Through a task force or legislation, lawmakers pledged to protect the county’s at-risk youth.

It has been a rough and uncertain week for at-risk youth in Pinellas County. But the county’s legislative delegation promised Tuesday issues will be addressed.

First, the Department of Children and Families fired Eckerd Connects last week. It’s a private organization contracted through the state to offer foster and child care services in Pinellas and Pasco counties.

DCF notified Eckerd it will not renew its contract at the end of the year.

Eckerd responded by saying it was quitting and would not seek a contract renewal. It also said it’s pulling out of pending contract negotiations in Hillsborough County. Eckerd accused the state of underfunding the agency for years despite repeated asks for more money.

But just weeks before the separation, state investigators accused Eckerd Connects’ leader of splitting his contract in two, pushing his salary over the state-mandated limit.

Rep. Chris Latvala spoke to Florida Politics after Tuesday’s meeting of the Pinellas County Legislative Delegation.

“Overall, child welfare needs more resources,” the Clearwater Republican said. “But that doesn’t excuse what happened to these kids. Their community-based care person that heads that in our area was making well more than the state allowed. When it comes to their executive salaries, they’re certainly not hurting for money.”

Latvala said no appropriations bills have been filed so far. But he said child protection has been close to him during his time in the legislature, especially following the death of 2-year-old Jordan Belliveau in 2018. The young child died of head trauma caused by his mother. Warning signs had been missed by child welfare services. Latvala filed legislation in response that reduced case managers’ workloads, streamlined communication between agencies and increased training for parents, caseworkers, and law enforcement.

But the Eckerd Connects issues have gone beyond the monetary melee. Issues with Eckerd Connects have led to a criminal investigation from Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gauliteri.

Last week, Gualitieri said children in Eckerd’s care were in “disgusting and deplorable conditions,” often worse than those from which they were removed. Some children have gotten possession of firearms and been hospitalized with injuries.

Rep. Michele Rayner, a Democrat who represents parts of Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties, said these problems have existed for years.

“This is kind of the worst kept secret in Pinellas County,” she said.

Rayner said there’s no reason legislators shouldn’t prioritize protecting vulnerable children immediately. She’s hoping her role on the Health and Human Services Committee can help. She said it’s a “sounding alarm” for the whole state, not just Pinellas.

“We as a Legislature have got to make sure we put safeguards in to protect these children and that the organizations we’re going to entrust these children to are going to have proper oversight and have the bandwidth to be able to make sure that our most vulnerable, the most precious gifts that we have, are protected,” Rayner said.

She said whether its through a task force or legislation, something tangible needs to emerge from the problem.

DCF has launched an emergency bidding process to replace Eckerd in Pasco and Pinellas counties by Jan. 21. The Hillsborough contract expires in June.

But Beth Houghton of the Juvenile Welfare Board of Pinellas County said child welfare in the county has been in crisis for sometime. She said she worries DCF will rely on other community organizations that already have full plates and little child welfare experience to step in. That, she said, will not do. Despite disputed high-dollar executive salaries, she said folks at the bottom are over-worked and underpaid or inexperienced.

“We need, and really DCF needs, to hold those organizations accountable, whoever they choose to do that work,” she said. “But we really need to change the trajectory in this circuit, get better people.”

To view the full article, visit https://floridapolitics.com/archives/471895-pinellas-lawmakers-say-eckerd-connects-child-welfare-issues-will-be-legislative-priority/

The announcement that the major foster care provider for Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco counties will pull out of Tampa Bay has sent county officials scrambling to come up with alternatives for managing their already-overburdened foster care programs.

In a news release issued Monday, the nonprofit Eckerd Connects Community Alternatives Board of Directors said it voted on Oct. 26 to discontinue its contracts with the Florida Department of Children and Families to provide child foster and welfare services in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties.

The foster care provider has been criticized by state officials in recent years following the high-profile deaths of three children whose cases weren’t sufficiently monitored by Eckerd Connects staffers.

