The Children’s Trust of Alachua County Appoints Executive Director

The Children’s Trust of Alachua County (the Trust) has appointed Colin Murphy as its first Executive Director.  Murphy was selected from a pool of 56 applicants in a process that began in September 2019.  His contract was approved on January 27th, 2020.  His first day will be February 3rd.

Murphy comes to the Trust from the Children’s Home Society of Florida where he led the agency’s statewide business development effort and oversaw the implementation of seven community partnership schools throughout North Florida.  Prior to that, Murphy served as the Senior Director of Operations / COO of the Jacksonville Children’s Commission, a $38 million dependent children’s services council in Duval County.  Murphy oversaw the organization’s day to day operations, including all procurement, grant-writing, contract management, program evaluation, and information systems.   

“Alachua County is an incredible Community that values providing every child with the opportunity to succeed. We are very excited to have appointed an Executive Director with the breadth of Mr. Murphy’s experience and look forward to his leadership in implementing both the Community and Board’s vision, ” said Trust Chairman and County Commissioner Ken Cornell.

“Alachua County did something special when it created the Children’s Trust,” said Murphy.  “I feel privileged to have this opportunity. I’ll lead with a simple rule-of-thumb I learned from a mentor: make a massive positive difference, for the greatest number of children, in the shortest period of time.”

Murphy said that his priorities in his first 90 days are to develop a positive working relationship with the Trust members, meet as many stakeholders as possible, and help the Trust develop its funding priorities going forward. 

The Children’s Trust of Alachua County is an independent special taxing district approved by the voters of Alachua County in 2018. The Trust is authorized to levy a tax of up to .5 mills to in order to address the preventative, developmental, treatment or restorative needs of children.  The Trust’s estimated revenue for fiscal year 2019-2020 is $6.8 million.

For more information or to reach Colin email cmurphy@childrenstrustofalachuacounty.us