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okay good morning everyone want to uh welcome everyone to the uh board of directors meeting for the children's trust this morning and I wanted to call the meeting to order I understand that uh Miss Tory Woods will be joining us here shortly and I want to thank all the other members of the
board for participating this morning as well as the staff and most importantly you all as the public uh so um want a couple of reminders here this morning one if everyone could turn their cell phones to a silence mode if they would please and then if anyone anticipates wanting to make some public comments which we certainly welcome if they would please fill out the form uh to the let me see left of the podium left of the podium over there okay there they are and
uh then turn those into Alma up here she will take those uh the speakers will be limited to three minutes uh time period uh if you do make comments or choose to make comments and uh with that having been said again welcome to everyone and Elma will you begin with the roll call please Miss Woods Mr Williams here Dr northop here Mr Leonard Miss Kane
here commissioner May here miss white here judge Harris thank you okay the next item would be uh Mr Williams please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance everyone please stand joed flag United States of America and to the rep it stands Nation indivisible
andice thank you next item of agenda will be approval of today agenda like thank you get a second thank you has been moved and second it all in uh any discussion and if not all in favor I I any opposed okay the next item is approval of the minutes and somewhat uniquely this meeting we
have two sets of minutes to approve in light of the fact that at the last meeting we had both our annual board meeting and then secondly had our regular board meeting so the first item will be to approve the minutes of the annual board uh meeting that took place last month and any changes Corrections alterations if not those will be submitted or recorded as submitted okay all right all in in favor I okay next will be approval of the regular director's
meeting which also took place last month but at a uh separately recorded uh set of minutes and motion to approve those any discussion Corrections deletions modifications to those if not could we vote on those all in favor any opposed so those pass as well thank you next would be the treasur
report uh by Tori but absent Miss Woods at least for now uh Tammy could I call on you to present the financials oh here comes Miss woods so so the finance committee did not have a chance to meet this month due to other obligations we had out of town so um so I have not went over these with Miss woods yet so um anyway our highlights you got the packet in the board in the you've got
the financial report in the packet our balance sheet is the first thing you're going to see in there we're in good financial situation we are looking at um our net assets of 27 million most of that is obliged for current Grant obligations that we have we also have uh 500,000 in the in the budget for the city's CRA for this year and we have u 480,000 in this year's budget
for the county CRA along with the contingency we have on there and I know Lindsay will talk about that more later but if there's no questions about financials if you looked over them um I'm going to recommend that they get filed for the month ending December 31st 2024 as presented thank you Tammy and Miss Woods I know we are catching you kind of uh suddenly here but any additional comments or anything regarding the finances no sir um and I just want to thank Tammy she does
a great job so it's easy looking over things and if I ever have a question she's always on it um I noted in reviewing some of the uh comments being made in the community or inquiries concerns being made that there was some question in addition to the City of Pensacola and the scambia county of uh having any mention of any potential commitments or responsibilities or whatever for the city of
century and if that is something that we could be uh informed about either at this time or is that something Miss Canon that you plan on doing when we get to the executive director's report or Tammy I can tell you on our on our balance sheet we have a contingent liability to the county for 69,6 184 that is due to the invoice they sent us for the 21 and 22 CRA taxes we have not paid those due to them being so far behind invoicing us and looking at other legal issues the city
never has sent us an invoice yet so we don't have an exact dollar amount that we would owe the city so there was no contingent liability recorded for them but they are in our current year budget for 500,000 and the count is in our current year budget for 480,000 okay thank you for that explanation uh any further discussion regarding the finance report and if not then uh recommend the uh Finance operations committee filing of the said report uh for ending December 31st first okay
I'm told we do not need a motion on that having discussed it and looked at it yes um I just on here it says ending December 31st 2025 that should be 2024 right thank you good pickup yes thank you so there is attention paid to details thank you for that okay uh the next item then is any public
comments uh to be made I'm seeing from Miss Alma that we've not had anyone fill out any of the requests or anything so we will then proceed to a special presentation by Chain Reaction group I see a number of them here and thank you all for coming and uh providing us with this information hi um I think you most of you know me I'm Kristen Fairchild the founder and executive director we are so excited to share our program with you today um I have a 8 minute
video that you'll get to watch um it is of these beautiful students behind me and as you see them cringing it's because they haven't seen it yet so as you see their faces um that would be why uh we have three sites so we have our Chain Reaction Center at PSC um we have our second location that just opened in January at Escambia we were originally trying to get into Pine Forest but they did not feel like any students would want participate so we had to regroup but our largest program and the one we've been at for over 14 months now is Pensacola high school we
have about 67 different students um and so what you're going to see in here is our indicators our benchmarks our milestones and our shortterm results from the voices of the students so it will really explain kind of the science behind CR we were rebranded about 10 years ago about chemistry that's what id group brand us at and the reason why is it seems very simple but it's very complex to help transform these students to be the best of themselves so I think you'll
