a uh investigation into that. But, uh, even at the current rate, if if there's that type of abuse or whatever going on, I mean, I would vote to abolish the whole thing, but that all needs to be looked into. So, that's my that
was my concerns. Thank you very much. Chair, may I speak? Yes. Um, both the last two gentlemen, I appreciate you guys um taking the time to come and speak to us. I would love for you both to come to a program committee meeting. Um, I think that if you were able to attend one of those and really like be able to get into what the programs do and I think that will help you understand a little more of how um, things work and how it looks. Um, cuz initially when we first talked
about the trust, I am on the board currently, but I had a lot of questions. Um, and sometimes the reports or what is said doesn't really explain how everything looks. And so this is everyone's money and I know you guys are very passionate about what is going on. There are a lot of people in Escambia County and you two and three both actually even showed up to give your opinion. So I would love to hear your input. We also do have um you know in the next year grants that we vote on
um we do allow people to apply to sit on those committees to read through those grants and help us make those decisions. So I would love for you guys to even look at you know possibly applying to see how we do it, what the process is, how we look at the grants, how we judge the grants, you get to score the grants. So, I think if you were able to even come to that programs committee and see how that work is done, it would better explain, you know, the work that we do and what it really looks like and and a breakdown of each actual grant and how that looks because this is our board meeting, but we do have a programs committee. So, you know, if you want to give Lindsay your information,
I would love for y'all to come and attend that if you are free. Don't want to take up time here. You have my name and phone number. Please give me a call. Definitely will. Thank you both. I would also like to recommend that y'all come to meetings. We'd love to have you have your input. sit down with Miss Cannon and she'll explain to you that article, she'll explain to you the salaries. She'll explain to you everything. So, but thank you for coming, but please come to some of our other meetings as well to see how we actually digest everything, Mr. Chairman. Yes, sure. I see familiar faces from a long meeting last night with about 45
speakers. each of you are here and I I certainly appreciate you because um I think fidiciary responsibility uh is critical uh to an elected person. So thank you all for inquiring about your government. Um Lindsay, can we just because obviously this was a topic with us. We had an MSBU um school board has had tax increase. We just did a tax increase. Uh you know it's weighing heavy. Uh it's the first time since I've been elected that we've had, you know, that many speakers at a
public forum about tax increases. But can we just get a point of clarification? I I think there's some misunderstanding on exactly how much money is spent on salaries, whether it be consultants, whether it be staff, salary, benefits. What is that number? What is that percentage? Because you know there there's been reporting as my dear friend there has inquired about uh you know what percentage is it? What percentage is it before we vote on uh this millage rate? Actually, when we look at overall our staff, staffing, consultants, what is the percentage of money
that we're spending on salaries and benefit um and overhead versus direct services? Okay. So, I don't have all of that information in front of me, but at the next at our next meeting, we actually review our finances. And for the folks, we it is all on the internet. We're audited every single year. Our finances are on there very But if it's on the internet, what does it say on the internet? And then I page because I got beat up last night. Brand new web page. You can click on take me to the data. You can click on any of our financial information. It's all there. So,
someone click on the website then and tell me what percentage it is. And I only say this because I got jumped on last night because I'm a big supporter of the trust. Sorry, I was at an event last night with my son, but um I'm looking at I'm sorry. Yeah, I I want the question that I guess that I our administr So so of course the misnomer related to the W article was something related to applications. It was Yeah, I'm not going to hold you because it's I know that. What
I'm telling you is our administrative rate for us as a team is about I don't know what is it five is am I looking at it correctly 5.94 the rest of it is in program and you have to have people to watch children right I mean so I think that there's a very big distinction related to salaries paid to child care employees to tutors to people that are doing mental health counseling that's going to come out as a salary under a program, but I think as far as I don't mean to cut you off,
but I think we we when we're voting on millage rates and roll backs and taxes, that has to be clear. And so it has to be clear what percentage do we spend on administrative costs, what what percentage do we spend on direct costs because I think that that's what we're hearing from the citizens. And so I'd like before I vote just to get an idea, not necessarily what we spend here, but what if they're spending on administrative costs? So, do you want to go through each program? Is that what you want to go through each program? I thought I mean it's a pretty simple formula.
How much are we spending on administrative costs for for the trust itself? No, no, no. Overall, I mean for the allocation of the dollars. So, I have calculated that. I don't have it with me and it was updated in July when you asked for it before. So, I don't have that with me right now. Um, I can tell you that salaries for all of our programs average between 50 and 60%, okay, of what their their stuff, their things. Our benefits, our salaries and in benefits is about 700,000 for the Oh, no, I'm not I'm not talking about our our trust staff at all. Okay. Not not at all. That
That's fine. I have the answer I need. But so out of administrative programs, they average about two and a half% administrative. Thanks, Tammy. That that's all I need. Thanks. Easy question. No, we can't. I just wanna I just wanna I just want to say that what you said, Miss Canon, is that if we're going to have programs that tutor kids and keep kids off the street in the afternoons and have after school programs, but that's a salary and so we have to pay people to do that work.
