Florida Priorities Summit

By Hope Dean

The Alligator / University of Florida

When it comes to improving healthcare, the cellphone in your pocket might just be one of the keys to progress — or it could act as a bandage covering the real problem. 

Over 30 businesspeople, education leaders, public administrators and other state influencers met Monday, Nov. 18, at the University of Miami to discuss state issues, including healthcare. Their recommendations will be submitted to the Florida Legislature once the new legislative session begins Jan. 14.

The second-annual Florida Priorities Summit healthcare panel, comprised of five industry leaders involved with hospital care, health insurance and Medicaid, advised that the legislature should focus on establishing video chat or telephone-facilitated healthcare, public service announcements for cheap medicine and medical resource directories instead of medicare.

But experts in Alachua County don’t think these new measures will do much to help those with inadequate or no health insurance in the area. 

Victoria Kasdan, panel member and former executive director of free healthcare organization We Care Manatee, believes that focusing on these measures is a more realistic approach due to their lower costs and political pressure.

“It’s easier than trying to get them to pass a law,” she said. “Expand Medicaid? They’re not going to do that, so we’re not even talking about it.” 

Grant Harrell, medical director of the University of Florida’s Mobile Outreach Clinic, disagrees about needing to expand Medicaid. 

The mobile clinic is a large bus with medical examination rooms and a lab that drives around Alachua County to provide healthcare for free. It serves about 3,000 patients yearly, most of whom suffer from poverty, homelessness or unemployment, Harrell said. 

“That’s basically us trying to do our best with the dysfunctional health system that we have. But that’s not a way of solving the problem,” he said. “Minimally augmenting the safety net is not going to be a long-term solution for people without insurance or at a lack of access to care.” 

About 8.8 percent of America’s population is uninsured. That number is 9 percent in Alachua County and 12.9 percent statewide, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

The clinic bus is dependent on grants instead of a steady stream of government funds. One grant comes from the Community Health Offering Innovative Care & Educational Services (CHOICES) trust fund, which hands out $465,000 annually to healthcare providers in Alachua County, according to Choices Program Manager Cindy Bishop. 

The CHOICES fund — provided by money generated from a Florida sales tax for healthcare needs that was suspended in 2011 — funds 8 agencies and 10 programs that help with healthcare in Alachua County. 

Now, there is no source replenishing the fund and it will run out in five or six years, Bishop said. 

Alachua County has tried some of the Florida Priorities Summit’s proposed solutions before. UF Professor Laura Guyer, a healthcare professional,  spearheaded the Alachua County Community Health and Social Service Resource Guide in 2016. She and her students update the guide annually, she said.

Guyer didn’t expect it to take off the way it did. Copies were circulated  throughout the county and two resource-directing apps based on Guyer’s guide are currently being developed by the Gainesville city manager and UF’s Equal Access Clinic Network.

While the guide helps, it isn’t enough to support the uninsured, underinsured or those in rural areas with limited access to clinics, she said. 

“Those folks who are so unwilling to examine this issue, I just wonder if they’ve ever had a family member unable to find a dentist or a doctor,” she said. “It’s just cruel to make laws that make it unable for people to access care.

Alachua County is dotted with over 10 specially adapted clinics that provide poor people with more affordable healthcare. However, these clinics are often dependent on grant money that is given on a shaky year-to-year basis. 

One recent victim is The Alachua County Organization for Rural Needs (ACORN) Clinic. Guyer, who is also the board’s vice president, said it shut down last month due to grant cuts. It had been open for 45 years. 

Guyer wants lawmakers to consider that the solution might be in equity, not equality. A tall person does not need a box to stand on to see over a fence, but a short person will, she said. 

“People are born into circumstances that are not under their control, and so they are disadvantaged from the beginning,” Guyer said. “If we can’t change somebody’s economic situation — and that’s tough to do — what can we fix to at least make sure that they can be part of the game?”

By Dylan Hart

University of South Florida – St. Petersburg

Before rising sea levels change the map of Florida, the economic impact of the coming catastrophe could slam Florida’s economy.

Four influencers met at the Miami Herald’s second Florida Priorities Summit at the University of Miami on Nov. 18 to discuss solutions to Florida’s environmental issues. Among those problems was the potential for an economic crisis in the state caused by climate change. 

“Long before the sea laps at somebody’s doorstep, real estate values are going to tank,” said Curtis Morgan, environmental editor at the Herald and assigned “topic expert” for the group. 

The group believes that because of impending environmental issues like sea level rise in Florida, confidence in the state’s real estate market could fall, leading to economic problems for state and local governments which could compound the issues presented by climate change. 

Without sufficient funding from a lucrative tourist economy and a willing tax base, the group said that infrastructure used to fight sea level rise — like drainage pumps and sewers — would be difficult to establish and maintain.

The influencers were quick to identify Florida’s current and future environmental struggles as a “climate crisis.”

“Just imagine what happens to our state and our tax base if all these counties are trying to address these issues at the same time that investors leave, the tax base is diminishing, flood insurance is going up,” said Xavier Cortada, an environmental artist and professor at the University of Miami. “Then we don’t have the money. We’re in a state of crisis.