get a sense of that um I also hope I the doing this gr has been unbelievably uh difficult and unbelievably rewarding um I think you guys have seen that on your end too uh starting a whole new organization up there as well as us taking our program and figuring out everything to get these kids to buy in they like us now but it took a lot of song and dance uh and learning how to take our program and fit it to a school and moving back and forth but when you see this
um I took over an hour a video of students it's it's magic and I hope it also brings a smile to y'all's face because we're truly changing lives and this would have never happened without the trust we always knew it was possible but it never would have it's why I campaign for the trust and so I hope this uh warms your heart as much as it did mine and with that cue the [Music] video my name is r evil this ke Williams Kim BR and I'm in 11th grade okay my name is p dor I'm
in a I'm a senior my name is GG and I attend Pensacola High School name is chelen Maxwell and what grade are you in baby ninth grade I'm a a freshman my name is Zarah Zarah what grade are you in I'm in an 11th grade Lucy Stevenson Taiwan moss and where you all go to school pensaco high school and pensaco high school and then what are your titles um president president okay one day I was just walking around after school cuz I had basketball practice okay so
I was just exploring and then I walked towards the cafeteria I looked up in here and I seen all types of fun things so I want to do some of those fun things okay well I don't know I just like ever since my first day at Chain Reaction I liked it it so it's like why not keep coming back it helped me by like make me feel welcome you know like with all the people and why do you love Ste um it helps me relax especially with what I have going on at
home yeah I just like come in here to like you know make stuff and it's amazing and all that why do you love it because it helped me meet new people such just Lucy um it also brings out a different side of me a better side of me I think why do you love chain reaction because it's a safe place to come to like today I was really like my sixth period made me mad I almost like kind of almost panicked a little bit so here you can come here and listen to music
paint or like you know Express how you feel with somebody and it's just really safe and calm it's a quiet Critter it's a attempted fail quiet Critter let's see how cute he is oh I love it okay yeah popsicle sticks designs the snakes and sometimes these right here like this one
[Music] you know what I'm saying I working on the goat project as you can see over there my good friend janala you know and yeah and why do you love the goat project cuz like I'm a goat everything show me what you made a bet no it was flying away no you're cool yes sir like your boy you're cool it's awesome and you're painting pops stick so why do you like it so much I want to help little kids yeah have fun what yeah what is it what is it mean to you knowing that there's a third grader at Cy's
Elementary that's going to get that that could be struggling with reading and they're going to get that what does that mean to you it actually makes me happy because like if I was in the third when I was in the third grade if I would have been receiving stuff like this like it would have motivated me to want to learn more and I you know I just always wanted to be a helping hand it's actually helping me take my confidence to a higher level made me more talkative to where I could ask the teacher for help so now you didn't ask the teacher for help before uh
yeah you're helping okay how we helping what do you think we helped you with specifically I really just trying trying I love it motivation is important yeah I'm putting the effort in doing the work we aware of things Yes Man like like see if I'm on a basketball court like see if I'm not putting enough effort like I think about that like be like D I ain't putting no effort so I start trying way more feel I've really learned patience here I wasn't really patient when I first came but I learned patience here that's the biggest thing I've
learned how is it affecting your grades at all yes ma'am feel I had I had like a d on what what uh M CL I pull that up to about like a C+ my GPA was a 2.8 hey that's not bad at all that's awesome let's look at it do you have a goal for this semester three I'm trying to go for a 3.2 do you mind sharing what your GPA was your lowest GPA you know was 2.1 okay and then what what do
you think it's going to be this semester depending right now I got A's and B's I I need to get all AIDS so it could be well and then I need to pass my semx exam but then it could be all AIDS helping you do this week um stud for hours anything else um also we're change my schedule yeah are you liking entering I enjoy it I'm going just hold it you get to boss people around no yes but can
get you to sit in your seat I do sit in my seat you're going to be an intern next semester yes he's our Superstar he's a natural leader I've watched him he's going to be an intern next semester and and you keep some of my crazy boys in l i do you do you you very much lead by examp you're not boss yeah very supportive you're very responsibility yes responsibility it comes with like making sure everybody's unasked like making sure everybody's doing they need to do nobody's
falling behind and when people need help I can help them yeah and it makes us make me feel like a manager but coming up chry action walking past that door I'll see you right there TI oh here we go again and we we love y'all love you too yeah we love y'all if I really didn't had a help I would never try yeah but now that I have the help I'm able to try and I can put the effort in doing the yeah I just I think the world of you I think you know that but I figured I'll say it on
camera doc forever love you baby miss CHR all right send the next one out to successful you have to take me on a trip yes ma' we just got to pick you got you where you want to go should we go watch an NBA again we can watch NBA and an NFL game oh dude I'll do that who we going to watch and a college game hey guys thank you I know you're both so thrilled that I'm making you take this video right now like are you okay are you are you feeling okay how was your day things like that how's life and it's like small actions that make a big difference
for a lot of us kids um cuz like I feel like a lot of kids tell me how they can go home and they don't have like people to ask them hey are you okay how are you doing things like that but you got do it like just naturally and it doesn't feel like you're forced to do it it feels how nice was it having me and Kelsey and Alex kind of be your Advocates and helping you find that path rather than you trying to do it on your own P it was a relief it was a relief tell me why because like y'all was basically saying all the words that I just couldn't get