Yeah. But there's a difference between admin cost and direct services cost. I mean admin cost is the superintendent and the principal. It's not the teacher and the tutor. And so and and I only say this for clarification that's clarification. I I I say that just for the benefit of the citizens. I understand it clearly, Stephanie. But I'm saying there's a misnomer to the average citizen of how much money we're spending on admin costs versus direct services. And so I only do that as a point of clarification, not as a point of accusation. I do it as a point of clarification because citizens
want to understand that and we have to clearly explain that to them because it's their dollars. Right. I I understand. I thought you were asking for like how to tutors and I'm like well we can't have I'm not talking about tutors. You know what I'm saying? That's a big difference. But I think the WA article was a very misnomer and people read I don't read the newspaper. I don't listen. I know. But I'm saying but obviously our our constitu constituents read it and I read it and so it and so it was very confusing to to a lot of people right and that's why tonight I'm clear for the benefit of these people who spent five hours with me yesterday who
asked these same questions. I was trying to get clarification for them. Excuse me. What is her name? I can call and ask a question where she can later. I'm Tammy. Tam Tammy. Thank you. Okay. Now, if the board is ready to vote, do I have a motion to adopt resolution number 202512 as recommended by the finance committee and as discussed here allowing for the millage rate of 0.03798,
the roll back rate. Uh I have a motion to do that. Motion. Okay. Second. Motion has been made and seconded. Uh, Miss Ellis, will you take a roll call vote, please? Mr. Leonard, yes. Commissioner May, yes. Dr. Northup, yes. Miss White, yes. Mr. Williams, yes. Miss Woods, yes. We have all in favor. Okay. A vote then of 6 to zero. Resolution 2025-12 has been approved. Uh
at this point the uh at this time opening public hearing on proposed budget 420526. Dr. North, you're only required to read the top dark portion of the resolution. All right. Just to save you a little bit of breath. my last page. Okay. Resolution 2025-12, a resolution of the Escambia Children's Trust
adopting tenative millage rate to be levied and declaring the percentage change in the property tax. We need to read 13 for the budget. Excuse me, I have covered that one. Here we go. My apologies. Resolution is Scambia Children's Trust adopting the tenative budget for the fiscal year 2025 2026 again going from October 1 of 2025 until September 30th of 2026 and now based on the uh roll back uh
rate for that. And now having read that open the public hearing on proposed budget for the 2025 2026 fiscal year. Have read that comments from the public and are there any further comments or discussion than those we've heard already regarding the millage rate. Commissioner May, last night you said something about bringing this back on the ballot to vote right now. I I said
nothing of the sort. I said nothing of the sort. I mean, and so I don't want to get into a debate. Commissioner, the chairman said that and so with all with all due respect, I I I had no comment on last night. Point of order to Dr. North, right? Yeah. I mean, no, I I I mean, no, Dr. Point of Yes, ma'am. It doesn't matter. Yes, ma'am. I understand that is a choice. Point of right now military. Where's the choice to go back to the valley? That's when ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Okay.
Bring that with uh No, M. Mr. Chairman, I mean, we're getting ready to call. I mean, I'm I'm certainly open to someone to come to the D, but I don't want to have a conversation with someone. out there. If you it's your will for me to answer a question, I will. But I mean, we're about to call the question. Well, we have extended uh our meeting time already by 10 minutes beyond. Uh I don't want to be cutting those off, but we had no further forms submitted for comments on this part of the uh meeting. So with that in mind, the vote has been uh taken regarding the millillage.
Uh and so we will be closing our public. Mr. Chairman, yes. Mayor, with all due respect, because I respect everything that you do for the community, I'm happy to talk to you in the proper setting about any of your concerns at any tax. I just want an answer to what I asked. Yes, ma'am. I'm happy to do it outside. I'm happy to do it. Yes, ma'am. All right. Yes, ma'am. Okay, with closing the uh hearing with a good lively discussion, we do appreciate that. Again,
um any further comments from the board members and hearing none, we will uh then let me see now. No further amend motion to adopt resolution 202513 as recommended by the finance committee. We have approved the roll back budget. A motion to approve. Is that second? Okay. All righty. Now, Miss Ellis, would you please take a roll call vote
vote on the proposed budget? Mr. Leonard, yes. Commissioner May, yes. Dr. Northup, yes. Miss White, yes. Mr. Williams, yes. Miss Woods, yes. Thank you. We have all in favor. Okay. With a vote of 6 to0, resolution 202513 has been approved. Uh as well, no further business. Uh we will be uh adjourning this meeting. All in favor? I. Okay. Uh and the meeting stands adjourned at 5:42.
Now we will be getting ready to seat our regular board meeting. Over
Dr. Northup, whenever you're ready, sir. door next. What did I sit down? I don't care. Sit down.
[Music] We will be convening our regular board meeting here in just a moment. And again, if people would like to uh address the board during this meeting, uh there are forms to do so over here by the hand sanitizer. Would encourage everyone to do that and welcome everyone's uh input. Uh who does do that?
Yeah. Yes. All right. Well, we are ready to convene the uh September 10th, 2025 routine regularly scheduled meeting. Uh although I guess I cannot say it's the regularly scheduled meeting because the regularly scheduled meeting was last night and we have postponed the meeting for one night due to uh uh usage of this room as was mentioned previously for the county commission and they have dibs on the room first. So, this is our postponed by one day meeting of the
Escambia Children's Trust Board of Directors. Uh, getting underway a bit later than usual because of some lively discussion at the Trim meeting and that's good. Uh, anyway, at 17:46 or 5:46, I will call this to order. And Miss Ellis, could you uh form my roll call, please? I have Miss Kane is excused. Mr. Leonard here. Commissioner May. Dr. North here.
Miss White here. Mr. Williams here. Judge Williams present. Miss Woods present. Thank you. All right. And Mr. Williams, would you please lead our group in the pledgece of America to the stands nationy andice for all. Thank you. Uh we'll now ask for a motion to approve our agenda. So moved. Second.
All in favor? I. Any opposed? Okay, that is approved. The next is approval of the uh minutes from the August 12th regular board meeting as presented. Are there any changes, corrections, additions, deletions, modifications to those minutes? And hearing nothing and seeing nothing myself, then those minutes will uh stand as submitted.
