HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION SUMMIT SLATED FOR OCT. 22

At 9:00 a.m., Thursday, October 22, 2009 at the Doubletree Hotel in Tampa, local business executives, educators, community impact organizations and government leaders will meet at Graduation Pathway. Participants will learn how to positively influence high school graduation rates in Hillsborough County.

Convened by the Children’s Board, the City of Tampa, Hillsborough County Public Schools and United Way of Tampa Bay, Graduation Pathway offers area business leaders critical information to keep teens focused and graduating from high school.

Graduation Pathway addresses the issue as a community-wide challenge, not just that of schools or parents, and is designed for CEOs, COOs, senior executives, entrepreneurs and human resource directors.

Dr. Bill R. Daggett, president of the International Center for Leadership in Education, is the keynote speaker. His presentation,  The New 3 R’s: Rigor, Relevance and Relationships focuses on the impact of high school graduation on the future Tampa Bay workforce.

Dr. Daggett has also collaborated with education groups in several countries, the Council of Chief State School Officers, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Governors’ Association, and other national organizations.  He is recognized worldwide for his proven ability to move education systems toward more rigorous and relevant skills and knowledge for students. He has assisted several states and hundreds of school districts, including Hillsborough, with their school improvement initiatives, many in response to No Child Left Behind and its demanding adequate yearly progress provisions.

Also presenting is MaryEllen Elia, superintendent of Hillsborough County Public Schools, the eighth largest school district in the United States with more than 189,000 students and almost 26,000 full-time employees. MaryEllen has been superintendent since July 2005 and draws on a deep reservoir of educational experience in her CEO responsibilities.

Dr. Daggett will facilitate a panel discussion on strategies proven to increase graduation rates.  The prominent panel participants are Joe Follman, Executive Director of Learn & Serve Florida; Gordon Gillette, CEO of TECO & People’s Gas; Judy Nee, Executive Director of the National Afterschool Association; Joe Radelet, VP of Mentoring for Big Brothers, Big Sisters of America; and Chuck Saylors, President of the National PTA.

Breakout sessions on these strategies include Service Learning, Parent Involvement, Business Mentors, Out-of-School Time, and Ready for Work or School follow the panel. A complimentary luncheon provided by our sponsors follows with welcoming remarks by Mayor Pam Iorio, City of Tampa.

Graduation Pathway is free; attendees will receive lunch and program materials.  Interested individuals must register online.

Graduation Pathway is underwritten by State Farm Insurance, Humana and America’s Promise. Without their generous support, it would not be possible. The Tampa Bay Business Journal is the exclusive media sponsor.

UNITED WAY WELCOMES CLINTON KELLY OF WHAT NOT TO WEAR

A fun-filled evening for fashionistas and fashionista wanna-bes will be held Thursday, April 30 at the T. Pepin Hospitality Center in Tampa – and it’s all for a good cause. Clinton Kelly guest speaker at United Way of Tampa Bay’s Fifth Annual Art of Giving, Kelly, co-host of “What Not to Wear”, will give fashion tips and make over two lucky women.

The event benefits Summer Care, a United Way project which provides free summer childcare and financial education to working families, “Caring with Style” is patterned after Kelly’s new bestseller, Freakin’ Fabulous, in which he instructs readers on how to dress, eat, drink, entertain, speak, behave, decorate – in short, how to be fabulous themselves.

Silent and live auctions will include purses by Prada, Dooney & Bourke, Coach, Elliott Lucca, and Michael Kors, and four luxury trips to Paris, Buenos Aires, Isle of Capri and the San Francisco Wine Country. Signed copies of Clinton’s book will be available for an additional donation.

Upon entering the hall, guests will interact with a larger-than-life display of Kelly’s book, Freakin Fabulous, and a pictorial display of what Summer Care means to the families who participate. During the program, a surprise presentation by a woman who used to donate to United Way – and then found herself in need of Summer Care for her children – will include a Kelly makeover. An additional Kelly makeover was auctioned on eBay in the weeks before the event.

“We enjoy preparing for the Art of Giving event and when Clinton Kelly agreed to come, we were thrilled,” said Afira DeVries, United Way of Tampa Bay Vice President of Resource Development. “And when you realize that you’re having all this fun and raising money so parents can send their children to a safe environment during the summer, it’s a satisfying feeling.”

For tickets visit www.unitedwaytampabay.org or call Courtney Smith at 813.274.0914.

Event Schedule:
Art of Giving
Thursday, April 30, 2009
5:30 – 6:30 p.m. Cocktails, Registration and Fun

6:30 – 9:00 p.m. – Dinner and Program
T. Pepin Hospitality Center
4121 N. 50th Street, Tampa
Tickets: $100.00
Table sponsorships available

SULPHUR SPRINGS RESOURCE CENTER GRAND OPENING

Through many months of hard work and marriage of community and agency, the Sulphur Springs Resource Center became a reality on Saturday, March 28 when the grand opening was celebrated.

“The center will provide training and services that the community identified that it needed, said Emery Ivery, vice-president of United Way’s Community and Partnership Development. “Teamwork is what makes this so special.”

Services and programs that will be provided include: financial literacy, financial assistance, employment training, legal assistance, and GED training.

The center will be open Monday through Friday and occasional Saturdays starting April 13. It will be staffed by United Way partner agencies: Tampa Metropolitan Area YMCA, Crisis Center of Tampa Bay, and Bay Area Legal Services. The Tampa Bay Workplace Alliance and Hillsborough Schools will also provide training.