out good I didn't get on my phone today I'm so proud of you for not getting on your phone today all right well you know I love you I love you too yeah and knowing that Kelsey and Alex like all we want you boys to do is suceed like we got your back what does that feel like I feel like I have someone want to look up to where someone's having my back on my journey to where I want to go they're awesome um and I also just wanted to recognize Alex and Kelsey they are our program
managers they just came on in June and the success of this program the three of us working together they amazing and work tirelessly to impact these kiddos so that is what we do and I just want to thank you for investing in CR and letting us get to work with these awesome little humans behind us you know I had to say something because of Pensacola high school and so endearing to me um I just want to thank you for what you're doing and what the program is doing and I was writing down
notes as I was watching that you're breaking down barriers you you're making a difference you know Community you empowering these students through Service uh empowering them to selfefficacy uh to to where the young lady say I finally ask my teacher for help I mean I that as a former teacher that oh man you just don't know what that did to me and then um the confidence that I see in the in the in their face is amazing so uh thank you for what you're doing really really proud of it and
all of these guys behind me are seniors three of them have already done our applications we brought PSC to pensc high school who finished their applications they oh yep oh and uh Kean is going to go into trade school he's applying to George Stone and you applied to PSC because we're still deciding but we're going to help all of them and we're doing FASA and they are all of our interns now um Believe It or Not 14 months ago it was to sit in their seat for more than 5 minutes tell them I'm lying what am I lying no no they almost k killed us but now to watch them um they're the
ones that keep everybody in line and me and Kelsey looked at each other the other day and we're like everybody's doing what they're supposed to we're just sitting here what is going on and so after 14 months we're seeing the true transformation and we love these babies they're going to do great things and now we're going to sit through the meeting so they can see what my job is like and why I hound them over and over again to come 25 times and then they're going to bring that message to all of their lovely teen friends to show up right guys oh I love y'all okay we're going to move to the
back now I I have a question was would any of them like to speak to us today about their experience I know you guys did the video but I would love to hear from you today tired g g get there you go go oh now two of them want to say something all right so my name is Keon Williams and I first joined the uh Chain Reaction program when I was at Washington hold on I was at Washington this
my senior year and I transferred to PHS like for sports and stuff but the year before I was at Washington and we had the Chain Reaction had the whole football team so we used to go in there like after practices or before practices on like Thursdays and stuff light days you know we used to go in there as a team we used to make things for the community like like she say everything we make goes out the Cy the third graders and stuff and it's just like great to be able to help and like not only are we helping other people but they're helping us like she said they helped me enroll into PS and George Stone without them I probably like the PSC deadline like February
28th without them I wasn't going to enroll into pH PSC by myself so like they've been helping a lot like since I've been in 11th grade all the way to the 12th grade my 11th grade my GPA was at I want to say a 2.3 or something and like all the way from the First Chain Reaction Mee I have with them to the most recent one I'm sitting at like a 2.8 my senior year about to graduate high school Mr chairman ke I you're good I watched you since a kid and I'm very proud of what
you're doing man and uh don't forget to apply for our summer Employment Program here so you can put some money in your pocket this summer so uh all of y'all make sure you y'all apply I see my fellow commissioner help that too good deal make sure yall apply it it's good to come to meeting all right GG what was your average GPA okay I've started I started Chain Reaction my sophomore year um I'm a senior now only been there two years it just feels like oh yeah yeah
okay yeah I started I started Chain Reaction my junior year and I started with a GPA of 2.4 and I'm averaging now up to 2.8 going to 2.9 now so they 316 last semester oh I don't keep up with all of that but yeah they keep me they keep me on track they help me with my patience they help me focus more on what needs to be done the importance of helping other children is something that I'm into because I have siblings that attend CA y's elementary school and they're very much
thankful for all the things that we do for them so I enjoy Shain reaction and yeah so what are you what are you going to what are you going to school for what are you going to school for I'm going to school for business and finance and I'm looking forward to attending Bon cookman University B you's a little bit better though she take your place she take your place as the treasurer for I love your I love your energy and very good eye contact that's why I asked where you were going to school say one last thing and they have other to do okay y'all got other work we we would like to
do this we would like to do this though but what happened okay okay man talk you good good morning good morning good morning Mr L my grny told me to vote for you well good tell him I said hello I've been KN been knowing you since you was born too so okay okay good morning um I want to speak about Chain Reaction today because I started off at West Florida of advents technology um I was struggling in math really bad um I didn't know what I was doing in that subject and every every time I asked for help I didn't really get it like I was supposed to so I kind of gave up on school
I gave up on everything completely I started going downward um my grades started to drop my GPA went all the way down I went to a 1.0 GPA um soon I was just like you know what I'm I don't want to go to school anymore so my grandmother said hey let's move you to PHS they said they can they can help you I was like okay sure and that was like my sophomore year sophomore year and as soon as I got there that's when chain reaon was entering PHS and I was like oh here's a new something they said they can help me get me some community service hours you know so I was like that might help me