“We’re not addressing the issue. We’re doing it on a tax structure that’s not sustainable for what’s to come — this is not business as usual, this is — we’ve got a problem.”

The seas are expected to increase two feet by 2060, which could swallow a lot of low-lying areas in the state. Another four feet is expected by 2100, which Morgan said would “remake the map of Florida.”

Climate scientists have identified South Florida, especially the Miami metropolitan area, as particularly vulnerable to sea level rise. But because Miami is a massive tax base for the state, the economic impacts of sea level rise could hit other parts of Florida as well.

On top of that, the possibility of large swathes of people moving inland from the coast to escape sea level rise could have devastating effects on Florida’s infrastructure and economy. It’s a difficult problem to address, Cortada said, because transforming low income areas to high density zones could create “climate gentrification.”

“There’s huge swathes cultural heritage and families … people who have a lot to lose by selling at today’s prices and having nowhere to go,” he said. “I don’t know how you reconcile that here.” 

The influencers identified algae blooms and red tide due to water pollution as another key issue which could impact tourism, agriculture and resources in Florida, thereby impacting the state economy.

“I think that, for lack of a better word, the tide is turning here,” said Steve Davis, senior ecologist at the Everglades Foundation. With massive real estate value loss in Lee and Martin counties over the summer of 2013 after algae blooms, Davis feels that there’s a recognition among citizens that there is a “cost of inaction.”  

“I think there’s a growing recognition from people that were on either side of this issue 10 years ago recognizing that we’ve got to do something,” Davis said.

Although the issues are clear, the influencers suggested solutions to the looming threats. Some were easier than others.

They suggested more appropriations from governments at all levels for research funding, regulation oversight and infrastructure solutions, but acknowledged that it will require legislators to take an interest in the issue.

“The science is really well understood,” said Julie Wraithmell, the chair of the group and executive director of Audubon Florida. “What we need now is action.”

The group was particularly concerned about increasing regulations as a solution, arguing unanimously that regulations on businesses in Florida are not sufficient to prevent environmental threats. 

“We have a state where regulation is a bad word,” Cortada said. “We’re trying to influence the legislature to understand that.” 

But education — that is, making citizens “environmentally literate” to understand the issues and how they might affect them — was just as impactful to the influencers as the money.

“All of these issues must be viewed through an environmental lens,” said Michelle Suskauer, an attorney at Dimond Kaplan & Rothstein, P.A. “Housing, healthcare, transportation, the economy, education — all of them. All of these issues are interrelated and there has to be an environmental filter.”

Davis added: “The environment is everything. It’s our home.”

By Daniella Medina

University of Central Florida

Influencers, decision makers and voters from across Florida met Monday to discuss key topics and policy issues pertaining to the state and its constituents — among these the affordable housing crisis. 

The discussion was part of the second annual Florida Priorities Summit Influencer Series, a two-day event presented by the Miami Herald Monday and Tuesday at the University of Miami.

The Rev. Dr. David Swanson, a summit participant from Orlando, said the state as a whole is “exceedingly far behind” in solving the affordable housing crisis because it is impossible to know how the Florida Legislature is using the funds dedicated to affordable housing in the Sadowski Affordable Housing Act — which have been redirected from housing to general revenue. 

The Orange County Housing For All task force approved a draft Friday for a 10-year action plan dedicated to finding a solution for the affordable housing crisis affecting the city of Orlando. The plan seeks to remove regulatory barriers and find new sources of funding while engaging the community and providing opportunities and access to those in the region. 

The plan, drafted by a 38-member task force created earlier this year by Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, calls for community-based solutions to preserve and create 30,300 housing units by 2030 if the plan is approved in December by county commissioners. 

Housing For All plans to establish a $160 million housing trust fund in addition to a $10 million annual commitment from the county and private contributions. 

The plan seeks to address the issues of the region’s growing population. The Orlando Economic Partnership’s 2030 report predicts that Central Florida will add about 1,500 people every week. 

However, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the Orlando metro area ranks among the worst as an area with the most severe shortages of rental homes affordable to extremely low income households. There are 13 affordable and available rental homes per every 100 extremely low-income households. Orlando is also ranked among the most expensive housing markets as well, according to RealtyHop. 

The commission is a “policy advocacy agency that seeks to look at building a system of care in the Central Florida region that makes sure that homelessness is rare, brief and one time for anyone who may be experiencing it,” said Swanson, who serves as chairman of the Subcommittee on Chronic Homelessness and chairman of the Central Florida Commission on Homelessness.

Swanson, senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Orlando, said that Orange County’s faith-based community can play a large role in solving homelessness. 

“When it comes to homelessness, the government can’t solve homelessness. The private sector can’t solve homelessness by themselves. You need the government — they have to create the policies,” Swanson said. “It’s the faith community that creates, for the larger population, a moral imperative — it actually matters how we treat people who don’t have as much as we do.” 

With the Christian population in Orlando of over half a million people, Swanson said they are already incentivized to assist in solving the affordable housing crisis because of their duty to help other people. 