And the next item is the treasures report from Miss Abrams. Um, and that is included in our packet. Thank you, Dr. Norrip. So, you've got your packet here. This is for financial reports through July 31st of 2025. And I am going to just help us make up a little bit of time. So, I'm going to skim over some things that I don't need to cover in depth. Um, on our budget, just so you know,
we nor we budgeted 5.94% of our expenses to be administrative. We are currently at 7.25 this year. That will get lower as more programs send in their reimbursements. When I do July's reports, none of the programs or very few programs actually have their reimbursement request in at that time. So, that will go down as the month goes on. Um, we did budget for 11,933,000 in property tax revenue. We budgeted for 96% of the amount that we could bill for and we actually received 97%. So,
we did receive 11,988,000 this year. On your revenue expense statement, you're going to see another line item you haven't seen before. It's called other miscellaneous revenue. So, that was not budgeted for. That is for the portion of the Pensacola Little Theater repayment that was recorded as expense in prior fiscal years. The money that was from this fiscal year went against the expenses for this year. But for prior fiscal year, talking to the auditor, we booked it as other revenue and it will be you back in used again for the programs. Um we are
at 75% of our fiscal year. We have spent 78% of our administrative budget and 66% of our program budget. Program budget is our largest line item. 11.8 million of our budget is all for program expenses. So the other big thing is that we had a balance on our awarded contracts of uh 10,900,000 and 20 million left in funding requested for their three-year contract grants. So out of our
21 million that we have in the bank, 17 million will be used to cover that obligated uh requested balance with 2.7 million being obligated out of future funding and that is for the United Way healthy schools that 2.7 million. Um, if you look at our last, you got the obligated cash that will show you exactly where the cash that we have in the bank is obligated to the different contracts and that is the last page of your um packet. So, if you have any questions, I can answer.
Okay. Okay. And reflecting back on our prior discussion of uh the trim budget and things I'm noting uh on the third page of our bit here, the last bit of the summary programs have surrendered a total of 5,369,613 that was awarded but not spent and that those dollars revert to the trust and are then
utilized for funding of uh ongoing funding of those programs andor other uses uh that again fall within the uh scope and uh interest of the trust. Yes. Um so all of our grants are done on a reimbursement basis. So we don't pay any money to the to the contracts or to the providers upfront. They have to submit all receipts to us and we pay them month by month as they submit their receipts and we go through them and review them and ask them questions. Uh when we're good and
we're clear with everything, we pay them for that month that was in the they've already done. So, um, when it reverts back to us, it's all on paper because I have it obligated on paper and when they don't spend it at the end of the contract period, I'm able to put that back as, um, unobligated funding that we are able to use again for other programs. Okay. Thank you. Other comments, uh, questions regarding the finance? The staff recommendation is to uh file the financial report
for the month ending July 31, 2025 as presented. Okay, thank you. And the next item of business is public comments. And do we have any individuals? I'm not aware don't see any uh papers or request for that. So we will go to the next item. is a special presentation by Girls Incorporated.
And thank you and welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening everyone and thank you for allowing me to speak this evening about all the great things that happened with our third annual My Selfie Needs No Filter Summer Camp. And I know you can probably hear my voice right now. Um, I've been a little under the weather. I feel a lot better right now. I'm not contagious, but I'm still coming down off of something. So, I apologize for sounding nasely. I promise I won't sing. I go by Erikica Lanes. I am the founder and president of Girls Incorporated.
This summer marked the seventh my selfie needs no filter summer camp that we actually did in our area and it proved to be one of the most successful camps to date. Engagement, attendance, and enthusiasm were notably higher than in the previous years. We delivered a comprehensive and culturally responsive summer program tailored to girls aged 13 to 18 from diverse backgrounds. Notably, 100% of our current girls club members enrolled in this year's summer camp,
showing strong program cohesion and continuity. And we are going to talk about the girls club in just a moment. Now, am I driving this or do I say slide click? What? Okay. Well, I do click it. It's all right. I'm just saying. Okay. Okay. This summer, we expanded our operational infrastructure. We onboarded four assistant directors, all of whom had deep ties to the program. A returning staff member, a seven camp veteran, a former college intern,
and one who joined as a camper three years ago and came back as an assistant director. We also recruited a diverse group of volunteers and leaders. These leaders were provided with a half-day training on operations and we initiated a new partnership with Feeding the Gulf Coast to manage daily food service. Camp staff received training in inventory tracking, food assessments, and reporting protocols. In total, we engaged 10 volunteers, each contributing to various aspects
of camp life, including transportation, activity coordination, cleanup, and mentorship support. Recruitment for this year's camp yielded 119 total registrations and we went through every single one of them with 71 girls officially enrolled and 64 successfully completing the program a 90% retention rate. Of the 71 who attended, 68 were ECT supported campers. The camp was
hosted at the Real Women Radio Foundation office complex. The ladies there once again provided us with welcoming accommodations and exceptional support. Our program opened with a celebratory summer kickoff barbecue. This is how we start all of our summer camps. Like you cannot have a summer camp without barbecue. I mean, we had hamburgers, hot dogs, we had um popsicles, like the whole nine yards. Adding a festive tone that continued throughout the summer session.