in the future you know so I joined and Kristen was there at the door like oh my gosh how are y'all and I was like uhoh you know I might have made a mistake so we walk in they they as soon as we walk in they have a a little activity up for us like hey go on this side if you want to do this go on this side if you want to do that I was like oh this is fun so I go to the first meeting and I was already thriving already happier and doing better and first thing she asks is what do you need help with and you don't really hear that a lot now like you don't hear anybody actually ready to help you
with what you need help with so she actually said hey what do you need help with we're here to help we're here to help all of you'all we're not here just to help certain people or if we feel like you're too far behind we're just going to go ahead kick you or y y y no she said I don't care where you at we can help you we can get you where you need to be so I joined and they always like helped me with my work I pulled my GPA up to a 2.1 um I talked to my teacher he was like hey we can get you a 3.0 by the end of the year but you got to be persistent I was like I don't know how
I'm consistent I don't got nobody to help me Chris was like Hey we're here to help you what are you talking about so she started helping me with that and it was just like a big switch for me because I went through this whole stage of depression and I was just down and I was like hey you know what I don't even feel like going to train reaction so one day I was just going down the stairs and Kristen was right there she was like hey I haven't seen you in Chain Reaction lately and I was just like hey I haven't been feeling to do anything you know and she was like yeah I get that but I want you to understand that we're always here for you we're always here to help you and so on so forth
and I was like okay I understand so I walked out the door um going home cuz I was just like I'm I'm still not failing to do it Chris like get in here get in here you don't have anything else to do get in here so I was like okay I walk in as soon as I walk in like she greets us with a hug like she'll give you a hug and like hey everything's going to be okay so from then everything just went up I started feeling better about everything my grades started going up even more and it just it kind of It kind of showed me that like everybody isn't out there against you like you have people who
actually care you have people who actually care for you you have people who actually care for the kids because us helping them isn't just like oh let's just go paint and then we go home it's like we're we're actually doing this for a reason and it's not a small reason it's a big reason it's actually helping kids because I know when I was in elementary I didn't I I barely knew how to read um but with them helping like kids say hey here's a fun activity here's something that you can use to help you read that makes you actually want to read and I think that's something that really
could help a lot of kids out and help us out as well so yeah thank you thank you thank you m Mr chairman to thank you for inviting those young people because videos can say anything uh but comes from heart goes to the heart and I believe I I've had a unique position I work at tricker cob uh I'm at the May Center seven days a week I'm at Brownsville Wedgewood and that's why to Help Me Grow is so important uh because if we can start these young people off uh in after school programs
extracurricular activities and take them to chain reaction it's critical for the development and so I know their story so you know it's not like that they're coming up with some statistical data I know where these young people have come from and I know the obstacles that they fac and the challenges that they've had and the end result is we fall down when we get up and Christian thank you uh because we all make mistakes in this life and so to be able to grab them and the things that we instill in them every single day that we're in a community center and to get them to High School uh and you don't have to be a superstar get you you you've been a Superstar athlete but you don't
have to be a Superstar athlete because you're gonna make more money when you get that trade and all the Superstar athletes are gonna be working for you one day and so it's it's good for you to grasp that and to see that and to me that's really what this children trust is about so thank you for having them to speak and congratulations to all y'all I mean to come up here and to speak and to publicly speak uh in front of a crowd I mean you've already Leaps and Bounds above most people because most people are afraid to come up and share their story so thank y'all for sharing your story thank you guys I I I I'm what he said the videos are great but you guys been able to save us
from your heart I think is more touching and for me and to hear your stories are very important to the work that we do high schoolers are really hard to reach is hard we have a lot of programs that touch our younger kids but we don't have a lot of programs that touch our older kids so um thank you guys for being here today yeah they're amazing if you ever if you ever want to come paint with us and we have free snacks sometimes Pizza uh we are there every Wednesday doing service Tuesday and Thursday studying with these kiddos but um I could have brought 20 more in here um
it has been phenomenal and and it is because of y'all this is always just I've been doing this for 21 years I knew it was always possible it's just a dream without the trust so I hope all of you and you um recognize that this is what we're starting to accomplish in year two so thank you very much thanks Chris all right and since y'all run the show man y'all don't need snacks anymore she need to bring y'all meals like steaks and crabs and all that other stuff so exactly you make sure we're going to put a little more money in the food budget for y'all yeah you can ask I fought for pizza so better show up we're done with that piece of stuff we'll get a picture get
up there chrisan while you're doing the picture I want to thank you and your staff but uh also for the uh young folks here I want you all to understand the importance of the name of your organization okay I was going to safe for the young folks here to recognize the name of your organization and the importance of that of chain reaction that a number of your activities we're