Eckerd Connects board chairman V. Raymond Ferrara said the decision to pull out of the three counties wasn’t made lightly. He said the board arrived at the decision “after a thorough assessment of current state funding levels and the growing needs of children in the three counties.”

“Our focus in this region and throughout the state of Florida has always been on what is best for children and families,” Ferrara said. “We have repeatedly expressed concerns to state officials and legislators about the mismatch between inadequate funding levels and the growing needs in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area. We regret that it has come to this, but we simply cannot continue under the current circumstances.”

Ferrara said both the Hillsborough and Pinellas-Pasco child welfare contracts are woefully under-funded.

He said Hillsborough County serves nearly 1,500 children more than Miami-Dade County, but receives $20.3 million less in state revenue. Pinellas and Pasco counties serve 1,745 more children than Miami-Dade and receive $27.4 million less from the state.

In the past two years, Eckerd Connects’ has experienced a 40 percent increase in the number of children being removed from their homes by law enforcement in the three counties, without the necessary increase in money to properly serve them, Ferrara said.

He said the agency will work for a smooth change to a new foster care provider, but that wasn’t much comfort to Hillsborough County commissioners.l

“Eckerd Connects is our primary provider of children’s services,” Commissioner Kimberly Overman said. “With drug and domestic violence issues on the rise due to the pandemic, our foster care system is more stressed than ever. It’s important to make sure we have a smooth transition to another provider.”

At Wednesday’s meeting, Overman made a motion to ask staff to put together a report on the repercussions of Eckerd Connects ending its contract and possible actions the county can take to ensure it continues providing the necessary foster care and children’s services.

The commission approved the motion unanimously.

At Thursday’s Pinellas County Commission meeting, Commissioner Karen Williams Seel, who sits on the Juvenile Welfare Board, said the board met Thursday morning with Dennis Miles, the southeast regional managing director for the Florida Department of Children and Families, who will oversee the transition to a new foster care agency.

Seel said he spoke at length about his determination to not only make sure there’s a smooth transition but to rectify any ongoing problems in the county’s foster care system.

Eckerd Connects has an $80 million contract with Pinellas and Pasco counties, which fall under the same judicial system, and an $87 million contract with Hillsborough County. Ferrara said the news shouldn’t come as a surprise to state officials.

In 2016, Eckerd Connects warned DCF that funding for services in Pinellas and Pasco counties was falling short of the needs of children and families. In 2018, another letter from the Eckerd Connects board to the state agency sounded the alarm about insufficient funding in all three counties, warning that “the extreme underfunding in Tampa Bay” is “causing tragic consequences for children and families.”

Ferrara said Eckerd Connects’s decision to end its contracts in Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties will not affect the services it provides for other Florida counties and in 20 other states.
Additionally, he said Eckerd Connects will “work closely with the Department of Children and Families to help ensure a seamless transition to a new social services provider.”

Before Eckerd Connects made the announcement that it was pulling out of Tampa Bay, Shevaun Harris, who was appointed secretary of the Florida Department of Children and families in February after serving as acting secretary of the Agency for Health Care Administration, said she had already decided not to renew the state’s contract with Eckerd Connects for Pinellas and Pasco counties when it expires Dec. 31. The contract dates back to June 9, 2014.

In a Nov. 1 memo addressed to Rebecca Kapusta, vice president of Eckerd Cares based at 9393 N. Florida Ave., Tampa, Harris said actions and inactions on the part of Eckerd Connects “have jeopardized the health, safety and welfare of the dependent children under your care.”

She specifically called into question the agency’s “history of placing youth in unlicensed settings for extended periods of time” and “repeated failure to secure appropriate and stable placements for all children in Eckerd’s system of care.”

In a special investigation, WFLA News Channel 8 uncovered numerous incidents in which children were sleeping in Eckerd Connects offices because of a lack of foster facilities while others waited for hours in cars in gas station parking lots while the foster service searched for a home for the children.

