Category: News

While talent is evenly distributed amongst diverse populations, opportunity and representation are not. Black and Brown people are significantly underrepresented across many professional and political arenas. While progress has been made over recent years, both locally and nationally, according to data, working African-Americans — from those laboring in warehouses to those working in executive roles […]

The Equal Justice Initiative in partnership with the Pinellas Remembers Community Remembrance Project Coalition is pleased to announce an essay scholarship contest open to 9th – 12th grade students attending public high school in Pinellas County where prizes totaling at least $5000 will be awarded to participants with winning essays. With the support of the Tampa Bay Rays, the coalition is also pleased to announce […]

Grow Smarter is a strategic plan within the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce that aims to reduces gaps by race and place in St. Petersburg, Florida, by introducing equity to economic development efforts. Since its start in 2014, Grow Smarter contributed to increasing St. Petersburg’s median household income by 25% and decreasing the city’s poverty rate by 14%.   Jocelyn Howard, the Grow Smarter Program Manager, stated that the plan brings to […]

The economic cost of the COVID-19 pandemic is estimated to be $16 trillion or roughly 90% of the annual GDP of the U.S. The largest drop in active business owners ever recorded occurred from February-April 2020 with the number plummeting by 22% or 3.3 million. Businesses owned by people of color were especially hit hard. Black-owned businesses experienced a 41% drop in business activity, […]

Unconscious, implicit racial bias—rather than individual, White supremacist action—plays a role in nearly every stage of a person’s life.  Americans, including people of color themselves, hold a range of unconscious biases against people of color. However, research on mindfulness-based interventions provides grounds for optimism and potential long-term solutions. Mindfulness Provides Grounds for Optimism Mindfulness can […]

When it comes to race and racism, the learning curves and needs of white people and Black people are very different. Many white people seek to understand—and perhaps confront for the first time– the history and current manifestations of white supremacy and racism in America. It seems entirely reasonable that this learning takes place with […]

In the U.S., 25% of all renters are severely rent-burdened. In Florida, that percentage is 21%. But when we look at the data by census tract in Pinellas County, there are several communities—mostly comprised of people of color—that are up to 91.5% severely rent-burdened. People of color in these communities disproportionately spend at least 30% of their income on rent and most spend over 50%. Upscale development, rent spikes, and stagnant wages continue to cause barriers for equitable growth in Pinellas County.  Beyond shelter, […]

Florida, historically known as a swing state, holds the power to determine election outcomes. According to a Pew Research report, in 2016 the Black voter turnout rate declined for the first time in 20 years in a presidential election, falling to 59.6% after reaching a record-high 66.6% in 2012. This year, the COVID-19 pandemic, systemic […]

The decision to reopen schools came after months of deliberation and careful preparation between the FL Department of Health and district officials who mandated doors could only open after county-wide infection rates decreased. In late July and early August, families were given the option of virtual learning, or returning to physical schools. Despite the pandemic, continuing education is […]

Many people are motivated by the murder of George Floyd and other deaths of Black people at the hands of law enforcement or vigilantes to go deeper in their understanding of individual racism and structural racism.