Florida
Hope Florida helping thousands, first lady Casey DeSantis says
The governor’s office estimates Florida could eventually save nearly a billion dollars through help provided by the Hope Florida program.
Hope Florida has been around for three years after it was spearheaded by Florida first lady Casey DeSantis, who wanted to improve connections between people and aid outside of government.
She was helping bag groceries Thursday to highlight how the program works.
“I always say you can have the best resources, you can have the best programs, but if you don’t know that they’re there, what good are they?” DeSantis told us during a one-on-one interview.
The first lady officially launched Hope Florida in 2021 after it ran as a pilot program in a few key spots around the state. It was conceived as a better way to connect those in need with the private sector, nonprofits, and especially faith groups.
Hope Florida acts as a conduit to ensure aid in an area gets to where it’s needed most. Organizers say it eases the burden on Florida’s welfare programs.
“It’s helping people find a better place in life,” DeSantis said. “Helping them live up to their God-given potential, helping them on a pathway to economic self-sufficiency.”
Since starting in 2020 as a pilot, Hope Florida reports it’s helped more than 87,000 Floridians. Over 25,000 of them have cut down or eliminated their use of public aid for food or cash. In 10 years, the state said that’ll equal a Florida savings of nearly $795,000,000.
At Hope Florida’s core is its Hope Navigators like Kirsten Lovett.
“We are someone that actually gives people hope,” she said.
When requests come, Lovett acts sort of like a social worker who helps determine the needs of a person or family. She enters it all into a website, the CarePortal.
From there, charities and churches enrolled with Hope Florida are alerted. If they think they can help with food, furniture or whatever the need might be, they say so. Navigators like Lovett then coordinate.
“A lot of times families hear no — that denial kind of discourages them,” she said. “What we do is make those calls for them. When we call them back— all they hear is yes.”
It was City Church in Tallahassee on Thursday that said yes. And Pastor Dean Inserra said Hope Florida is helping his church say it a lot more.
“It’s real easy to know that there are needs in the big picture, generically,” Inserra said. “But it can be so big you feel like you can’t make a difference by taking the next step. CarePortal allows us to have a clear next step and say here are real people, with real problems, that are right next door.”
Right next door, or even down the road in Quincy, where one family we met with, got the care it needed. That, and a little more hope, thanks in part to Hope Florida.
“If you are looking for hope, Hope Florida is a place to start, and it’s 850-300-HOPE,” DeSantis said.
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Florida
Area to watch for tropical development in Gulf to bring downpours to drought-stricken Florida | Latest Weather Clips | FOX Weather
Area to watch for tropical development in Gulf to bring downpours to drought-stricken Florida
While this area to watch for tropical development may not actually become tropical, it will definitely bring rain to Florida, which desperately needs it. The system is likely to bring the most significant rain to the Florida panhandle down south to Tampa, but the entire state can expect some moisture through midweek next week.
Gulf system to bring downpours to Florida
FOX 13 Meteorologist Jim Weber is continuing to watch an area in the Gulf that is expected to bring much-needed rain to Florida this weekend. He said the system will likely drift to the north and northwest and will linger before heading to the northeast. He said to get a tropical depression, or a tropical storm there needs to be winds and a closed low and he is not seeing that in the models yet. Weber is also tracking a system off the coast of Africa that has a 10% chance of developing over the next week. He says it will likely enter a hostile environment and dissipate.
TAMPA, Fla. – Forecasters are tracking a broad disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida coast that could bring much-needed rain to parched communities this weekend.
Gulf tropical development potential
What we know:
Models continue to indicate there is a potential for an area of low pressure to form over the northeast Gulf off the west coast of Florida over the weekend.
The National Hurricane Center says an area in the Gulf has a 30% chance of tropical development over the next seven days.
Models a shifting away from the forecast of the system moving over the state and off the coast of the Carolinas. Models are now indicating a more likely scenario that it lingers in the Gulf over the weekend and may drift more to the northwest near the Florida Panhandle or Louisiana coast. Early next week conditions look like they will become less conducive and may prohibit much development. Regardless of whether it organizes, the system will bring tropical downpours and increased moisture across Florida and parts of the Southeast.
FOX 13 Meteorologist Jim Weber states we are close to 7.50″ below average on our rainfall in Tampa for the year. A weak area of low pressure or tropical system can be beneficial in helping to make up for the rainfall deficit we have been experiencing. Drought conditions continue over much of the state of Florida. If this system ends up drifting more westward, it would limit the total amount of rainfall and the highest totals would be along the immediate west coast.
Atlantic tropical development potential
A tropical wave southeast of the Cabo Verde Islands remains disorganized.
It is moving west-northwest and, according to the NHC, there is a chance for slow development over the next day or two. By the weekend it is expected to move into less conducive conditions and Saharan dust will begin to affect this wave, limiting its moisture. The time for this system to develop is very limited and will not develop after the weekend.
The NHC is giving it a 10% chance of developing.
Weather factors and storm names
What we don’t know:
Officials cannot yet confirm if the disturbance will overcome environmental hurdles like land interaction, wind shear and dry air. Computer models remain uncertain on how much this system will develop over the waters of the Gulf. If it stays over the warm waters of the Gulf longer, it may give it additional time to organize. Interactions with land and wind shear will likely pose obstacles in further development.
To become a tropical system, it must develop a defined circulation with organized thunderstorms. If it reaches maximum sustained winds of 39 mph, it will become a tropical storm and be named Bertha.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered by FOX 13Meteorologist Jim Weber, the National Hurricane Center tropical weather outlooks, as well as forecast computer models.
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