Clearwater foster care nonprofit lays off 176 additional employees

Just a few months after the state of Florida decided not to renew its contract, Eckerd Connects, which provides child and foster care services, is closing its Tampa facility and laying off 176 employees.

The layoffs will be effective June 30, according to a letter sent to the state and Tampa Mayor Jane Castor. The letter was sent to meet federally mandated Worker Adjustment Retraining and Notification (WARN) Act requirements.

The shuttering of Eckerd’s Tampa facility is the Clearwater nonprofit's latest closure after the Florida Department of Children and Families said it would not extend its agreement with Eckerd, in part, due to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office announcement in November that it was investigating the organization.

That came days after the organization announced that its board of directors decided “after a thorough assessment of current state funding levels and the growing needs of children in the three counties, to discontinue operating either of its two contracts with the Florida Department of Children and Families to provide child welfare services in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties.”

The previous closures led to 231 layoffs at the end of last year — 197 in Largo, 30 in Trinity and 4 in Miami-Dade County.

Meghan Spuler, Eckerd’s chief people officer, does not remark on the previous closures or the state’s decision in the letter announcing the latest job cuts. She did, however, discuss the subject in the Nov. 5 letter announcing those 231 layoffs, writing the organization is “giving as much notice as is practicable under the circumstances and given the rapid pace at which this situation has developed.”

Eckerd Connects has assets of $110.84 million, according to its most recent public tax filings.