WFLA reported that, on Oct. 26, Largo police were called after three children in the foster agency’s care were found climbing a ladder late at night behind the Eckerd Connects office on Ulmerton Road.

Police said they’ve received 22 calls to the Ulmerton Road office. Eckerd Connects sent a statement to WFLA News admitting there were times youth spent the night at Eckerd Connects offices when the agency wasn’t able to find a foster home for them.

Harris told Kapusta that DCF will transition to a new provider for Pinellas and Pasco counties in the next 60 days and ordered her to transfer “relevant data and files, as well as property funded or provided pursuant to this contract to the next contractor.”

“The department is committed to ensuring the safety, well-being and permanency for all children in this system of care and will take all appropriate steps to meet these aims,” Harris told Kapusta. “I trust that you and your team will work collaboratively with the department over the coming days/weeks to develop a transition plan that will support an orderly transition to the next provider.”

The Hillsborough County contract runs through June 2022, however, Harris did not address the Hillsborough contract in her memo to Kapusta.

A History Of Problems

Eckerd Connects has drawn state scrutiny in following the deaths of 8-month-old William Hendrickson III of Largo, 2-year-old Jordan Belliveau of Largo and 11-year-old Julian Carter.

The 8-month-old baby was found dead in a sweltering mobile home in Largo in July 2017 after he and his 2-year-old sister were left in the care of their father. The children’s mother, Elizabeth Rutenbeck, had been arrested and was in jail when her baby died. Eckerd Connects was responsible for monitoring the children at that time.

DCF concluded the baby’s case manager, who visited the home a day before the boy’s death, failed to take necessary action to protect the child.

A year later, Largo police investigated the death of another child under Eckerd Connects’ supervision.

Jordan’s body was found in a wooded area at Lake Avenue Northeast and McMullen Road in Largo in September 2018 after his mother, Charisse Stinson, reported him missing.

Shortly after his body was found, Stinson was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the death of her son. She told police she struck the little boy across the face and he hit his head against the wall and began having seizures.

Instead of seeking medical help, she told police that she took Jordan to the woods and left him to die.

Days after Stinson confessed, Patch learned that Stinson lost custody of Jordan in January 2017 after it was determined he was living in a dangerous environment that included drugs and guns. His father, Jordan Belliveau Sr., was a known gang member, according to police.

The todder was placed with foster parents Sam Warren, a member of the Coast Guard, and his wife Juliet, who hoped to adopt him.

But on May 31, 2018, a family court judge ruled that Stinson had met the conditions to have her son returned to her after she moved out of the toxic environment she shared with Jordan’s father, was actively seeking a job and attended counseling sessions.

Despite red flags such as Stinson refusing a case worker entry into her home in August, Stinson’s failure to get a job and receiving an eviction notice from her apartment, she was allowed to retain custody of the little boy. A month later he was dead.

When questioned about the agency’s failure to protect the child, Dr. Chris Card, chief of community-based care for Eckerd Connects, admitted mistakes were made.

“The system is under a lot of stress. We can always do better,” said Card.

Nevertheless, Eckerd Connects and the nonprofit Directions for Living, a contractor for Eckerd Connects, recommended Stinson be reunited with her son. Jordan’s volunteer guardian ad litem was the lone voice objecting to the reunion.

A DCF investigation found Eckerd Connects and Directions for Living missed warning signs, failed to make home visits and said nothing when Jordan’s mother lied in court about completing mandatory counseling classes.

Equally heartbreaking was the story of 11-year-old Julian Carter of Pinellas County, who died two years ago on Aug. 12 after overdosing on blood pressure medication.

He’d attempted suicide twice before, according to his mother, Chera Nyerick.

Nyerick said Julian suffered from behavioral and mental health problems. He’d been hospitalized under the Baker Act 44 times. Mental health professionals recommended long-term residential treatment 20 times.

But when Nyerick sought help from the child welfare system, she said Eckerd Connects never got her son reatment.

