News

Chief Equity Officer, Carl Lavender, Jr., was recognized by the Tampa Bay Chapter of NFBPA for his commitment to public service during the 2021 Marks of Excellence Awards. Other honorees include Kimberly Jackson, Esq, Dr. Cynthia Johnson, Tramaine Whittey, Kareen Belnavis, Ernest Coney, Jr., Gypsy Gallardo, School Board Member Caprice Edmonds, City Council Member Deborah Figgs-Sanders, Jeffery […]

A century of history began in 1906 when a 15-bed clinic was built to serve as St. Petersburg’s first centralized health care facility.

MEDIA ALERT Immediate Release Jan. 28, 2021    Media Contacts  Florida Department of Health in Pinellas County:  Maggie Hall, PIO  Margarita.Hall@FLHealth.gov  (727) 824-6908 (Media Only)  Tom Iovino, PIO  Thomas.Iovino@FLHealth.gov  (727) 281-5094 (Media Only)    Pinellas receives new shipment of COVID vaccines for 65+ residents Appointments re-open Friday at 3 p.m.; slots expected to fill quickly   Appointments for COVID-19 vaccinations for […]

Kingian Nonviolence Conflict Reconciliation is a curriculum based on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s philosophy of nonviolence and developed by Dr. Bernard LaFayette. Born and raised in Tampa, Florida, LaFayette was a close friend and confidant of MLK, Civil Rights Movement activist, minister, educator, co-founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and director of the Selma Voting Rights […]

Gun violence, trauma from gun violence, and the COVID-19 pandemic combined have highlighted and exacerbated already-existing racial inequities in the St. Petersburg area. In Pinellas County, there were 531 incidents of gun violence including 283 deaths over the last 4 years. Over half of this violence occurred in St. Petersburg where 281 incidents of gun violence took place including 135 deaths.  Recent incidents of gun violence experienced in south St. Petersburg ignited local leaders and […]

As of January 23, 2021 at 10:53 a.m. there has been a national outage for the Vaccine Appointment Website. Florida Department of Health is working rapidly to get the site back online. At this time, for Pinellas residents, there are appointments still available. The best method to try to obtain one will be through the Patient Portal Help line (844) 770-8548). As of 10:53a.m., residents are reporting approximately an hour wait time. Updates will be made on this webpage as they become available.

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, […]