Achieve Escambia

In a couple of weeks, Escambia County residents will get a chance to weigh in on a proposed ballot initiative that would establish a dedicated tax totaling nearly $8 million annually to fund a Children’s Services Council known as the Escambia Children’s Trust. 

To date, Escambia County high school seniors have qualified for nearly $1.9 million in federal student aid for the current year. That’s a slight increase over last year, despite the fact that this year’s push to increase applications was interrupted by the coronavirus outbreak.

A free summer education program is now available to pre-kindergarten students in Escambia County.

The program is designed to help kids make up for lost learning due to the coronavirus and enhance their overall school readiness.

“Let’s practice our letter sounds,” begins the “Mama Squirrel Letter Sound Song,” produced by the school-readiness program Waterford Upstart.

Achieve Escambia is leading a coalition of local agencies trying to spread the message that “early learning matters.”

They’re spending several weeks this summer conducting the awareness campaign Enroll Escambia.

“Enroll Escambia is a cooperative effort to enroll more preschool children in preschool,” said Kimberly Krupa, executive director of Achieve Escambia.

The statewide push to increase the number of graduating high school seniors who complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) wraps up soon.

Already, this year’s Florida FAFSA Challenge has been a great success in the Escambia County School District.

For Black History Month, the Haas Center at the University of West Florida is collaborating with the Gulf Coast Minority Chamber of Commerce to present “We the People,” a demographic overview of African Americans in the Pensacola metro area. The goal of the report is to get a sense of their economic impact locally.

Achieve Escambia recently released its 2018 report card and set some audacious community goals for improvement, beginning with school readiness.

About 40 percent of Escambia County residents have earned some sort of college degree. A new organization wants to raise the bar.

Workers in Escambia County with an associate degree average just over $57,000 per year, according to the Florida College Access Network. Those with only a high school diploma average about $26,000.

The University of West Florida is hosting an event this weekend aimed at increasing the number of local students applying for aid to go to college.