CENTRAL GULF COAST CHILDREN'S DEFENSE FUND FREEDOM SCHOOLS, INC. SOMETHING INSIDE SO STRONG Grant Year: 2022 | Focus Area: Education | Grant Amount: $103,820 | Grant Status: FINALIST The mission of Central Gulf Coast Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools (Freedom Schools) is to provide a free literacy and cultural enrichment program which empowers children from low-income families to excel and believe in their ability to make a difference in themselves, their families, communities, country and world with hope, education, and action. Freedom Schools has 27 years of success in nearly 100 cities across the country. This six-week summer program serves children lacking reading skills. In the fall of 2021, data presented to Escambia County School District (ECSD) Superintendent, showed that 87% of Freedom School students had no summer learning loss and many had learning gains. Freedom Schools coordinated with ECSD to work toward closing the 34% achievement gap between white students and students...

GENERAL DANIEL CHAPPIE JAMES FLIGHT ACADEMY, INC. OUTFIT NEW FACILITY IWTH EQUIPMENT & OTHER FURNISHINGS Grant Year: 2022 | Focus Area: Education | Grant Amount: $103,820 | Grant Status: In Progress The General Daniel Chappie James Flight Academy's (GDCJFA) mission is to mentor, motivate, and build confidence in disadvantaged minority youth using aviation as the key learning discipline. GDCJFA was founded by four local Pensacola aviators, honoring namesake General Daniel Chappie James Jr., the first four-star African American Air Force General. GDCJFA’s primary program is a week-long program free of charge to students with both classroom aviation instruction and orientation flights in a small general aviation plane. During COVID, instruction transitioned to virtual classes but returned to in-person classes in 2022. From 1996 until 2017, GDCJFA operations were run out of Pensacola churches and community centers. In 2017, the City of Pensacola and the Community Redevelopment Agency in Pensacola began construction on the...

United Methodist Children's Home A Higher Education Home: Wrap-Around Support for Vulnerable Youth for Collegiate Success Grant Year: 2021 | Focus Area: Education | Grant Amount: $101,820 | Grant Status: Complete What started as an orphanage in 1890 in Summerfield, Alabama, with the name United Methodist Children's Home, has grown to serve thousands of children and families across two states. The ministry offers services across Alabama and four counties in Northwest Florida through group homes, foster care and adoption programs, family preservation services, transitional living programs, school readiness programs, scholarship homes, and homes for mothers and their children. Now known as Embrace Florida Kids, a ministry of the United Methodist Children's Home, Embrace Florida Kids (EFK) provides services to vulnerable children who cannot live with their biological parents due to possible neglect, abuse, or abandonment. With children and youth as the priority, EFK also helps broken families address harmful behavior, giving them a...

Escambia County Public Schools Foundation for Excellence Pensacola High School Innovation Center Revitalization Grant Year: 2021 | Focus Area: Education | Grant Amount: $101,820 | Grant Status: Complete Established in 1986, Escambia County Public Schools Foundation for Excellence is recognized as the district-wide education foundation for public schools in Escambia County. The Foundation works collaboratively with school leaders to determine how and where private-sector investment and volunteer involvement can significantly impact student success. The mission of the Escambia County Public Schools Foundation is to enhance education by investing in children's futures to ensure they graduate on time and are college or career-ready. The mission of Pensacola High School (PHS) is to inspire and prepare all students for post-secondary and career readiness to meet the demands of an ever-changing world. Currently, 74% of PHS students come from economically disadvantaged households. Students throughout Northwest Florida also attend PHS through magnet programs, such as the International...

Every Child a Reader in Escambia, Inc. Get Our Children and Families Ready for Kindergarten Grant Year: 2020 | Focus Area: Education | Grant Amount: $106,000 | Grant Status: Complete The mission of Every Child a Reader in Escambia (ECARE) is to maximize children’s potential through increased school readiness, with a goal of ensuring all children in the community are ready. Their vision is that every student starts kindergarten ready to learn. In Escambia County, 53% of children entering kindergarten are not ready. These guiding principles keep the organization’s focus on interventions targeting Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten students that demonstrate results toward kindergarten readiness. In October of 2006, a planning group of community leaders published a business case supporting the creation ECARE. ECARE was proposed to be a community-wide, business-led coalition of representatives from all segments of the community. In 2011 ECARE launched Project Ready, a strategic, results-oriented effort to improve kindergarten readiness that could...