having you all create some things for children in the community and those uh younger than yourselves and therefore creating that chain that is going to begin impacting their lives so that uh you already have people behind you and under you younger than you and further behind that you all now are beginning to be those mentors that the staff was being for you and that this potential for this opportunity to grow and expand as you go through your days
talk to the other kids that you all interact with and let them know the benefit that this organization is having and how it's helping you overcome concerns of self-doubt selfworth and those types of things and restoring those and improving those that you all are very very much a vital Link in that chain that your organization speaks of so look behind you at those coming up behind you and continue to do that lift them up as well and uh you all as
I say are an extremely vital yes your leaders have done a lot Kristen and her staff you all are doing a lot not only for yourselves but those coming up behind you and looking to you all for leadership so that is really phenomenal and a great thing to see and you've all evidenced that by taking the time to come here and visit with us and we thank you for that well do D you you're a doctor I mean I was kind of like not the best student I would have done this too to get out of class all [Laughter] day and so Kristen do a budget amendment and take them to
eat somewhere special downtown you got my vote make sure you feed them somewhere downtown and we're not going to go NFL G graduates and have to take us on a trip exactly put in the budget okay thank you again uh now our next item of business is uh operations and Lindsay it looks like you've got a number of items here to lead us on yes yes so uh want to give you guys all
the reminder for ethics training team is going to be setting that up online so you'll be getting a link for that if you haven't already I think she was starting to work on that before everyone felt ill last week so um but that will be coming your way that needs to be completed annually so the the sooner the better I know it's like a 4-Hour training but um but I think it allows you to kind of save your place and come back too so um so that will be coming your way we also are prepping right now Michael has already started his conversations with Kesler who's our printing company um for
our new resource guides so we've put that out to nonprofits um of course letting them know they can advertise send us information in that so we will have a new one coming out I just want youall to know that's been super successful um we're going to do the the same run that we did first time last year um and then we we may have to do another run later they were really needed so um so we've we've talked that through at the printing company so we want to let youall know that we are working on that right now um so that'll be probably about is it the May time frame yeah beginning
of May that we'll have those new ones out um also wanted to share our other one is on our fact conference um I think it's really impactful to hear those children speak because we had um a unique experience there it was a very beneficial uh training for us to be at it had a lot around um Outreach and speaking with your community um but it had a lot of grounding information for us as to what we are here to do um we had two speakers that I think were were truly key for us the first day
uh Chris Singleton he um has a message of hope and love but he is a victim or his mother was a victim of the mass shooting at the Charleston Church a few years ago he was a pro baseball player as well and um had to take care of his siblings and he really talked about um what that meant for not only his family but also that child that made that decision and and had a mindset about other people and and talking a lot about Unity the other one was Christy crings she is the CEO of Rachel's
Challenge um that is an organization that works uh nationally around bullying um mental health and supporting youth Rachel um her name is Rachel Scott she was one of the first children murdered at Coline um and her family has taken that Legacy uh her story is amazing if you ever get on their website I will tell you it will it will give you chills and and and bring you to tears both of these people but it was a major reminder of what we're here to do is preventing things like that
from happening through our resources and through the programs that we have and so um so I felt like it was a really impactful conference for us to be at not only to learn from our peers and come home with some unique ideas about how we can um maybe take some of those things but morph them to what we need in our community um that have some proven results um and still have a support system around that so um we thank you for the opportunity to let us go um and be a part of that um we also got some leadership training while we were there um which was really great and um some look at fatherhood
initiatives that Michael and I got to go we absolutely loved it there's some really unique things I think that can be done in our community maybe not by the trust but maybe by some of our other partners or or maybe it is us so um so we've got um a lot of good things coming our way um and so that's that's all I have on the operational side Dr North comments or questions uh I'm going to make a comment regarding the resource guides and I will tell you that my time at what an
organization called Children's Medical Services or CMS that was part of the Florida Department of Health looking after children with special Health Care needs we did a similar thing of providing a resource guide for children with special Health Care needs throughout the region and uh as well as the Care Management care facilitation etc etc but I will tell you one of the most meaningful beneficial productive things we ever did was developing that resource guide that providers
could look in it and see what other providers were out there doing what services that were available families could use it and share it with other families and things so the one reflecting on the one from last year Michael you guys did a tremendous job with that and uh that really is something that in addition to Distributing financial support to these providers throughout Escambia County uh that this is something that will have tremendous impact that we have multiple
providers some of which are duplicating Services unnecessarily but wanting to contribute good to the community and we have voids in other areas within the community and for them to become aware of the resources that are out there they can not only see what they need but they can also look at gaps that may exist and so I think one of the big things that this trust does in addition to just partialling out funding and signing check all is serving as this resource guide itself