A report by DCF said the agency failed to follow policies and procedures that might have gotten the child the help he needed.

A Look At The State’s Foster Care System

Eckerd Connects was founded in 1968 by Clearwater philanthropists Jack and Ruth Eckerd as an outdoor therapy program for youth.

In 1982, the state asked Eckerd Connects to operate its first private juvenile justice program under a new community-based care initiative. Prior to that time, foster services were handled by the state.

Eckerd Connects is the largest foster care provider in the state, handling 5,108 cases. The second largest is Embrace Families, which handles 1,830 cases.

In addition to Eckerd Connects, other foster care agencies currently under contract with DCF include:

• Families First Network of Lakeview, serving Escambia, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Walton counties
• Partnership for Strong Families, serving Duval, Nassau, Columbia, Dixie, Hamilton, Lafayette, Madison, Suwanee, Taylor, Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Gilchrist, Levy and Union counties
• Kids Central Inc., serving Citrus, Hernando, Lake, Marion and Sumter counties
• Embrace Families, serving Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties
• Child Net, serving Palm Beach and Broward counties
• Citrus Family Care Network, serving Miami-Dade and Monroe counties
• Children’s Network of Southwest Florida
• Citrus Health Network
• Communities Connected for Kids
• Community Partnerships for Children
• Family Integrity Program
• Family Support Services of North Florida
• Heartland for Children
• Kids First of Florida Inc.
• Northwest Florida Health Network
• Safe Children Coaltion
• Brevard Family

As of Sept. 30, 23,345 children in Florida were receiving care through DCF after being removed from their homes. Of those, 51.7 percent were placed in licensed foster care facilities. Others were placed with approved relatives and non-relatives, group homes and in residential treatment.

According to the DCF, 47.94 of the children removed from their homes are age 5 years and younger.

Counties with the largest number of children in foster care:https://e127d6ed2a6ba24a7f1200144bbc3d0a.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

• Hillsborough County – 2,455 children
• Pinellas County – 1,667 children
• Broward County – 1,128
• Orange County – 1,044
• Polk County – 994
• Pasco County -986
• Miami-Dade – 971
• Lee County – 915 children
• Duval County -903
• Palm Beach -909
• Volusia -853

To view the full article, visit https://patch.com/florida/clearwater/foster-care-provider-pulls-out-pinellas-hillsborough-pasco

Florida’s Pinellas County is looking for a firm to develop and launch an early childhood public awareness campaign to educate parents and caregivers of kids from birth to three about critical developmental milestones in their lives.

The goal is to take advantage of everyday opportunities to help “build a baby’s brain,” according to the RFP.

During the first 1,000 days, the brain grows more quickly than any other time of a person’s life. Eighty percent of brain growth occurs by age three.

The selected firm will promote the importance of things such as face-to-face interactions between adult and child for bonding; responding to “baby talk” with real words, exaggerated tone of voice, higher pitches; and incorporating songs, stories, reading, play during diaper changes, meals and bath times.

The ultimate goal of the Juvenile Welfare Board of Pinellas County is to give children a level playing field so they enter kindergarten ready to learn and prepared for lifelong learning.

The PR contract will run for four years, with a $125K budget set for Year One.

Proposals are due Nov. 30 at rfp@jwbpinellas.org.

To view the full article, visit https://www.odwyerpr.com/story/public/17033/2021-11-03/florida-co-seeks-pr-for-early-childhood-development-push.html

The Pinellas County Commission will join community partners to host a free produce and food distribution event on Friday, Oct. 15, in Clearwater. The Farm Share event will begin at 9 a.m. in the parking lot of the Juvenile Welfare Board, 14155 58th St. N., Clearwater.

The giveaway will feature drive through distribution of fruit, vegetables and other nutritious food. The event is scheduled to run until 11 a.m. or while supplies last.

Anyone needing some groceries is welcome to attend.