“A lot of partners and committed individuals worked together – a neighborhood alliance, agency partners, schools – to support Sulphur Springs and the vision to make it a better place. It took awhile, but there’s been steady progress along the way,” said Paula Kay, United Way Community Partnership and Development Manager.   United Way partners include: Cy and Joanne Spurlino, J.P.Morgan Chase, Hillsborough County Schools, Time Customer Service and Allegany Franciscan Ministries, Inc. IBM provided in-kind donations of computers while Refurbished Office Furniture provided office furniture for the center.

As the efforts move forward, United Way will gather data from the center’s programs, continue to convene community partners, advance further training opportunities, and secure resources for the center to prosper.

“This is a cause for celebration. People came together with this shared vision to make it happen: to support families,” Ivery said.  More than 75 people attended the grand opening from throughout the region, but especially from throughout Sulphur Springs.

For more information about the Sulphur Springs Resource Center, contact Paula Kay, Community Partnership and Development Manager, at 813.274.0936.

More About Imagination Library

by Debra Faulk

Amidst a fanfare of front page news and features on-line and on television and radio, Imagination Library of Hillsborough County made its debut on February 26, 2008.

Imagination Library is not an actual building, but a program founded more than 10 years ago by Country-singer Dolly Parton as a gift of encouragement to children in her hometown of Sevier County, Tennessee.

Today, there are almost 800 Imagination Library programs in three countries; with Hillsborough County’s program having the potential to be the largest in the world. 

Imagination Library gives eligible babies and toddlers a new, age-appropriate book each month, free. Eligible children are all children living in Hillsborough County born on or after September 1, 2006, regardless of income. Upon registration, hardback books are mailed to the child’s home. Research tells us that children get ready to read years before they start school. This “getting ready” — or “early literacy” — is what children know about reading before they can actually do it by themselves.

Why bother reading to your baby? Clearly, he or she can’t understand what you are doing or why. But do you wait until your child can understand what you’re saying before you start to speak? Do you bypass lullabies until your baby can carry a tune? Or wait until your child can shake a rattle before offering toys? No, no, and no. So why wait to read 

Reading aloud to your baby is an important form of stimulation. It teaches them about communication; introduces concepts such as numbers, letters, colors, and shapes; builds listening, memory, and vocabulary skills; and gives babies information about the world around them.

Best of all, it is a wonderful shared activity that continues for years to come. Like all members of Hillsborough County’s Imagination Library partnership, the United Way of Tampa Bay is committed to help improve early learning opportunities for all children by providing easily accessible, age appropriate books in the home.

To learn more, register, or make a donation,   visit www.unitedwaytampabay.com/imaginationlibrary. 

Ready for the January 29th Election?

With one week left before Florida’s January 29th elections, tracking polls for both the Property Tax Reform Ammendment and the Presidential Preference Primaries show that the results for all three contests are still very much uncertain, with many Floridians still undecided on the issues and candidates.    

As a part of United Way of Tampa Bay’s Public Policy efforts, we want to keep you up to date on these elections, and provide you with nonpartisan resources to help inform you as you prepare to head to the polls.  

Amendment 1 – Property Tax Reform
View Survey USA’s Tracking poll for Amendment 1 at: http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollTrack.aspx?g=e2f43095-5ec0-46ec-8121-7a6fa5cb3191

VoteSmartFlorida.org – a nonpartisan source on Florida’s constitutional amendment process, has additional information detailing Ammendment 1 at: http://www.votesmartflorida.org/mx/hm.asp?id=home
 
Florida Presidential Preference Primaries
View Quinnipiac University’s poll (as of January 14, 2008) of our state’s Presidential Primary races at:  http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x1297.xml?ReleaseID=1133 
 
Pinellas County voters can view ballot information at:
http://www.voterfocus.com/hosting/pinellas/index.php?id=67

Hillsborough County voters can view ballot information at:
http://www.votehillsborough.org/content.aspx?id=267 

No matter how you vote, or for whom you cast your ballot, United Way of Tampa Bay encourages you to exercise your right at the polls this January 29th. 

Pinellas Hope: Helping the Homeless

Pinellas Hope is a pilot project that will provide temporary shelter and services to street homeless adults in Pinellas County on a voluntary basis.  Beginning on December 1, 2007 and ending on April 30, 2008, the project is a community-based initiative, coordinated by Catholic Charities and located on land owned by the Catholic Diocese in an industrial area at 5726 126th Avenue North, west of 49th Street North.

The purpose of Pinellas Hope is to provide temporary safe and secure shelter for unsheltered adults, while offering services needed to help them get off the streets and into more permanent housing. The goals are to reduce street homelessness and to successfully transition approximately 40% of Pinellas Hope residents out of street homelessness to self sufficiency. Approximately 225-250 people at any one time

The target population is adults 18 and over not living in a shelter or other regular housing at this time; they may be living on the street, in the woods, in a car- a place not fit for human habitation. Many of the potential residents are newly homeless in the last six months, losing places to live due to lost jobs, unexpected expenses, or being priced out of the rental market with current incomes.

Some of the individuals will have been ‘on the street’ off and on over a period of years. The residents will include veterans, women, men, couples, individuals; some will be already employed (often day labor), some may have mental or physical health issues (they will be connected with services), and some may have substance abuse/alcohol concerns. No families with children will be housed at Pinellas Hope.

If you would like more information about Pinellas Hope, you can get some in any of the following ways:
Visit http://pinellashope.org
Download the Pinellas Hope Information Sheet
If you are interested in volunteering, click HERE

Thanks to Sarah Snyder, Executive Director, Pinellas County Coalition for the Homeless, for this information.