to help providers throughout the community know other providers that are out there and uh help these families know and how to contact them and link up with them and expand services such as chain reaction and things that uh do a tremendous amount of good to the community it's just how do you contact them where are they and things so Michael I commend you on that and thank you dearly for that okay next item is again sticking with uh Lindsay and then with
Tammy looking at our various programs and thanking members of the program committee as well as the staff for their work in that regard so um for programs our car's Grant uh was actually launched on the 30th of January online um we had h a great response the the following week Deborah hosted um a Q&A session um I I think that there was uh five or six people in person and about 25 people online
um from various different organizations um so the application is live um we are Fielding questions right now uh to our info account that are very specific and we'll be posting all the responses by Friday um and that will cut off our question and answer period on our end I just want to remind you all that you are in the cone of silence around uh the car's Grant uh for now um but there is a lot of information on our landing page so if you do know a nonprofit um or people come to you of course saying we need support around this this is a great time for them to get on um they'll
be able able to view that question and answer session as well um and and and the applications are going through um that whole samis system so it's all online um any questions about that process so you're saying that because I do get inquiries just is okay for them to call directly you is there any personal contact that that you'd rather them speak to if if well at this point we have um because it's a matter of public record we don't have those in interpersonal conversations
about whether they can apply or whether they qualify some of them do have those kind of questions like would my organization apply and they they're going to have to determine that okay for themselves really but we give them all the information that they need to make that determination as a board and as a leadership team in their organizations um but if there are technical issues that they come across like with Samus or something like that we are able to assist them in that but but they're decision- making around what they should apply for and all that we have to kind of stay neutral understand so yeah okay um Lindsay in addition to the online uh site
that they can access through our website is there an given individual within the Staffing if they call the uh children's trust office that they can ask for to gain additional information because we are not uh able or intended to speak with them as the board members well they can absolutely I mean they can call our our main line and Elma can help direct whatever if it's a if it's Financial or if it's technical or whatever so we can do that but if it's a question that um that we need to answer
through that public comment part it would it's good for the US them to do that and send it to info Escambia trust.org because then that allows us to post our response and it may be helpful to others that may have those same questions okay so want to get that out for public information so thank you yes okay your next item there um we so we have a a grants committee so from our program committee we've had um Stephanie white Mr Williams I think believe he said he would tentatively help
tor's the kind of tentative help as well okay um so we at least have three from there from our programs committee um we have put out also an Ask uh publicly Michael's put this out there on our Facebook and social medias but to be able to share that we are recruiting Community reviewers um we also have a lot of people that have applied to be on our board I also sent them all an email saying this is an opportunity for them to get engaged and understand what they do if they're interested um
in being Grant reviewers so we do do not know the load that we're going to get of the car's Grant it could be 10 or it could be 50 we don't know so we definitely want to have a good group of reviewers and we will bring that to you all at the March meeting um for approval of that panel um but the 24th is the inperson day so I had that listed on the agenda um to make sure that we know spring break is unfortunately it's the way it fell but that's the week that they can go on and actually review and score and then Monday March 24th is going to be our day where we meet in person make
some determinations there about recommendations to the board for funding okay thank you and and then the next item is in regards to the ratification of the year three out of school time funding which is uh been discussed at the board level and at committee level for several meetings now and uh Tammy can you give us an update on that yes we've had multiple meetings with the program committee to go through and iron out any issues or questions we had on any of the at of school
time year three budgets and proposals um we are looking to extend so the year three doesn't end in the middle of a school year it would end on uh February 28th of 26 we're looking to extend that till July 31st of 26 and then we'll be at some point issuing a new RFP for out of school time programming during that time we are recommending that after all of our meetings that you guys approve the res uh ratification of resolution 20251 ratifying the December vote for year three funding I'll make a mo motion that we recommend this that we approve the resolution 20251 I'll
second and Mr chairman just with the comment and I I think I've said this in in our program meeting as we continue funding and Tammy you've done a great job and thank you for this information I mean quite frankly it's great it's disappointing that some services in my opinion because I've been in community centers for 50 years people were doing things but now they decide to get paid for them so I don't know what passion they have if they decided to to get paid for it because it should be things that have been enhanced and changed it shouldn't any program that already
existed should never have been funded by children trust uh and that concerns me with some programs of of after school programs that people didn't didn't increase capacity or maybe they increase some numbers where they're doing the same thing that they were doing uh 30 plus years ago so I in the future I mean that's I would hope that Lindsay in the evaluation that doing comparative analysis and looking at programmatic things that they did prior uh to this existing funding and so how did
