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[[Front Porch Pensacola]] (formally the '''Greater Pensacola Front Porch, Inc.''') is the local arm of a state agency, '''The Governor's Front Porch Florida Initiative''', that was created by Governor Jeb Bush in [[1999]] "as a means to rebuild distressed communities [and] revitalize underserved communities."<ref>[http://www.floridacommunitydevelopment.org/fpf/ Front Porch Florida homepage]</ref> It operates under the State of Florida's Office of Urban Opportunity with a mission to eliminate urban blight. The Pensacola branch was established in October, [[1999]] through the efforts of [[Johnny Crawford]].
At the local level, the organization is administered by a community liaison (a paid, part-time position) and a volunteer council. The There is presumably no current community liaison is ; until [[May 2]], [[2007]], [[Thelma Manley]]served in that capacity, who until she was fired after coming under investigation for allegedly paying organization funds to herself. Manley replaced Crawford in [[2000]] when he was ousted for excluding community input and soliciting funds without direction from the state office<ref>[http://ricksblog.biz/?p=1455 Thelma Manley] - [[Rick's Blog]], March 20, 2007</ref>. A [[2006]] audit found irregularities with the organizations finances and chided the leadership for failing to keep better records of "its bank reconciliations, expenditures, current liabilities, fixed assets and grant agreements for the period ending June 30, 2006."<ref>[http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070322/OPINION/70321041/1020 Air needs to be cleared at Front Porch Pensacola] - [[Pensacola News Journal]], March 22, 2007</ref><ref>[http://ricksblog.biz/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/audit-front-porch-1.pdf PDF of state audit] - Source: [[Rick's Blog]]</ref> In [[2007]] controversy (see [[#Controversy|below]]), in which two council members resigned, stemmed from Manley's alleged mismanagement of organization funds for personal benefit.
Front Porch Pensacola operates out of the [[Long Hollow]] Community Center at 1040 North [[Guillemard Street]].