Gulf Coast Kid's House, Inc. Protecting Our Children During a Time of Uncertainty Grant Year: 2020 | Focus Area: Education | Grant Amount: $106,000 | Grant Status: In Progress The mission of Gulf Coast Kid’s House (GCKH) is to end child abuse and heal families through collaborative intervention, family support and prevention education. GCKH is the only child advocacy center and child abuse prevention center in Escambia County. Timely, effective assistance designed to address the specific trauma each child has experienced is provided. They provide a place where child protective services, law enforcement, prosecution, medical, and mental health professionals work together under one roof to provide comprehensive services to child victims of abuse. Through this coordinated effort, children and families experience reduced trauma and better case coordination, leading to better outcomes for children and families. GCKH sees the most egregious physical abuse cases, sexual abuse cases and medical neglect cases in Escambia County....

Santa Rosa County 4-H Association, Inc. 4-H Field Education Facility Grant Year: 2019 | Focus Area: Education | Grant Amount: $106,000 | Grant Status: Completed The University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Extension 4-H Youth Development Program uses a learn-by-doing approach to help youth gain the knowledge and skills they need to be responsible, productive citizens. This mission is accomplished by creating safe and inclusive learning environments, involving caring adults, and utilizing the expertise and resources of the University of Florida and the nationwide land-grant university system. Through the years, the overall objective of 4-H has remained the same: the development of youth as individuals and as responsible and productive citizens. Learning opportunities include, but are not limited to, astronomy, beekeeping, earth sciences, electronics, fisheries and aquaculture, livestock sciences, wildlife ecology, debating and presentation skills, and government sciences. Santa Rosa County 4-H serves all youth ages 5-18 residing in Santa...

The Secret Place Home, Inc. The Secret Place Home, Inc. Grant Year: 2019 | Focus Area: Education | Grant Amount: $106,000 | Grant Status: Completed Founded in 2018, The Secret Place Home is the first Safe House north of Orlando and is a Safe House-Safe Harbor home for female child survivors of human trafficking, licensed through the Department of Children and Families. Its mission is to provide a home for girls ages 12-17 who are survivors of human sex trafficking, giving them a place to heal, regain dignity and obtain necessary services. Florida ranks third in the nation for the number of human trafficking reports, and many victims are children between 12 and 14 years of age. Their level of abuse and trauma is frequently so severe that it requires specialized care provided by a residential Safe House program. The Secret Place Home, located at an undisclosed location situated on ten acres of...

Escambia County Public Schools Foundation for Excellence, INC. Swim, Soar, and Fly into Science Inspiring Hands-on Exploration of Our Natural World Grant Year: 2018 | Focus Area: Education | Grant Amount: $100,300 | Grant Status: Complete The mission of the Escambia County Public Schools Foundation, Inc. (ECPSF) is to enhance education in Escambia County by investing in our children’s future to ensure they graduate on-time and are college or career ready. ECPSF was established in 1986 as a direct support organization for the Escambia County School District. ECPSF partners with the private sector to positively impact a school district of over 44,000 students and over 2,500 teachers. The ECPSF serves as a fiduciary direct support organization for the Escambia County School District, including the Roy Hyatt Environmental Center (RHEC). The mission of the RHEC is to assist students in mastering science concepts and processes through the integration of science disciplines in studying the...

Emerald Coast wildlife refuge, Inc Return to the Wild Grant Year: 2018 | Focus Area: Education | Grant Amount: $100,300 | Grant Status: Completed The mission of Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge (ECWR) is education, conservation and rehabilitation for the welfare of Florida’s natural fauna. ECWR is a nonprofit organization made up of caring staff and dedicated volunteers who rescue, rehabilitate and release Native Florida Wildlife including marine mammals in the five northwestern Gulf Coast counties from Pensacola to Panama City. In September 1994, ECWR was incorporated as a nonprofit corporation registered with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. In 2017, ECWR received its largest donation of 2 1/4 acres of undeveloped land in Santa Rosa County. The donated land is pristine wildlife habitat, loaded with heritage live oak trees, endangered longleaf pines, flowering bushes, wild blueberry, blackberry, and yaupon. In short, it is the ideal environment for wild animal patients to rehabilitate...

Escambia County School Readiness Coalition, INC. Escambia County School Readiness Coalition, Inc. dba Early Learning Coalition of Escambia County Grant Year: 2017 | Focus Area: Education | Grant Amount: $107,700 | Grant Status: Completed The Early Learning Coalition of Escambia County’s mission is to identify and meet the needs of children and families in order to lay the foundation for lifetime success by maximizing each child's potential, preparing children to enter school ready to learn, and helping families achieve economic self-sufficiency. In 1999, the Florida Legislature publicly funded early education and childcare programs, and established oversight by the Florida Partnership for School Readiness. Local communities were given the authority to plan for the future by focusing resources where they are most effective: the needs of children birth to five years. In 2000, Escambia County created the local School Readiness Coalition. The Early Learning Coalition’s (ELC) primary function is the oversight of funding for...