Camp programming was structured around our signature five selfie pillars. Self-esteem, self-confidence, self-respect, self-care, and self-love. Each day centered around one of these themes with three to four daily summer workshops led by professional men and women from our local community. Workshops included painting your emotions with a licensed artist, career and college readiness with representatives from the University of West Florida, music therapy and empowerment with a female DJ who is also an LCSW which was really fun. Health and beauty,
smart decisionmaking. Um, and that was an engagement delivered by the Escami County Sheriff's Office, also highlighting self-driven success, financial budgeting, and understanding that teen pregnancy could mean trading a day at the nail salon and mall for a day stuck at home changing dirty diapers and cleaning throw up from your favorite hoodie, which they did not um seem like they wanted to trade that out, which was great. Morning girls talk circles covered topics such as social media pressure, assertive
communication, teen pregnancy prevention, substance use awareness and leadership. What is a summer camp without going outside? Enrichment activities included fun and bonding field trips to the Pensacola History Museum, the pool, and the skating rink. And to add a little razledazzle to our summer program, we did not go by way of a chunky yellow school bus. We took a party bus everywhere we went. So they heard us coming. They saw
us coming with the neon lights. And this just helped to boost morale and promote further sisterhood. I think the adults adored or I'm sorry enjoyed the party bus more than the girls did. The camp concluded with a powerful showand tell session giving each camper a chance to build public speaking skills while reflecting on meaningful personal experiences.
All the girls who completed the summer camp participated in our end of camp graduation ceremony. Certificates, goodie bags, pizza party, music, dancing. Tick- tock, tick- tock, tick tock. These girls love tick- tock dances, and that is what we allowed them to do. To assess the program's impact, we administered pre and post camp surveys to the campers. These included three quantitative self-report questions measuring perceptions of leadership,
self-confidence, and decision-making using a five-point Lyford scale with one um meaning strongly disagree and then five strongly agree. A total of 61 campers completed both the pre and post test surveys. The findings revealed meaningful p self-persceived growth across key social emotional skill areas. Under leadership, 46% showed an increase in their self-proceived leadership abilities. One camper representing 2% reported a decrease. Self-confidence, 31% reported
increased confidence from pre to post tests. And then under decision-making, 34% indicated an increase in their ability to make thoughtful and informed decisions. Three campers representing 5% reported a decrease in these areas. Something that we realized is on the pretest, that's before the programming began with the summer camp. Some of the girls came in and reported their self-esteem on a four or on a five. It wasn't until the end of the summer camp when they learned what
self-confidence was, what leadership really meant that they realized, well, maybe I'm not on a five, maybe I'm more like a three or more like a four. So, that's where we saw those decreases come in. I put this up here. It looks really wordy, but I felt like this was very important because this came from a young lady who's 14 years old, homeschooled. Um, she's very introverted, and her mother reached out to me before she came to the summer camp and let us know, we don't
know how this is going to go with her. Um, she's very particular in terms of her social circles. One of the things that we did at the end of the camp is we asked also qualitative questions open-ended. And one of them was, "What was your favorite part of the camp and why?" And this is what this young lady said. As you can see, she had a blast. And I had to make sure that I shared this on our social media platforms with the um approval of her parent. And when her mom read this, of course, there were tears of joy. She said, "I loved listening to the stories. The book
was amazing. wonderful author. I love to paint your emotions. I will absolutely love to meet that guy and work with him on art again. Super wonderful man. I loved Andy the cop. I hope he's doing okay. He's a wonderful man. That guy changed my perspective on men. I am scared of most men. And I won't lie that when I saw him, I was scared of him at first glance. After I heard his story, it completely changed how I think about not just men, but people in general. That guy truly
is a man. I stood up and shook his hand after his speech and introduced myself. I truly hope to make a difference like he did. I love the skating rink. I live for skating. It was great. I love that when it was time to get serious, it was serious. I love the talk about hygiene and sex. I never really learned anything from my schooling about stuff like that. I learned from my parents, don't worry. And I overall think it's a great topic to talk about the story. I forgot the name of the one girl that died of an overdose. I love the fact that her story is being told because
what most people don't understand is that this was a human, a person with a life and hopes and dreams and drug overdose awareness is something I fully believe should be talked about more. I loved all of the stories and the energy that was beautifully poured into it. perspectives in my heart changed after this camp. What more do you want? How would you describe this camp to a friend who has never been before? This was not from this same
young lady. This was a totally different camper. It's where you're around girls your age and guided by strong women who have been through it and they're not afraid to tell you the truth. It's about growing, laughing, learning, and healing. You learn stuff no one teaches you at school, like how to forgive yourself, protect your peace, and not repeat the pain your mama or auntie went through. And then the other same question, how would you describe the camp to a
friend who has never been? The best experience you can have. It gives great understanding of female empowerment and what it looks like to walk through the world as a teenage girl. My eyeballs are just sweating, not crying. We secured both monetary and inind support from private donors, government entities such as the Escambia County Sheriff's State Law Enforcement Trust Fund, and a new community partnership, as mentioned before, Feeding the Gulf Coast, and of course, the Escambia Children's Trust. One
particularly heartwarming example was a supporter from Miami. Ladies and gentlemen, I cannot make this up. Who handcrafted customized my selfie needs no filter bracelets for every camper. When shipping delays became a concern, she personally I put traveled, but she drove overnight to Pensacola from Miami to handdel the bracelets before the camp ended. And this is me and her to the left
and then one of her school friends or friends from school to the right. And then those are pictures of the bracelets. She just fell in love with what it is that we do and said, "I'm coming." So what now? Following the success and completion of the My Selfie Needs No Filter Summer Camp, all participants were invited to complete an interest form for the 2025 2026 program year of the girls club, our leadership program. This invitation was sent prior to opening registration to the public,
allowing our campers to receive priority VIP access. As a result, 40% of campers submitted forms expressing interest in continuing their summer journey with us. 75 expressed interest, 27 were selected. The girls club cabinet, that is our newest thing that we are starting this year. This is a leadership team made up of six of the girls club members who applied to be cabinet members and
were chosen. They understand that serving on the cabinet is an honor and a responsibility. Cabinet members are leaders, role models, and active voices in our community. and shaping the direction of the girls club. To be selected for this role, each participant had to submit a 30 to 60 second video answering the question, "Why should you be selected to serve on the girls club cabinet?" I didn't know whether to be proud and excited or scared when I got some of these videos. We got
raps, we got song and dances, we got um renditions from Coming to America. I know some of you have seen that movie. They were very creative. Um, really proud. Some just completely froze in front of the camera, but I was proud that they at least tried. And this is just a little glimpse of what some had said. Hi, I'm Mara Yidden. I am 17 and I'm currently in the 12th grade. I'm very passionate about leadership and I want young girls to feel empowered and supported just like I have.