Farm Share is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the distribution of nutritious foods to those in need. It serves as a link between farmers with surplus produce and social service agencies in Florida and throughout the southeastern United States. Last year, Farm Share served more than 6 million Florida households and distributed 40 million pounds of food to needy families. For more information on Farm Share, visit www.farmshare.org.

For more information about the upcoming produce giveaway, contact Pinellas County Communications at 727-464-4600.

To view the full article, visit https://www.tbnweekly.com/pinellas_county/article_1bcf436c-26ba-11ec-a990-af9095f06e85.html

To watch the broadcast interview, visit https://www.wfla.com/bloom/help-for-children-suffering-from-stress-and-trauma/

April Lott, LCSW the President & CEO of Directions for Living joins Gayle Guyardo the host of the nationally syndicated health and wellness show Bloom speak about the importance of understanding childhood trauma and building resiliency for kids as well as their caregivers and parents, particularly during and as a result of a pandemic.

April recently presented as a keynote speaker at the Juvenile Welfare Board’s Out of School Time Conference for 500 childcare professionals. This is a “part two” segment, with Part 1 being the recent interview with Beth Houghton of JWB discussing the conference as a whole. April Lott will provide a deeper dive into trauma-informed care, adverse childhood experiences, and the importance of building resiliencies in our young people and those they interact with.

“Now more than ever in light of the pandemic, we need to train and support those who work directly with children in out-of-school time programs, giving them the tools to address the trauma and challenges children and families face today.”, said Lott.

She went on to say “Many adults have experienced trauma and adverse childhood experiences themselves, so it is important combat those with resiliencies – as it all trickles down to the children.”

Bloom airs in 40 more markets across the country, with a reach of approximately 36 million households, and in Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands and Madison, WI.

You can watch Bloom in the Tampa Bay Market weekdays at Noon on WTTA: Spectrum 1006; Frontier 514; DirecTV 38; Dish 38; Comcast 43, and look for Bloom early mornings on WFLA News Channel 8.

The Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners has partnered with Farm Share and other community organizations to host a free produce and food distribution event. The giveaway will be held on Friday, Oct. 15, in Clearwater. The event begins at 9:00 a.m. in the Juvenile Welfare Board parking lot at 14155 58^th St. North. This is a drive-thru event featuring free fruit, vegetables, and other nutritious food. Anyone who needs groceries is welcome, and the giveaway is scheduled to run until 11:00 a.m. or while supplies last.

To view the full news story, visit https://stpetecatalyst.com/zaps/pinellas-county-announces-fresh-produce-and-food-giveaway/

As part of Infant Safe Sleep Month in October, JWB Strategic Initiatives Manager Rebecca Albert was recently featured in a statewide podcast with Prevent Child Abuse Florida and the Ounce of Prevention, spotlighting JWB’s Sleep Baby Safely Campaign and emphasizing that the cause of infant sleep-related deaths is suffocation not SIDS. Knowing the cause and understanding that it is 100% preventable removes the mystery, so parents/caregivers can be educated and empowered to protect their babies from suffocation, every night and every nap. 

Sleep Baby Safely’s three data-driven tips were also shared:

• Follow Safe Sleep ABCs: Alone, Back, Crib
• Share a Room, Not a Bed
• Stay Alert While Feeding

To learn more about JWB’s Sleep Baby Safely campaign and how it is saving babies’ lives, visit www.sleepbabysafely.com.

Listen to the ABCs of Safe Infant Sleep podcast at: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1653430/9282358-the-abcs-of-safe-infant-sleep-interview-with-ret-maj-connie-shingledecker-and-rebecca-albert

To view the broadcast story, visit https://www.wfla.com/news/making-children-a-top-priority/

The Juvenile Welfare Board (JWB) is a nationally-accredited organization, providing children with opportunities to lead healthy and successful lives.

The CEO of JWB, Beth Houghton sits down Gayle Guyardo the host of the nationally syndicated health and wellness show, Bloom to talk about her organization’s mission, and how it’s helping children through afterschool programs.

