United Way may lead Escambia Healthy Schools Initiative
(This story was updated because an earlier version included an inaccuracy in the headline. Two schools will receive the Whole Community, Whole Child program.)
The United Way of West Florida was the only nonprofit to submit a full proposal to become the lead agency for the Escambia Children’s Trust Healthy Schools Initiative.
The nonprofit and partners – Achieve Escambia, The Arc Gateway, Community Health Northwest Florida, Council on Agency of West Florida, Gulf Coast Kid’s House, Lakeview Mental Health, Legal Services of North Florida, the University of West Florida and the YMCA of Northwest Florida – submitted a bid of $804,000 to implement the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child program at O.J. Semmes Elementary and Global Learning Academy this academic year.
Laura Gilliam, United Way president and CEO, along with representatives from the partner-nonprofits fielded questions from the ECT Grant Review Committee on Friday at Pensacola State College.
Following a two-hour question-and-answer session, review committee member Lynsey Listau made a motion to support the United Way’s proposal but said the agency needed to amend indirect charges for overseeing the Healthy Schools Initiative. The motion passed unanimously.
The ECT Board will vote on the measure at its Oct. 8 meeting. Once approved, the Healthy School Initiative will begin in the schools on Nov. 1.
Healthy school initiative:Escambia Children’s Trust commits to funding on-site health services at 6 schools
The national Healthy Schools Initiative/Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child program is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and is a framework for addressing health in schools. On-site medical, dental and eye services; social service support; nutrition and health education; mental health services; community, school and family engagement opportunities; on-site after school physical and academic support programs; and mentoring are among the services available at schools as part of the initiative.
“This is $100,000 in salaries and benefits and then $100,000 in indirect spending,” Listau said to Gilliam about the United Way’s portion of grant funding as the lead agency.
“This is heavy lifting for the lead agency,” Gilliam said, noting the United Way did not request the full minimum bid amount of $900,000. ECT had budgeted $450,000 per school per year to fund the initiative.
Listau and other review committee members – Joel Hollon, Terri Marshall and ECT Board chairwoman Tori Woods – also expressed concerns about staffing, evidence-based services, student transportation, tracking funding, mental health and healthcare services implementation. David Williams, ECT vice chairman and an Escambia County School Board member, did not attend the review meeting.
After the meeting, Gilliam told the Pensacola News Journal that indirect costs could be insurance, utilities and other overhead. She said the United Way is willing to reduce those indirect costs, which are generally 15% of a grant, down to 10%.
At 15%, the indirect costs would be around $120,000 – compared to about $80,000 at 10%. A portion of salaries for United Way employees who provide support to the initiative also would be just over $121,000.
“I think so there’s an opportunity to go back and revisit some areas based on the conversations we had today,” Gilliam said. “We just want to make sure that we’re being good stewards of the money and that we’re not asking for money just to ask for it. We want to make sure it’s being put to good use in the programming.”
The Healthy Schools Initiative funds would also pay two full-time staffers – a director at an annual salary of $65,000 plus benefits and a coordinator at $55,000 per year plus benefits.
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Marshall, a therapist with Framework Therapy and Consulting, asked Gilliam if the mental health services would be available to students and their families.
“I worked at Lakeview and just providing services to the child but not a family member leaves a gap,” she said, adding even if services are offered to families – there is a stigma attached to mental health care. “How are you are planning to increase family engagement without offering incentives to encourage family participation?”
Ruthie Noel, executive director with Achieve Escambia, suggested the Parent Café model where parents learn about the services from a trusted voice.
“Parents talking to parents,” Noel said.
Gilliam stressed that once the Healthy Schools Initiative begins, the United Way and partners will take a deeper dive into the needs of making the program successful.
“There is so much unknown until we get in and do that full assessment. This was our best and what we felt we could do in the schools given what we knew,” she said, noting the United Way collaborates with multiple community partners.
“We’ve been around for 100 years so we have done convening. We have worked with reimbursement-types of grants. We also provide funding to agencies, so we know what it means to have outcomes. We know what it means to set and meet goals. We also believe, as an organization, in collaboration and see the value in that and realize that’s probably going to move the needle better on some of these outcomes than trying to do things individually.”
O.J. Semmes and Global Learning Academy will be the first of six Escambia County schools to participate in the initiative. The ECT had originally planned to fund 10 Escambia County Public Schools elementary schools in the initiative over a five-year period. However, the ECT scaled down the program in order to pay back taxes, as well an estimated $450,000 in yearly taxes moving forward.
Lindsay Cannon, ECT executive director, said the initiative will increase by two schools per year up to six schools. Brentwood, Ensley, Lincoln Park, Montclair, Navy Point, Oakcrest, Sherwood and Warrington elementary schools were identified as “the most in need schools,” for the initiative. However, the other four participating schools have not been selected.
The Escambia Children’s Trust was approved by voters in 2020, the Escambia Children’s Trust is responsible for allocating more than $10 million annually in property taxes to fund initiatives and services to help children and their families, especially those with the greatest need.
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