I feel that I should be selected to be on the girls club cabinet because I'm honest, dependable, trustworthy, and a great leader. And I could make you laugh. Like, I might be shy just at first, but once I get to know you, we're going to be giggling and having a blast. My experience I've had with Miss Erica has it's changed my life. Honestly, it's given me different perspectives of life and even myself. And it's just really had an impact on me. I believe that with my knowledge I have now, I can use it to empower other girls and help them with problems that may be similar to the things
I used to go through. If I'm selected, I would help other girls my age, younger, and even older, build confidence and help them understand their purpose and what the girls club is all about. I thank you so much for the opportunity and I will be so honored to serve the captain. I'm excited to make a difference for other young women. And thank you. So cute, right? 17 years old, Miss Mariana. 14 years old. I know that's very important. Oh. Um, hi there. Yes. One moment, madam. Hi,
my name is Aaron Sette and this is why I think I should be considered for girls club cabinet. What girls club means to me is being able to have a safe community. I want to provide that for younger girls my age, older and younger. Being on the cabinet means you would get both perspectives, older and younger, cuz I'm smack dab at 14. And I could use my voice to speak out and make everyone's side heard. And in the wise words of Aaron Burr, no one really know how the game is played, the R chess, how the sausage gets
made. We just assume that it happened cuz no one else was in the room where it happened. eating. [Music] Now, if you'll excuse me, Madam President's on the phone. Bye.
Good stuff. Needless to say, those two were one of the ones chosen. And last but not least, um, one of my favorite success stories that came from our summer camp and our girls club, um, that I would like to share with you, I would like for you to meet Miss McKenna. She is one of our most inspiring young leaders at age at at just 15 years old. McKenna is the proud founder of Mural Snack Shack, a bold blackowned women lemonade stand
offering creative flavors like Lavender Garden and Tropical Island Wave. Not only did McKenna sell out her very first day, but she also launched a delivery option, catered corporate events, and continues to operate with energy and professionalism beyond her years. Her enthusiasm, work ethic, and charisma earned her our life of the party award during the camp. McKenna embodies what Girls Club stands for, confidence, leadership, creativity, and purpose,
and we are beyond proud of her success and look forward to continuing to support her growth. The My Selfie Needs No Filter Summer Camp provided a safe space for girls to see their own power, build confidence, and step into leadership lanes. As you can see, the journey does not end when the summer camp does. Through the girls club, our campers and other team members from our community continue to grow, lead, and give back, turning the lessons they learn into action and impact
where they live, learn, work, and worship. The Girls Club is where confidence meets leadership and selfies need no filter. Thank you all for believing in them and for investing in their potential and for standing with us as we continue this important work. The best is yet to come and these girls are ready to lead the way with your continued support. Thank you. [Applause] Any any questions? Am I supposed to stand for a question? No. No question. Just comment. you know,
we we know each other from way back and I'm just really really proud of what you're doing in the community and this is an example of someone who was doing this even before she uh she received the fund. She was this type of advocate for kids in our community. So, I commend you. Thank you for what you're doing and uh keep keep up the good work. Thank you. I appreciate it. That was very impressive. Thank you. Thanks, Erica. You've always done great. Thank you. and a lot of you girls I see in our programs and the etiquets that
they have is commendable. So, thank you for what you do. Thank you. I appreciate it. Okay. These are things that I would hope our participants from our prior discussion would uh avail themselves of presentations like this that are so informative and and things. So, Well, but uh anyway, impressive. Thank you for your contribution yourself. Uh business operations,
uh nothing noted there. Programs uh presentation of year end mental health program report. Miss Ray, thank you. Good evening, board. Um, we shared the report with the program committee earlier and we also had an opportunity to visit with each of our mental health program providers. So, um, in our initial conversations, we definitely wanted to go over a checklist that would be new
to the renewal process and something that will continue to be reflected and moving forward and incorporated in their quarterly reports. Now none of this although it's our first time doing a formal checklist these are not new categories as far as what those expectations have been. It is allow us to make sure as we're reviewing and going towards year three that we have met all of their contractual proposed obligations and if not we have those conversations as to why any necessary adjustments. So this was the first time that we had this level of conversation but not
the first time that we would review with each of the providers prior to the program committee. Um this allows them to look at the graphs. The graphs have been a little bit more detailed as we saw in the OST reports. It captures their the initial dosages as well as their proposed participants um as well as the proposed dollars and the spent dollars. So, we wanted them to be able to ask clarifying questions prior to that meeting. So, that definitely was accomplished. They also had
an opportunity to attend the program committee. I see a few of them that are here today and they were able to answer any clarifying questions that that board had at the time as far as the program committee. So, we may have made adjustments since that as well. So you can look at those categories and I'm not going to go over each of them, but the outcome of those review um resulted in making some adjustments to some of the programs. So they're only five. So it's not like um our out
of school time where we're looking at 15, but we can look at each of them um remind everyone of their their dosages and services as well as discussions that took place in those preliminary meetings with those providers. So it was important for us. I think year one we looked at it. They um you know not knowing how the programing was going to look like they allowed them for those initial adjustments in year one. um in year two they made them and going into year three we should
be on that um that slide towards meeting those dosages and services according to proposal if not um do we need to do a change of scope before year three do we need to clarify do we need to reduce and so forth so if you look at boys and girls club u we wanted to look at each of the mental health components of their their grant you know they have OST and they also have mental health as an additional service. So looking at there are three programs of yoga and meditation, nutritional
cooking classes and insight club counseling. Um you can see there if you go to the next page we have the change of scope on the left but before I review that um because we were not going to vote on that today as far as it but I just wanted to explain to you as to why that came into play for them and making those changes to their program for year three. So if we look at their initial program budget um their total expenditures and their proposed number versus actual now this was from
um from October through I'm sorry from August to June. And so I looked at those numbers just to verify if there were going to be any changes because ending it in June, they may not have met that number, but I wanted to anticipate through July and their end of contract um being before October if they were going to meet it. So if you look at there, there's a difference about 100 proposed students. Um it wouldn't be likely that they would meet that prior to their going into year three. So we had that discussion. Um there were some explanations that were provided.
