As Florida’s first woman, and a mother with three young children, I’ve poured my coronary heart and soul into discovering higher methods to assist our state’s struggling dad and mom and their youngsters. I additionally perceive authorities’s function have to be restricted, accountable and nonexclusive. As an alternative of making extra bloated bureaucracies, we should unite communities and work collectively to place dad and mom and their youngsters on a path to prosperity.
To learn to maximize neighborhood collaboration exterior authorities, I traveled our state and held roundtables with our faith-based communities, nonprofits, companies and state and native authorities companions. I noticed the eagerness of Floridians spending their time and treasure serving to others. However sadly, many had been working in silos.
To remove these silos, I’ve spearheaded “Hope Florida, a Pathway to Prosperity.” This modern initiative seeks to maximise collaboration amongst our private and non-private sectors to assist households. We wish all palms on deck.
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Inside Florida’s Division of Kids and Households, we’ve turned state workers into “Hope Navigators.” These workers, who as soon as processed authorities funds inside “the system,” now assist dad and mom establish obstacles to their household’s prosperity, map out individualized plans, and be sure that the most effective nonprofit and personal sources are a key a part of the answer.
Moreover, for the primary time in Florida, we recognized a scalable option to activate the state’s religion and community-based organizations to satisfy the speedy wants of residents who may in any other case depend on authorities. Via our CarePortal know-how, Hope Navigators establish the wants of struggling Floridians and enter that data right into a computer-based community. This permits nongovernment organizations, particularly our communities of religion, to reply rapidly.
CarePortal requests are sometimes entered and fulfilled solely as soon as. Why? We’ve discovered that after local people organizations be taught of struggling mothers, dads and their youngsters, neighbors gained’t let that household go hungry or homeless once more.
Up to now, Hope Florida has improved the lives of almost 50,000 Floridians. Final 12 months, Nakia F., a single mom of 5, was dwelling in her automotive in Jacksonville. Right this moment, due to Hope Florida, Nakia works at a grocery retailer and has a protected residence for her youngsters. Initially, her Hope Navigator addressed Nakia and her youngsters’s speedy disaster—meals and short-term shelter. That’s the place authorities typically stops.
However then Nakia’s Hope Navigator helped the Jacksonville neighborhood wrap its arms round her and her youngsters: City Relaxation Cease, a short-term shelter, helped her discover everlasting housing in Sulzbacher Village, which is run by the nonprofit Sulzbacher Heart; an area enterprise, Whole Army Administration, offered furnishings to make Nakia’s home a house; and a faith-based charity, Day by day Manna Serving Heart, offered meals for her household. These efforts had been all coordinated along with her new employer, which supplied versatile work hours so Nakia can take care of her youngsters.
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Since 1964, when President
Lyndon Johnson
introduced his “Battle on Poverty,” greater than $23 trillion has been spent on federal and state anti-poverty packages, with no significant enchancment in poverty charges. After a long time of failure, it’s time to attempt a community-based strategy, by which authorities performs a job however is just not the one answer.
In Florida, as an alternative of overrelying on authorities, we’re organizing the generosity and goodness of neighbors to assist each other. Our state authorities extends a serving to hand, connects dad and mom and their youngsters with local people sources, after which stays out of the best way. Primarily based on our success to this point, I’m assured that Hope Florida generally is a mannequin for America.
Mrs. DeSantis is first woman of Florida.
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Assessment & Outlook: What began as a row over parental rights laws has resulted within the Walt Disney Firm shedding particular privileges in Florida—and serves as a wake-up name for different CEOs. Pictures: Reuters/AP/Miami Herald Composite: Mark Kelly
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) -100 Black Men of Greater Florida Gainesville held their 6th annual Aviation Academy and participants say it did not disappoint.
“My favorite part was flying the planes,” Regan Hollinger, a student shared. “The experience of being able to fly over the Gator stadium and over people’s houses, over the interstate, over lakes, it was just an amazing experience and I love being in the air.”
