Group needs to raise $119,000 more for care

Pasco donors don't seem willing to open their walletsfor the agency that offers child care to the poor.

By LISA BUIE, Times Staff Writer
Published September 22, 2007

Linda Foy feels like she can't win.

The state says her agency, Childhood Development Services, needs to raise $119,000 more this year to subsidize child care for working poor families in Hernando and Pasco counties.

Yet in Pasco, the larger of the two counties, no one will contribute. Even the United Way turned her down.

Foy blames politics.

"Pasco County has been an interesting challenge for us. We tried to get the match as soon as we knew we had the contract. We met with businesses, but it's a hard county to get started in."

She attributes that to the fact that "we're new" and Youth and Family Alternatives, a New Port Richey agency that held the contract before Foy's Ocala firm beat it out two years ago, "had lots of friends in Pasco."

Susan Arnett, president of United Way of Pasco said CDS lacked a track record in Pasco. She said her agency had concerns based on the fact that the coalition had $300,000-plus surpluses the past two years. Also, CDS representatives asked for $260,000, knowing the United Way had only $365,000 and 30 agencies asking for money.

However, Arnett said the United Way would consider CDS' appeal on Monday.

Foy responded by saying that it's her agency's policy to apply for the maximum amount needed, knowing that it's unlikely to receive that much. She said she hopes that after a year of a higher profile and clean audits, more wallets would open.

The fight over the $25-million contract was ugly.

It started when the two groups that oversaw Hernando and Pasco counties merged to form the Pasco Hernando Early Learning Coalition. CDS served Hernando, while YFA had a longtime contract with Pasco.

Both agencies bid for the right to serve the merged operation.

CDS' final score was slightly higher, and YFA filed a protest, which it later withdrew. At the same time, board infighting intensified to the point that state officials who were brought in to mend fences called the coalition "dysfunctional."

One executive director resigned amid the acrimony. His successor was forced to resign in May after staffers complained of overtime abuse and poor management practices.

The tension prompted state Sen. Mike Fasano to offer to write legislation to break up the merger, though he later backed off that and urged the board to hire a new director with no ties to either area. The board is considering two finalists for the job; both are from outside the area.

YFA's board is loaded with Pasco movers and shakers who include Sheriff Bob White, chief assistant county administrator Michele Baker, County Commissioner Ann Hildebrand and businessman Richard Bekesh. YFA now lists Dave Marshall, a previous member of the Pasco Hernando Early Learning Coalition and a critic of CDS, as one of its board members.

CDS' board is limited to people from Marion and Citrus counties, a weakness Foy says she has tried to correct but "no one wants to drive the distance."

She said she hopes potential donors would see past the politics and realize that the money goes straight to help working poor families in Pasco.

"Every working poor family needs help with child care. If a single mom working a minimum wage job has two preschoolers, a half to two-thirds of her salary goes to child care. The remaining goes for housing, food, medical care and clothing. So that mom's really better off staying on welfare.

"It's really heartbreaking to see someone who gets a job and is ready to start and to have to say, 'We have no child care for you; you have to get on a waiting list.' That's the dilemma."

George Magrill, president and CEO of YFA, said he has done nothing to influence Pasco donors.

"I have not been out there calling people saying don't do this. I have too many other irons in the fire now," he said.

He also said his agency would not have had problems raising money had it been awarded the contract in Pasco.

He said Pasco County Administrator John Gallagher had given him a letter committing to $250,000 from the county when YFA was bidding on the contract in 2005. He also said his agency submitted a "fairly detailed plan" on how it would raise the required cash.

"Basically the coalition ignored it," he said.

He said the Early Learning Coalition is simply reaping what it sowed.

"They had it so good here in Pasco and they chose to turn it into a political issue," he said. "Now they're dealing with the consequences."

Lisa Buie can be reached at buie@sptimes.com or 813 909-4604.

[Last modified September 21, 2007, 23:39:03]