Whether you’re playing tackle football on the field, hitting golf balls on the course, or running cross country – safety is the number one priority. 

Bloom airs in 40 more markets across the country, with a reach of approximately 36 million households, and in Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands and Madison, WI.

You can watch Bloom in the Tampa Bay Market weekdays at Noon on WTTA: Spectrum 1006; Frontier 514; DirecTV 38; Dish 38; Comcast 43, and look for Bloom early mornings on WFLA News Channel 8.

Community Foundation Tampa Bay has become the new backbone organization for Thrive by Five Pinellas, a nonprofit focused on supporting families with young children. Through this new partnership, Thrive by Five Pinellas will build on its past successes and explore new opportunities through its collective impact model.

Thrive by Five Pinellas focuses on creating, connecting and supporting community resources for healthy development and kindergarten readiness for children under age 5. These resources include physical health and well-being; social competency; emotional maturity; language and cognitive development; and communication and general knowledge.

“Healthy childhood development can contribute to positive progress in our community’s vibrancy, economic mobility and mental well-being,” said Marlene Spalten, president and CEO of the Community Foundation Tampa Bay. “We’re pleased to build on the work of Thrive By Five Pinellas and lend our expertise in collective impact to enhance and elevate the network.”

It’s common for Community Foundation Tampa Bay to serve as the backbone organization for collective impact networks, meaning it plays a key role in mobilizing, coordinating and facilitating the process of collective impact. Over the past five years, Community Foundation Tampa Bay has started collective impact networks like LEAP Tampa Bay College Access Network, which is focused on increasing college access and attainment, and Wimauma Community Education Partnership, focused on bringing opportunities to prosper to Wimauma residents. In addition, it has played a key role in increasing the number of people certified in Mental Health First Aid in the Tampa Bay region.

“It was a natural transition in Thrive By Five Pinellas’ growth to become a fund of Community Foundation Tampa Bay,” said Lindsay Carson, CEO of Pinellas Early Learning Coalition. “We’ve already made significant progress, and we look forward to being a part of the network’s next phases.”

Thrive by Five Pinellas director Dr. Bilan Joseph, Ed.D. will become a staff member of the Community Foundation Tampa Bay. She will continue to lead the collective impact network, and seek new ways to support the network and further early childhood development in Pinellas County.

The Thrive by Five Steering Committee of 14 organizations – focused on an equitable, accessible, responsive, and accountable early childhood development system – remains in place. Community Foundation’s Senior Director of Community Impact Chuck Tiernan, CFRE has served on the Thrive by Five Steering Committee over the past four years.

Additionally, existing community partners remain committed to Thrive by Five Pinellas, including: Community Foundation Tampa Bay, COQEBS, Directions for Living, Early Learning Coalition of Pinellas, Early Steps at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, Florida Department of Health Pinellas, Ford Christian Academy, Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg, Juvenile Welfare Board, Liberty Church St. Pete, Pinellas County Schools, The Well for Life and USF Family Study Center. Individual supporters include: Alyssa Bedard, MPH, educator Catina Bell, Eric Caplan, Eliseo Santana, MBA, and Paul Wirtz, Ph.D.

Founded in 2017, Thrive by Five Pinellas was started by the Early Learning Coalition of Pinellas, the original backbone organization, with financial support from the Foundation for a Health St. Petersburg. Both organizations remain engaged partners in this collective impact work.

For more information about Thrive By Five, visit www.TB5P.org.

About Thrive By Five Pinellas
Thrive by Five Pinellas is a collective impact approach to ensure an equitable, accessible, responsive and accountable early childhood system that will increase the percentage of children in our community “ready” for kindergarten. Thrive by Five Pinellas works with diverse partners throughout the community to achieve a multi-faceted common vision, ensuring that children, families, schools, and the community are aligned in supporting the development of young children. For more information about Thrive By Five Pinellas, visit www.TB5P.org.