Furthermore, he said churches are able to provide more than just money. They provide human capital — educators, job creators and legal services — to surround families and households and help them thrive again.  

Swanson said he believes Orange County’s affordable housing plan has potential to work with its proposition of using tax incentives, public land and easing zoning restrictions. 

But, he said homelessness will always be a problem. 

“Housing and affordable housing and homelessness — you never cut the ribbon. It’s always a problem and you have to create a sustainable source of funding,” Swanson said. 

Among alternatives for generating streams of revenue are community generosity and corporate philanthropy. Kerry-Ann Royes, president and chief executive officer of YWCA Miami, attests to this. 

The YWCA is a social justice organization that pledges to eliminate racism and empower women while promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all, Royes said. 

Royes said everything related to the economic prosperity of a community is intertwined — housing, jobs, education and healthcare. Therefore, it’s important for the faith-based and nonprofit communities to come together to bridge the gap between low-income families and affordable housing. 

“The faith-based community and the nonprofit community are stepping up and coming to the plate to find solutions that have to do with housing more and more because it’s very disproportionately affecting communities that we serve,” Royes said. 

Royes and the YWCA pride themselves in being a “voice for the community” by advocating for its citizens with problem solvers and statewide leaders. 

“Some of what we talked about [at the summit] was asking our legislators what are some of the creative incentives or innovations in housing that we need to think about,” Royes said. “Not just for the demand today but for the future demand and, frankly, some of the economic growth we want in our state.” 

She stressed the importance of finding creative solutions to accommodate the influx of people moving to the region. 

Annie Lord, executive director at Miami Homes for All, an organization seeking to address homelessness and the affordable housing crisis in Miami-Dade County through policy advocacy and building coalitions, led the summit group discussion to help find creative solutions needed to solve Florida’s affordable housing crisis. 

Among the solutions agreed upon were fully utilizing Sadowski funds, passing legislation that creates incentives for affordable housing, including property tax abatements and incentives for mixed-income and mixed-use communities, and amending a Florida House bill that would increase tax exemption transparency and accountability, to strike any vague language about how the money can or cannot be spent.

This is how Florida can begin to ease its homelessness problem.

“There are always going to be homeless people, there’s always going to be housing challenges until we fix low wages, transportation, education and all the infrastructure problems,” Swanson said. “To say that we’re going to end homelessness — you’re never going to get there. But we can create a system that works so you see fewer and fewer people on the street and there are fewer people suffering.”

By Esther Animalu

University of Miami

Florida leaders, decision makers and voters are gathered Monday and Tuesday in Coral Gables to tackle and discuss policy issues that state lawmakers will face in the upcoming legislative session.

The second annual Florida Priorities Summit at University of Miami aims to help build a better Florida by spreading awareness on statewide concerns and will include discussions on possible solutions, which will be recommended to Florida’s elected officials.

The summit, hosted by UM, is produced by the Miami Herald, el Nuevo Herald and Bradenton Herald.

“The Florida Priorities Summit will allow professionals and the public to partake in discussions on critical topics that are impacting our local community and beyond,” said Rick Hirsch, managing editor of the Miami Herald. “It’s important to encourage an open dialogue on these subjects and craft solutions.”

The summit on Nov. 18 and 19 will highlight six main topics of discussion: the economy, environment, education, housing, healthcare and transportation.

Over the course of the past several months, 50 influencers have given their insights on key issues affecting Florida. These influencers aim to foster discussions at the summit that challenge political assumptions and create a shared vision for Florida.

“As a team we searched for influential people in Florida that can speak to these topics at hand,” Hirsch said. “Many of these influencers come from different backgrounds and experiences that can resonate with the public through their stories on these subjects.”

The influencers range from UM President Julio Frenk to Karen Arnold, the chief operating officer of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce.

Day one of the summit is open by invitation to the media and professionals. The influencers will meet in small groups to draft recommendations on specific topics.

Day two of the event is open to the public, with panels of experts on key topics.

The event will occur at UM’s Donna Shalala Student Center. Monday’s event runs through 5 p.m.; Tuesday’s activities are from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Student journalists from UM, University of Florida, University of Central Florida, University of South Florida and Florida International University will be writing stories and creating videos for their campus publications and posting to social media during the summit. In addition to this, these students will also post coverage on this blog.

Miami Hurricane editor-in-chief Rebecca Goddard, a junior majoring in motion pictures attended the summit last year to cover it for The Hurricane and the Miami Herald. She said that it was very inspiring to hear from so many people who are making an impact in South Florida.

“It’s especially important for student journalists to attend events like these because it helps them break out of the campus bubble,” Goddard said. “It’s easy to get caught up with university news, but we need to remember that there’s a whole world of off campus issues to think about.”

By Abigail Brashear

University of Central Florida

President and Publisher of the Miami Herald Alexandra Villoch speaks about the Florida Priorities Summit, a two-day event where 50 influencers from different backgrounds, political parties and lifestyles come together to workshop solutions to the state’s biggest problems. Workshops during the summit included the environment, healthcare, education, gun control and transportation infrastructure.