um they needed to get some permission from parents, especially on the one-on-one counseling. Parents not having a full understanding as to the type of conversations that may even happen during yoga and the culinary part, which typically are are highly attended programs. Um and so I think just having those additional conversations with parents and opportunities for family engagement may assist in that. But I think they did um a good thing and looking at their their programs. there are some attendance issues that could happen and so um Mr. Stone was going to work with that team.
They were purchasing iPads even to do their attendance in real time. If you go there dur out of school time, we we visited Montlair, they had over 150 kids. So if you're not taking that attendance in real time, you could forget very well who participated in each of those programs. So they're working closely with Rick so that they can capture that at the time of the program um and that participation. So I think that's going to be helpful in moving forward. They did submit a change of scope reducing their proposed number of participants to 260 from that original 350 and
also reducing their finances by about 27%. So, I think you you know having those conversations and offering those explanations and them being um stewards good stewards of their finances and noticing I think this is the second year that we've noticed their expenditures have been lower um consistently and so for them to um allow that money to be freed so that that could be returned and it would be unobligated and we can um make those adjustments as necessary to other programs and needs throughout the community. Any questions about boys and girls?
Okay. You can see how the graphs are and I think it was um kind of a shock when you're looking at it this way. Um we're going to encourage our our programs to not look at it midyear or annually. Like this is information that everyone has access to um even monthly if they wanted to look at their trends. So you can see there it's going to give you the number of days that the programs are offered. So for example, if you look at October, um look at in club counseling, 17 sessions were offered in October. And then if you look at the number of participants attending
services, you have 26. And then it does give you a breakdown of of those 26 participants, their average monthly attendance is there. So you would see four, they average four times of those 26 participants. So it gives you very granular data that you can have those ongoing conversations with staff breaking it down by each of the programs, the trends that they're seeing, um if attendance was recorded accurately. Um I think that communication during the reimbursement
period um is frequently asked, are you sure you have captured all of your attendance? Um, and that just allows us to clarify if it's accurate, um, and if it goes along with the the dollars that they have spent in that given month during that reimbursement time. Next, we have lamp lighters. And we I did see Mr. um, Freeman and Mr. Glee here as well. If you have any additional questions for them, they are here in person to clarify or offer those explanations.
And so we did the exact same thing having those discussions with Lamplighter looking at their summary of dosages and services. Um looking at each of those items to see where we are in moving forward. Um, a frequent question that may be asked if you're not spending all of your dollars and before you relinquish them to make sure that you're able to with the residual fundings um are able to um attain each of those services as well as the goals and objectives that they projected in those initial proposals. So, you can um see there as far as within their budget,
they had a recommendation. We didn't need a change of scope because they were going to still serve the same number of participants in programming um comparable to their initial proposal, but it was reduced in year 3 by 51,750. Um so from 285 31 315 to 233565. So those adjustments were made in the areas of salaries and wages, equipment, facilities, lease and uniforms. You can see the same thing there as far as with their their proposed number and actual um they
will have met their proposed number by the time of their renewal of the contract and um met their dosages and goals as well. So I believe there were some questions when looking at the budget um and moving forward and clarification. So unsure if you have any additional questions of this board um and looking forward so that you can see the same um information looking at their different services that they offer monthly academic services esteem and self-efficacy development
mental health services mentoring and self-care promotion. We had an opportunity to to see the the young men prior to what would have been like a showcase game. Um but the Navar game um we visit the day before got rained out. So unfortunately didn't get a chance to do that. But they were they came across as very confident men, excited about the season and spoke um very fondly of their experiences in within the program. Any questions about lamp lighters, budgets? Um, anything while we had their presence? No. Good. New World Believers,
we have Mr. Rodney Jones. Um, like I said, we visited each of these programs. We were able to clarify some areas for Mr. Jones as well. But if we look at their financial review, um there were discussions about adjusting their budget and they're going to reduce it by about $26,996 from the original 597463 to 570467. He um at the start of year two also submitted a change of scope so that they can go beyond the
initial um restrictions of area I mean zip codes that were 32501 and 32505. they've expanded to allow um further growth or recommendations from DJJ to see any participant throughout Escambia County um and also to extend their um their participant incentives to go beyond their 90 days. It allows for those who did not participate consistently in that original cycle to still reap the rewards of the um participant dollars that they get to
spend through their continuous participation dedication to um program and those services. Um any questions on New World Believers? We clarified for them some attendance questions that we had while we were there. Um and looking at some of the numbers, you can see some of the patterns that we saw. Um if you look at the number of days of program services are offered, um some of the numbers look very much the same. And so um at any point he could have 50
participants attend in one day. Um undoubtedly they're not going to go to each one of these um services each one at a time. So we're just talking about um really capturing what they are participating in when they are there. So, they do have a a large building. They're able to divide and conquer. They have informed and trained staff that can break those groups up to allow for more of those intimate conversations, um, collaboration. And so, we ask that they capture that exactly how they are divided on those given days. And so,
we look so we would have a little bit more authentic data. And they totally understood. We know that they're there. They're there in the neighborhoods. They're doing great work. We just want to help them to capture that more accurately so that we can answer those questions accordingly. Any questions on hoops? All right. And we have Yes. Yes, sir. Um puzzled confused. Not clear on each of these programs you've talked about. You've got two graphs here and Rick is there as well. It's probably user uh interpretation. number of participants attending
program services monthly. And just for example, I'm looking at the Montlair Elementary School uh chart. Uh and then immediately on the opposite page, average monthly attendance for program services. And I'm just arbitrarily picking a month of March. And under the number of participants attending program services monthly, I'm looking at the one nutrition and cooking, I've got 96.
