Volume 7, No. 2 | Spring 2018
Policy Institute Digest
From the Director
Many of us are all too familiar with the helpless feeling we experience when we learn we’ve become victims of identity theft. Having had that feeling more than once in recent years, I decided to learn how to protect myself from hackers – and to share that knowledge with others. That’s the basis for the Institute’s next program, which we’re calling Hacked: Can We Win the Cyber Security Battle?
Read more about this and our other events below.

David Klement
Executive Director 
Upcoming Spring Programs
Cyber Security Forum Will Assess Threat of Hacking
Worried about being hacked? Worried about the threat to our national security from hackers who invade our military, political and financial networks? Then you won’t want to miss the Institute’s upcoming Dinner Series program, Hacked: Can We Win the Cyber Security Battle? It will be from 6 to 8:15 p.m. March 27 at the SPC Seminole Campus, 9200 113 th St. N. It is co-sponsored by the Florida Center for Cybersecurity and media sponsors the Tampa Bay Times and WEDU Television.
Admission to the dinner program is $25, or $20 for students and educators. Advance registration is required at http://solutions.spcollege.edu / .

Keynote speaker will be Col. John Burger, former director of the Joint Cyber Center at the U.S. Central Command and current vice-president for threat management at ReliaQuest, a Tampa-based cyber security company. He will provide an overview of how the invasion of electronic systems by criminal hackers became a national security threat and what is being done to combat this invasion.

Joining Col. Burger in a panel discussion will be Paul J. Vitchock, FBI Special Agent who manages the Cyber Squad in the Tampa office of the FBI, and Marty J. Smith, Supervisory Protective Security Advisor, Department of Homeland Security.
4 th Annual Conference Will Focus on Caregivers
The focus will be on caregivers, as well as the afflicted loved ones for whom they provide care, at the 4th Annual Caregivers Conference on March 23 rd from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The conference, titled “Finding Meaning in Caregiving,” is co-sponsored by Maria’s Adult Day Care Center and AARP Florida. The conference is free, but advance registration is required at http://solutions.spcollege.edu /.
 
For the past three years, the conference has offered strategies to help caregivers provide for their loved ones who are living with dementia. The conference will offer such advice again this year, but attention also will be paid to the caregivers, who often exhaust themselves physically and emotionally providing care around the clock, seven days a week.

The conference will introduce two new featured speakers. Leading off will be Monica Stynchula, AARP Florida Executive Council Member and Chair of the Caregiver Accelerator. She will speak on “Building a Local Family Caregiving Ecosystem.” Luncheon speaker will be Christine Sherrill, Program Coordinator for the Florida Department of Elder Affairs (DEA), who will highlight local resources under the DEA’s Dementia Care and Cure Initiative.
A variety of vendors of products and services useful to caregivers will have tables at the conference. Drawings will be held for valuable door prizes, including a $250 gift card.

Recent Institute Programs
Ex-Skinhead Finds New Life After Hate
“Do you know how to play cribbage?”

That simple question led to a life-changing decision by a hate-filled young woman almost 20 years ago – and to founding of an organization that promotes love over hate.

The question was asked of Angela King at a federal detention center in south Florida, where she was confined for her role in an armed robbery motivated by hate for Jews. It was asked by a black woman – someone King had been taught from childhood to hate and fear.

“This very real experience in prison set me on a path to a new life,” King told the audience attending the Institute’s Dinner Series program Full of Hate on Jan. 25. “It was a gift to me that I never thought I’d get.”

WATCH FULL VIDEO
VA Is Making Progress in Keeping Promise,
Deputy Secretary Says
Military veterans were promised more local control of their health care delivery system on Feb.15 at a forum sponsored by the Institute.

“Our policy is less decided in Washington, more decided in the community,” said Thomas G. Bowman Deputy Secretary of Veteran's Affairs, in a keynote speech at the forum titled, “Fulfilling the Promise to Veterans.” Bowman was joined on stage by a panel of local VA health care officials, veteran advocates and an active-duty service member.

Bowman opened his presentation by outlining legislation pending in Congress that is designed to modernize the delivery of VA services, expand access to them, and better address the suicide and homelessness problems.
WATCH FULL VIDEO
City Learning How to Be Age-Friendlier
The Institute continues its community conversation with St. Petersburg residents to gather input in the city’s quest to become more age-friendly. The fourth in a series of Listening Sessions was held Feb. 24 at Lake Vista Recreation Center.
 
The Listening Sessions are part of St. Petersburg’s initiative to continue its Age-Friendly City recognition by the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO’s Global Age-Friendly Cities and Communities initiative is designed to help cities prepare for a future of increased longevity. The program targets eight environmental, social, and economic factors that influence the health and well-being of older adults. AARP and WHO are working together with communities across the United States to promote age-friendly policies that will allow communities to become places where adults can live independently, even to advanced ages.
 
In St. Petersburg, the Institute is partnering with AARP Florida , the Area Agency on Aging of Pasco-Pinellas , and the city’s Parks and Recreation Department to introduce local residents to what it means to become Age-Friendly.
Institute Staffer Strikes Out on Her Own
A key member of the Institute’s staff, Shontae’ Williams, resigned as Senior Administrative Specialist effective Feb. 2 to become an entrepreneur. Ms. Williams has opened her own executive administration service, offering a range of administrative services to clients from an online platform.
In her five years with the Institute, she has been an invaluable member of the team, balancing the many fiscal and public records reporting requirements of state law and college procedures with the logistical and communication challenges of staging 20-plus public events per year. Through it all, she has “kept the trains running on time” with her trademark smile and cheerful personality.  She will be missed, but we wish her great success in her new venture.
Save the Date!
Mar. 23, 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m.: 4th Annual Caregivers Conference, Finding Meaning in Caregiving . Digitorium, SPC Seminole Campus, 113 th St. North. Free admission. Advance registration required at http://solutions.spcollege.edu/

Mar. 27, 6-8:15 p.m.: Dinner Series Program: Hacked: Can We Win the Cyber Security Battle? Conference Center, SPC Seminole Campus, 113 th St. North. Admission $25, or $20 for students and educators. Advance registration required at http://solutions.spcollege.edu/
St. Petersburg College | P.O. Box 13489 | St. Petersburg FL 33733 | 727-39 4-6942 PolicySolutionsInstitute@spcollege.edu
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