they enhance it and at some point we have to say that we've been funding for three years and has education increased has delinquency decreased overall for the entire community and to bring those numbers into somewhat of some comparative data and so that's one and you know and two for me I'm I'm certainly going to support this uh but it is about building capacity capity too when we first started this and that we have really given a injection of stimulus to many uh grassroot organizations with hope that they would be able to sustain after three three years rather
than forecast out that we're going to fund this into perpetuity and so I hope that organizations are beginning to understand that so when we put out the next round there will be new Innovative organizations that will also get the opportunity uh at this funding and we won't be restricted uh to just funding uh the same organizations and the same salaries I think that people should you know I don't I don't think we should be funding any Program full salary you know I mean I'm in the nonprofit world we have to get out Knock big watchh cars knock on doors and figure
out how we're going to fund uh our programs uh but people can come very relax in just taking taxpayer dollars so anyway I I I I second it uh Stephanie but I just wanted to put that on record because I'm certainly going to begin to have those conversations as we go into any more funding um I just want to chime in and I totally agree and I I work with a lot of community organizations like you do and um what I have been noticing is a lot of the ones that are really doing the work are getting that money elsewhere as well um I just want to shout out Hassan I've been to his program
a few times and he needed a second van and he went out and found the money for that second van so I appreciate those organizations he's also I think received a grant for maybe don't quote me maybe go power but I thought he got another $10,000 Grant so he's out there like walking the walk and finding that money and so I appreciate um him doing that work and you know really talking to other people and finding people that invest in his program and so to me that shows that what you're doing really matters and people believe in what you're doing no and and I do I get the opportunity
to work with him and actually his boss is here commissioner stroberg today uh but you know the last couple weeks I've been working with Hass son on not just programmatic things of Marina court but helping the entire family and to me I think that that's what's important if we have all these independent organizations that's getting funding millions of dollars and if you know Help Me Grow programs up for our Adolescence in our community centers are not connected to chain reaction or not connected lamp lighters then we're failing because I mean if there's no age restriction on property there's no age restriction on failure but we have to have a continuation of programs and I
think that we have to collaboratively make these organizations it's at the end of the day it's our money we must force them to work if you don't want to work with the organization then we're just not going to fund you because you can't cut them off they can't sing in the children CH for 10 years and then go here and they I mean it all has to work together so Tor I appreciate your leadership I just wanted to add that to it and so my motion stands my second I mean Stephanie I apologize so again a motion has been made and seconded thank you all for that uh there been
some discussion uh question to our staff for clarification the uh year three funding these contracts were for three years of funding and so this will uh complete the uh responsibility in the funding and then reflecting on both commissioner May's comments and tor's comments these organizations have begun looking for additional uh continuation of funding from other sources and
that is part of the review of the uh approval for third-year funding that took place is that correct yes uh the original RFP we issued did mention that it was going to be for a threeyear time period so this will doe the last year plus seven months of extension time to get it to the end of the summer okay other comments no I'm I'm good I just you know hopefully I mean that was our intent I mean it was never attempt to fund all these programs in perpetuity uh but people long-term rejection
and I say that in all fairness because I'm going to vote against it for me and I'm only one vote but then if people enter into leases that we're paying and those leases extend beyond and people are going to come down here to us and say well I got another extension of another two-year lease I went in with you know expectations that we're going to get this I think it's very important to educate people for our intents not saying that we wouldn't fund them but saying we have no commitment and obligation to fund them yes thank you I'll call the question now uh this will be an approval of the resolution ratifying the December vote for year three funding of out of school time
programs which are listed below and everyone ready to vote okay all in favor indicate by i i i any opposed vote carries unanimously thank you all for that and the last last item of business we have is for a legal report from Miss Bush regarding the Tiff uh issue and situation uh yes thank you uh
Mr chair so the trust did receive last Thursday on the 6th a letter from the county attorney I believe that's been distributed to all of you uh requesting the um next round of um increment financing funds due to the CRA under 163 387 uh the letter gives a 45-day time frame to respond with that payment which would make it due on March 23rd um the statute does allow for the trust to
again request an exemption um I would need the board to direct that action so today we just need direction from the board as to whether you wish to issue you know just payment on you know honorable for the 23rd or whether you wish to again uh go before the County Commission and request an exemption for this year's funds um being aware that the statute does allow for penalties and interests to acrew um the statute gives the county 120 days to hear your request for exemption which
may push you outside of that 45-day demand window I'm happy to take any questions I make a motion that we ask for extension an exemption yeah exemption yes so yes definitely sorry I second excuse me motion has been made to request an exemption for a payment of that uh request and has been seconded any discussion Mr chairman I'm going to abstain
from that vote as it relates to my position as a county commissioner I'll be abstaining okay with Mr Mae abstaining do we have enough for a uh Quorum vote on that Lindsay and or Meredith you have five okay okay so motion has been made uh and seconded to request an exemption uh for this year's payment uh to the County Commissioners and discussion any further discussion if not I would