You've got that page again. Let's see. Montlair Elementary School. Oh, I'll look at Englewood, too. Sorry. Or I can pick any of those. That's all right. That's right. Right. So if we're looking at Montlair Montlair right the number of participants program services monthly looking at nutrition and cooking I see 96 as I'm interpreting that then 96 kids part participated in the month of March
right in that now the very next the opposite page average monthly attendance for program services I'm looking at March again and I'm looking at the same one nutrition and cooking And it says two, right? One of them an average daily attendance versus an average monthly attendance. Why am I seeing 96 kids participated under March in that program but an average of two kids for the month?
As I say, I'm just puzzled by that. So the total number or the average number of those 96 in March, they only attended twice. So it gives you an average of a participant and their average attending the programs that they were offered. So a total of 96 but 96 kids but the average times that they participate that right is twice. Yes sir. Okay. So it's not two kids. No the bottom there. No it's how many times that they attend the available attended that offering. Right.
Yes. Okay. All right. So that helps clarify that. So on all of these, that's what those two are noting is one is the number of attendees and then the one opposite page average monthly attendance for program services is the number of times that they attended. I'm looking at what is this Pensacola High School uh number pick. uh April 30 no 53 went to mentoring but
uh of those 53 on average they only attended three mentoring sessions right yes okay got it okay thank you right that granular data will tell you that they're going to be successful on their overall outcomes right it's almost like school attendance right a student that's there for 95% of the time is going to have better outcome that those that attend for 80% of the time So it gives you that granular data as to are you reaching your outcomes? Was it because you didn't have consistent attendance and a lot of them are able to tell a story. If you're looking at secondary,
you have kids that are involved in multiple programs, right? Or have um makeup activities and things like that, enrichment that they have to do. So the the data allows them to see it but also to offer any explanation as to what could be a possible barrier to um continuous participation and the attainment of their proposed goals. Does that make more sense Dr. Northre as far? Yes. Okay.
Thanks for that explanation. No, absolutely. Um, Twin Oaks, they have a a unique um tiered system of supports. Um, you will look at the the change of scope also that they have done um at the early onset of um year two um to also expand to other zip codes around the county due to referrals from DJJ,
etc. and just um surveying their families as to the need in other locations. So, they're tier one, you're going to see they yield the most numbers and that's going to be due to their outreach component of their program. Tier two, um it gets a little bit more on an individual basis as far as their reach out um the initial needs that um their participants may have and then from there they make recommendations for tier three and tier four support. So, as you see the tiers, some of the
numbers will decrease. You're going to have the largest at outreach and then it's scaled down to accommodate more of the more um informal needs to those individual participants and their families. That program budget is also there. um their total expenditures and looking at um the recommendations for our from our meeting that they in year three um they are requesting to
reduce it by $12,000. Um so you can see the amounts there. Um they also explained that with their their um change of scope in addition to the zip codes they have ambassadors and so um initially they proposed a larger number to for reimbursement or to to give back but they had to take into account that their staff had not been hired to accommodate the ambassadors and um still had some other um staff members that had not been hired as of yet. So they took
into account and it had a less lesser number for that overall amount to return from their grant. So if you look at their graphs and their tier services, you will see the large amounts of the outreach. Um they had a total total of 136 sessions that were captured from October to June. Um you can see the number of interactions as well as adult interactions um in that process of the
tiered outreach support and then the breakdown of the other services that are offered beyond the outreach components. Same type of information that we see from the other ones and a breakdown of each of their services that are offered monthly as well as the frequency of that attendance. are broken down as well. We had some in-depth discussions about their um tier 2, three and four and some of those activities is that we are able to um ask those questions that may be
asked of us and looking at some of those numbers looking lower and some of those other programs as far as how many times they attend beyond capturing that initial particip participation. Youth up behind. Last but not least, they have a lower budget um than a lot of our programs. Um, when you visit Hassan and Miss Katrina and their team out there, you could see signs that are outlined of their program of all of their inind and
their alternate funding sources that they have. So they've captured that beautifully um in this report as far as the sustainability um projections that they have and getting out in the community and sharing their data and also getting those donations to their program. So you're not going to see any changes for that proposal to reduce um cost andor participants. In fact, he also did a change of scope at the onset of theirs to incorporate um 9year-olds 9 to
18 because of some of the the older siblings that he wanted to make those adjustments so he could serve the families as well as going outside of the um 32501 and 3250 zip codes. Okay. Any questions overall mental health program renewal and where we currently stand? Um I do I do want to make a comment. We based on the program committee just so you know typically
we would have a call for renewal of contracts. At this point there were a lot of very detailed financial questions that were being asked. So you are seeing a drop in these but we've gone back and this is unfortunately poor mental health. They're like the first ones that always get this from us, but it is a shift related to their their line item budgets. We've asked them to go back. Tammy's done a really great job of putting together a line item budget that shows you exactly how to pinpoint formulas. I think some of our organizations that are larger and have a lot of support um know how to do this. They've done it for a while. Some of our others don't. We're working