About the Community Foundation Tampa Bay
Founded in 1990, the Community Foundation Tampa Bay connects donors, nonprofits, community and business leaders, professional advisors, volunteers and residents to make the maximum positive impact in the Tampa Bay region. For 30 years, the Community Foundation Tampa Bay has been dedicated to making giving easy and meaningful for donors as a way to strengthen nonprofit organizations and build a better, more vibrant community. Since its inception, its donors have enabled the Community Foundation Tampa Bay to award more than $280 million in grants to nonprofit organizations across the country. Learn more at CFTampaBay.org.

To view the full article, visit https://patch.com/florida/stpete/thrive-five-has-new-home-community-foundation-tampa-bay

During the swirling controversy surrounding what I called “The Miracle at Lakewood Elementary,” I have been asked numerous times: Who is Phyllis Wheatley, and what is the Phyllis Wheatley Rise to Read Campaign? In no small way, the question is an indictment of the Pinellas School district’s failure to provide an adequate inclusive education for its scholars.

Phyllis Wheatley was a prominent Black poet, brought to American colonies at age 6-7 from the Senegal/Gambia region of West Africa and sold to the John Wheatley family in Boston. Within 16 months of her arrival, she could read the bible and the Greek and Latin classics.  She was the best-known poet of the 19th century and the first published Black female in America.

The Phyllis Wheatley Rise to Read Campaign is an initiative named in honor of the distinguished scholar in recognition of her laudable accomplishments as a student and poet.  A slave at age 6-7 from the African Continent reading Greek and Latin classics is not just inspirational but a testament to what is possible if the will, determination, commitment and focus are present.

The Rise to Read Campaign is not a new reading method or technique. Instead, it is a deliberate, coordinated community initiative designed to bring a strategic laser community focus to the issue of African American literacy. It is a response to the negotiated Bridging the Gap plan developed by the Pinellas School District in concert with the Bradley and Crowley defense teams.

It is rooted in the African proverb “It takes a village” and the movie “Akeelah and the Bee,” starring St. Pete’s own Angela Bassett.

During Maria Scruggs’ tenure as president of the St. Petersburg Branch of the NAACP, a comprehensive assessment of the Pinellas District FSA literacy scores was made and revealed only 25 percent of our more than 10,000 scholars were reading on grade level.  Based upon this finding and the 50 plus years of district failure, the question was asked: What can the African-American community do to improve the performance of Black scholars?

The answer was, develop a literacy campaign utilizing a collective impact strategy to coordinate community resources and programs to focus on improving the literacy of African-American scholars specifically and community literacy in general.

The approach was modeled in Akeelah and the Bee when the student preparing for the spelling bee lost her coach and teacher, and her mother (Angela Bassett) encouraged her, noting she had an entire community’s support. Consequently, everyone from business persons to the man on the street answered the call and assisted with her training.

The Phyllis Wheatley Rise to Read Campaign epitomizes “it takes a village.”  Utilizing the collective impact strategy, it provides the total community with a deliberate, effective approach to supplement district efforts and does not require anyone to abandon existing programs. Rather, the objective is to partner with established literacy initiatives to heighten the awareness of the importance of literacy to achievement and prosperity.

It is a comprehensive, collaborative campaign that identifies any and all existing programs, provides opportunities to network and observe best practices, modify and improve practices based upon collaborative observations and discussions, and infuses literacy throughout the community — sports programs, cheerleader camps, barbershops, and beauty parlors, etc.

The Phyllis Wheatley Campaign is not designed to compete with any existing approach. Its focus is to amplify literacy and all who are committed to improving it for the ultimate benefit of black and brown scholars. It is a facilitative initiative for the explicit purpose of ensuring our African-American scholars can do what Phyllis Wheatley did — master literacy and read and comprehend the Latin and Greek classics.

To view the full article, visit https://theweeklychallenger.com/phyllis-wheatley-rise-to-read-campaign-2/