poverty

Anti-poverty lobbyist skeptical as 2017 Legislative Session opens in Tallahassee

Published on March 7, 2017 in Statewide/Top Headlines by Michael Moline

Poverty appeared to matter as the Florida Legislature opened its 2017 regular Session Tuesday. Gov. Rick Scott, during his State of the State speech, recalled his impoverished youth and the importance of jobs to lift Floridians out of economic despair. Surely, music to Karen Woodall‘s ears? Now at the Florida Center for Economic and Fiscal Policy, she’s spent 37 years lobbying in Tallahassee on behalf of the poor. In fact, she wasn’t impressed. We caught up with Woodall in the Capitol rotunda…

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St. Petersburg hires full-time community intervention director

Published on February 24, 2016 in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by Janelle Irwin

Expressing outrage and concern over a rash of shootings that left seven dead in the closing weeks of 2015, St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman vowed to spend $1 million combating gun violence — particularly in the mostly poor Midtown and South St. Pete neighborhoods. Kriseman took the first step in making good on that promise this week by hiring a community intervention director. During a speech at the Carter G. Woodson African-American History Museum last month, Kriseman announced a position…

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St. Pete City Council approves 10 Southside CRA programs and nearly $500,000 budget

Published on February 4, 2016 in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by Janelle Irwin

St. Pete City Council approved 10 items aimed at lifting poverty and boosting the economy in South St. Pete during its meeting. The vote was 7-0 with Council Vice Chairwoman Darden Rice absent for the vote. Council also approved unanimously a budget to support those items. The items were recommended by the Citizens Advisory Committee to be funded through the first round of appropriations from the newly created Southside Community Redevelopment Area. Five of the proposals would use county-approved Tax…

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$5 million plan for Southside contingent on Rays leaving, not land development

Published on January 11, 2016 in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by Janelle Irwin

Last week, St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman announced he wanted to allocate $5 million to parts of South St. Pete as part of a potential deal with the Tampa Bay Rays to let them look outside the city for new stadium locations. According to Kriseman’s spokesman Ben Kirby, that plan would apply if, and only if, the Rays chose to vacate Tropicana Field and the money would come from the estimated $24 million they’d have to pay to the city…

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Rick Kriseman pledges $1 million for immediate South St. Pete improvements

Published on January 10, 2016 in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by Janelle Irwin

St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman vowed to find $1 million in the city’s current budget to provide immediate change for poor neighborhoods in South St. Pete. During a speech at the Sunday Best Dinner at the Carter G. Woodson African-American History Museum in Midtown, Kriseman said he has directed city staff to carve out the money in order to implement four key areas of improvement. “While we have many plans in place that are designed to make long-term generational change,…

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Community activists rally for Tampa worker who lost home to fire

Published on November 19, 2015 in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by Janelle Irwin

As the Fight for $15 movement continues to gain traction across the nation, one local activist leading the charge was devastated early Monday morning when his home caught fire. Carlton Alexander was at in his Tampa home with his fiancé, her daughter and a 3-month-old infant when the blaze consumed most of the house. “We were all in another room talking and we smelled smoke,” Alexander said. “It all happened in the blink of an eye. It was small and…

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Fight for $15 activists storm Pinellas Legislative Delegation meeting

Published on November 10, 2015 in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by Janelle Irwin

A dozen community activists and low wage workers saturated the Pinellas County Legislative Delegation meeting Tuesday at USF St. Pete with pleas to increase the statewide minimum wage to $15 an hour. The speakers represented more than a third of those scheduled to address the delegation. Mimi Hopkins was first to speak. She’s 28 years old and has never taken a vacation. Instead, she uses what ever paid time off she gets from her minimum wage job to work overtime…

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