just add for clarity sake I know there's been a lot of discussion about this but you know if the exemption is granted then we would enter into an interlocal agreement uh which would direct the funding it's not simply no money goes anywhere thank you for that clarification Meredith okay those in favor of the request for the exemption say I I I any opposed no not opposed
at all but I'm just abstaining uh because I I have a colleague in the audience and this will probably be up for discussion so I probably should limit myself to anything I should say at this time all righty understood certainly so there will be the request for the exemption made um I know this is kind of after the fact I'm in favor the board has voted yes I just want to add I think there are some projects that the county does that we could easily fund there's no reason why we
cannot work collaboratively on this um anything that we fund that they're currently funding for children's services if we take that burden off of them they're able to utilize those funds for what they're there for which is infrastructure or whatever those needs are so it is our desire it is my desire as the executive director and I believe all of you as the board I don't want to speak on your behalf in that way unless you guide me but I think that we need to find a collective project that this $495,000 could really supplement or support or expand for the county and take that
demand off of that and let them utilize their CRA dollars in a way that's more effective and what they were collected for Lindsay so this to be similar to what we do with the city and how we are going the um Community Partnership schools correct and how we how we did the the interlocal agreement with the schools well we haven't done an inter local agreement with the city um they are looking at different projects they're trying to determine what they really would like to do but with um but two of the city schools are being funded for um the healthy schools of scam at right
so we could do that um but that was a granty thing we haven't done an official exemption they haven't requested but for last year that's what we did no they have never requested okay they haven't requested okay but we could do something similar to that to inter local agreement and you know so so we stay within our statutory bounds that we have to provide children's programs and services and we can work with the county which would be the best thing for so if you could meet with all the County Commissioners I'm sure you already have that would be great to try to figure out how we can work together so we are not violating our duties as a as the trust and um they you be
able to use their funds as well absolutely that be great thank you and stepan let me come into that uh and because I do serve you know and obviously I I was a champion for the for the children trust and I continued to do anything for children I was in a meeting with the mayor for about two hours yesterday in Tim consle and a couple other people the city has not made any decision the politics of this is that the county is doing something that the city's not there hasn't even been agreement between this trust in the city at this point you know and so there's not an agreement between the county and so I I think that you know Lindsay as we had a conversation this morning uh is going to
be able to have those conversations that I think it's going to land in a good place uh for for for the truck yeah and and so I mean people love to say well the county the county the county that's just untrue I mean they can write what they want to write but we hadn't resolved it the mayor's having a press conference today the city hadn't resolved theirs yeah yeah I mean so we obviously I did not realize that right and most people had because that's what they WR they right that the county it's holding back money no one's talked about that we hadn't resolved it with the city and so I think in tandem we should resolve the city and the county at the same time in the end
result it's all taxpayer dollars that we're hoping to go to benefit the lives of children so I mean and I I think with the right proposal I think that there are some things in which our human services department has brought forth uh that I think that our commissioners could be supportive of I'm going to be reluctant to what I say today because someone will you know at least write me up a sunshine violation because commissioner stroberg is here but I think that it's working in the right direction thanks and then if I do get a sunshine violation Lucy I'm G have to call your daddy and
then he's going to charge me a whole bunch of money to defend me for something that I shouldn't have to pay in for it so thanks Lucy tell your dad I didn't violate the sunshine [Laughter] and he told me you were speaking today Lucy that's the only reason I came to the meeting on time because he told me you were speaking I know yeah they took your thunder don't worry thank you I have one further question and that is related to the 45 day uh period that we've had if we request uh the exemption for this year that whole process is going to take time kind of
Playing devil's advocate of that uh request is denied that's going to push us closer obviously that 45-day deadline is it worth requesting not only uh the exemption but a an extension of the timeline that the board has to work in or is that already set at 45 days regardless no so the 45 days is not a statutory limit that's something that the county imposed in their letter so there's nothing that would prohibit us from along with the exemption request to ask that that Dy
be extended until there's a final determination on the exemption request okay um could that be done or will that be part of our request then yes I include that all right thank you okay any further discussion regarding the uh proposal we've approved that everything is ready to go and so we will then wait to hear back from you Meredith okay is there any further items or discussion to come before the board I see Lindsay raising her hand we had one item that should have
been on this agenda we're going to bring to the March one we did in our program committee work with our Omega lamplighters contract they have were looking at um a budget amendment because they've not they're not going to get a van as they wanted they were going to reallocate that money where areas where they had not budgeted um for their expenses and so we do not have that in front of us but we will be bringing that to the next meeting for ratification um an oversight on our part but we will make sure that they um are able to Bill appropriately up until we get that
permission so just want to let you all know that thank you Lindsay any further comments discussions if not we will stand adjourned at 10:03 and I had a starting at 9:03 so very good thank you everyone for