These are "Natural, No Brainer" Funding Opportunities for the Children's Trust, But......

 

There are several entities that receive funding yearly from the Escambia Board of County Commissioners.

These are vetted, legitimate groups that have track records of serving the community.  They are our community partners

Several specialize in serving the community's youth.

So, naturally, as we worked through the budget this year with staff, in meetings, and in sessions on the fourth floor--it became clear that several of these organizations are natural, no brainer funding opportunities for the children's trust.

So at our recent workshops, the board intimated that these groups, the ones who focus on youth, should first seek funding from the newly established, and soon to be flush with cash Escambia Children's Trust. (Their initial millage rate of .5 mills will generate $12 Million Dollars--a full $2 Million over initial projections....)

Some entities vocalized the concern that any attempt by the BCC to not fund such entities and instead foist them on the Children's trust would be tantamount to "supplanting" funding which would be frowned upon if not outright disallowed.

The attorney for the board quickly dispatched that notion with an email recently, where she stated.

"My determination was that the language in the ordinance (which was not drafted by us) would address mandatory funding or obligatory funding obligations.  It would not, in my opinion, address discretionary funding that the Board considers every year and which the Board is not obligated to provide in any particular amount or at all.  I understand the executive director of the Trust has indicated that she has concerns about this, but the attorney for the Trust does not appear to have provided an opinion to the Trust about it yet."

Meanwhile---several of the organizations we sent over to the trust have received this response:

"Good morning. We have received the Community Partner applications for consideration for funding by the Escambia Children’s Trust. However, while these are worthy projects, I’m afraid we cannot consider them at this point – not because we do not think they fit our funding goals, but because we do not have a mechanism in place yet for consideration of unsolicited proposals.

 Our Board is still refining our grantmaking process. Our formal needs assessment will not be ready until at least next month, and our priorities for funding have not yet been established, let alone approved by our Board. We simply have no process in place to make an immediate decision on the applications you forwarded, as they were not in response to a Trust application or request for proposals.

 If possible, please let your applicants know that their proposals likely will not be considered for funding by the Trust at this time. We cannot review unsolicited proposals until the Trust Board of

Directors has approved and implemented a formal funding process, which will not be before their next formal meeting on August 9^th at the earliest.  Once a process has been approved, the applicants would then have to follow the new process, meet the Trust funding guidelines and priorities, submit new applications under a related RFP or initiative, and receive Board approval for funding.  

 Please bear with us as we move through our start-up phase and get our grantmaking process up and running. We are trying to fly this plane while we are building it! If you have any questions about the Trust or our timeline for formalizing our process, please contact me. Thank you. Have a wonderful weekend.

 Warm regards"

disallowed  A couple of thoughts.  Number 1--we get that the trust is starting up, however the casual observer might quickly ask a few questions such as---Okay, if you're not ready to start funding programs and providers--why the RUSH to get your millage levy on this year's tax bills?  and/or  "Why reinvent the wheel--why not fund County-vetted, long standing community groups utilizing the county's vetting process?"

I look forward to great things to come with the Children's Trust--and a great relationship between that board and our board.  But we are going to ask them to fund these child/youth-centric entities as this is right in the trust's wheelhouse.  These general fund dollars or LOST funds that the county doesn't spend on child-centric programs can instead go into roads, stormwater, bridges, or public safety----where we never have enough funds to keep up with needs.  And another thing:  Even though the taxpayers voted for the trust and therefore an additional tax on themselves ----we, as a board, stood up and stood with the Children's Trust concept--voting to put the measure on the ballot.  For that vote alone--there are still folks in the community who think we, the BCC, raised their taxes and therefore want to separate our collective heads from our torsos and place the former on a sticks. (figuratively speaking).

So yeah, time for the trust to fund groups that further the trust's mission.

I look forward to the conversations to come.....