Students started the two-day camp at the Kika Silva Planetarium at Santa Fe college and ended it with a visit to Gainesville Regional Airport’s University Flight School.
“We have individuals that are members of the 100 that are pilots,” Ray McKnight, the President of 100 Black Men Greater Florida Gainesville commented. “They’re taking the kids up in the aircraft some of the kids are even getting the opportunity to fly the plane.”
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The future pilots learned about helicopters, military aircraft, drones, and more.
Myla Chilongo, a high school participant says though the name of the organization may be misleading, everyone is welcome to reap the benefits.
“Even though this is for the 100 black men I think that it’s important that this organization and aviation thing is co-ed because it allows black women to think outside the box,” she shared.
Students also enjoyed a catered lunch, a DJ, and a raffle contest.
Officials with University Flight School say in the future, they hope to see the kids enroll with them and take flight as professionals.
PANAMA CITY BEACH — Three Alabama men have died from likely drowning after becoming distressed while swimming at a Florida Panhandle beach, authorities said Saturday morning.
The young men had traveled to the Panama City Beach area Friday evening, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.
The sheriff’s office received an emergency call about the distressed swimmers shortly after 8 p.m., officials said. The U.S. Coast Guard and others began rescue efforts. The men, who were not immediately identified, were found separately and eventually pronounced dead at local hospitals.
Earlier this week, single red flags had been posted at the beach, indicating high-hazard surf and rip current conditions.
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On Thursday, a Pennsylvania couple visiting Florida with their six children drowned after they were caught in a rip current while swimming. The man and woman were caught in the current on Hutchinson Island, along Florida’s southeast coast, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.
Brevard Space Coast launch sites rockets spaceX ULA NASA
A quick look at which rockets lift off from various Brevard launch sites.
After a back-to-back scrub, followed by a rare T-0 abort on June 14, Space X will try once again to launch the Starlink 10-2 mission.
SpaceX is aiming for a liftoff time of 1:15 p.m. EDT on Sunday, yet the launch window runs until 5:01 p.m. if needed.
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When is the next Florida rocket launch? Is there a launch today? Upcoming SpaceX, NASA, ULA rocket launch schedule in Florida
SpaceX launch delay from Florida
This is the mission that resulted in an unusual scrub for SpaceX. After the Falcon 9 engines ignited on June 14, spectators watched as nothing happened with the rocket. The clock was at T-0, yet the rocket was still on the pad. There had been an abort − something of a rarity for SpaceX.
SpaceX did not give an official answer about what happened to this Starlink mission. However, the company’s VP of launch, Kiko Dontchev, took to X the following evening with a statement that the rocket had experienced a hardware issue. SpaceX decided to take the troubled Falcon 9 off Space Launch Complex 40 to get German TV satellite Astra 1P to the pad. But then weather got in the way of that launch.
Finally, on Thursday, Astra 1P rocketed off Space Launch Complex 40, ending an almost two-week launch drought on the Space Coast.
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The launch drought wasn’t due to just weather and technical issues. With SpaceX only having access to Kennedy Space Center’s Pad 39A and Space Launch Complex 40, this made for a bit of a rocket traffic jam as teams were already preparing to raise a Falcon Heavy rocket on Pad 39A.
The payload of that triple-core Falcon Heavy is the GOES-U weather satellite, which is set to liftoff as soon as 5:16 p.m. EDT on Tuesday.
SpaceX upcoming rocket launches from Florida
Before we see GOES-U carried to orbit on a Falcon Heavy, SpaceX has plans to get this Starlink 10-2 off from Launch Complex 40. If SpaceX cannot launch during Sunday’s window, a backup opportunity exists on Monday beginning at 1:00 p.m. EDT.
Being from the Starlink Group 10, this Falcon 9 will be launching into the northeast.
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Follow the FLORIDA TODAY Space Team for the latest space news from the Space Coast.
Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at bedwards@floridatoday.com or on X: @brookeofstars.