with them through that. But going into year three, they need to really have a a true understanding of what their cost is and how they're getting to those numbers. So, we'll be bringing that back to the next program committee. We've given them time to go back and look at that budget so that we can make sure that we're matching um budget and line item that makes sense to program. And then um we'll go ahead and call for an approval. We'll bring those back to the October meeting um for approval if everybody's satisfied on the program committee and then um we'll of course
make sure that those grants start October 1st so that there won't be any gap for children. So even though our our meeting is a little later. So I just wanted to clarify that on the budget even though they've done some reductions, we do want to look at what they're actually paying for because this will be a great thing for our providers when they're looking for other funding to be able to really capture that as well and knowing their true costs. So Mr. Chairman, yeah, and and Mr. Free, Mr. here from Lamplines. I didn't know if they wanted
to say anything at this time. If it's all right with Yes, with the board. Thank you. Good evening, board. Um, just echoing what Miss Canon said. It certainly year two for us was a learning lesson for Pensacola High School football. Uh when we arrived at the Pride program, um they had 24 football players and Pensacola High School football was probably at its lowest it's been in probably 20 years. Uh they now have close to 85 players. Um this year has been
a struggle so far as far as on the field, but off the field they have some of their highest grades that they've had. Um the young men are reporting to be a lot more confident. Uh the referrals are down for football players. Um they are bought in. Um they've taken their bumps. They've played probably the three best teams in our district the first three games of the year. But um we're confident and long-term this team and the players being successful not just
on the field but off the field. Uh Coach McKenna wanted to come tonight to tell you how much the Pride program has benefited his program. um things have not been perfect for him or for the program, but we've learned a lot. We've learned about some of the supports that are there that the school offers that has helped us to reduce our budget and we're thankful for those partnerships. The school um sees what we're doing and they have allowed us to partner with them in a way that's very unique to Pensacola High School. So, we fully expect for the four seniors who are playing this year
to graduate and not just finish playing football, but to go on to college or to trades. And they have about 60% I'm sorry, closer to 70% of their players who are ninth and tth graders who are playing varsity football for the first time. So, they will take some of their bumps on the field, but they're a lot more resilient than the teams have been in the past. So we thank you for your patience with this project that we've had and we believe that year three will probably be our most successful year as far as outcomes are concerned. So thank you for the time.
Thank you. Okay. Uh Lindsay, I have here on my uh agenda the mental health year three renewal update. Have you got anything further to add? Okay. And then sticking with you early learning coalition school readiness year three match. Yes. This will be going into our third year of our contract
um with early learning coalition for match for school readiness dollars. There is no change in the requested revenue. Um what's what is attached to this that's a little bit different is we're starting to really pull these reports together for you all so you have the visual. Um there is a synopsis of what this project is um what our match does and then um and then where we're serving. So, um, we would recommend this. We've we've met with the program committee. We recommend going forward with this. We know at this time really how important, um, early child early childhood uh,
education is um, and the difference that we can make for working families specifically, which is who are the benefactors of our match dollars. I have a question. Yes. When you say match, are we matching what they're bringing in? Cuz I don't I I thought a match was they're we're matching what they have, but the members don't match. Does that not mean that we match that 50/50? What is match mean? It's it Well, it's a dollar for-doll match that you have to bring in and it has to be local dollars. There is a gap in funding from the state that creates a financial
challenge for families. And so the request for the match local is for the gap to be covered, too. So that's why you're seeing the differential between oh my gosh let me put on my glasses uh the 186 786 to the 238 there is a month there that we cover through local funds again that was something that was um with the county that had done that in the past for the match that and that is the way it's been structured from the department of early learning. So that's why we're
giving 238 and the state funding is 179. It it it was it's now 186. Okay. So that Yeah, that's the new request. So they did get a slight increase, but they did not ask for an increase from us. They're able to cover some of that. So the reason it's we're not giving 186 is because we fill in a gap where Yes. Okay. That's Yeah, there's like a month gap. Okay. Around the funding. Other questions?
Okay. The recommendation is a program committee recommended approval of resolution 202514 allowing for year three renewal of the early learning coalition school readiness match contract. And do I have a motion? Okay. Thank you. Second. And it's been seconded. Okay. Um, any further questions or discussion?
Okay. If not, all in favor? I I. Any opposed? Okay. Motion passes. And now a legal report from Megan. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. really no substantive update for the board other than just to remind the board that of course the request for exemption from the CRA um tax incremental revenue for years 21 through 24 remains pending with the city of Pensacola that was submitted
at the end of July. Um the statutory framework contemplates a public hearing within 120 days to consider that request. That has not yet been set. That would mark right at the end of December. It's our understanding um from conversation with the city attorney um that it will be a very similar process to with the county with the exemption being hopefully granted and entering into an interlocal agreement with the city. Um of course we don't know that yet but um all signs point to that being the process. Mr. Cobb did request kind of a form interlocal agreement and I provided
to him what we submitted to the county. Um that was last week so I anticipate I'll hear from him shortly. Um and of course we'll continue to update the board on that process and nothing further from the legal report. Thank you. Okay. Uh any further questions, comments, discussion from the board. With that in mind, we'll move for adjournment and apologize for the longer meeting time here, but thank everyone for their input and thank you all for attending as well.