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Northeast Florida RC Partners with

Town of Welaka on Visioning Plan

The Northeast Florida RC and the Town of Welaka partnered on a Competitive Florida Partnership Grant provided by  FloridaCommerce. The grant enabled the Town to develop a vision of its downtown and plan for economic development in anticipation of a nationally branded fishing resort developing nearby. The Town of Welaka, located in Putnam County, has just over 700 residents and is located on the banks of the St. Johns River. At the heart of the community-driven process were proactive elected officials and residents with a desire to define their identity, attract visitors, and increase property and sales tax revenue for the Town.

 

The Northeast Florida RC designed an engagement process that was participative, appealing, and transparent. The foundation of the process was a visual preference survey that allowed town residents to vote on what architectural elements and styles they preferred using Mentimeter, a tool that allows for quantifiable feedback.

 

Residents were presented with several architectural elements and styles such as single-story versus two-story buildings, log cabin, coastal, or board and batten designs as well as green infrastructure options and golf cart and bike paths. The interactive nature of the visual preference survey broke the ice with residents, and some felt comfortable enough to share out loud their participation, “boring” and “neat” were proclaimed as different images appeared. It made for a lively and vocal community meeting. The input provided was quantified and developed into proposed projects for the Town of Welaka. After a series of six meetings a Town of Welaka Downtown Vision was developed that listed the project priorities and various funding mechanisms providing a guiding document for future development.

Southwest Florida RPC Assists the Shrimp Industry to Recover

More than 75% of the pink shrimp harvested in the United States comes from the west coast of Florida. San Carlos Island, located in the Southwest Florida region, serves as a primary site for shrimpers to sell their catch and refuel. Hurricane Ian severely impacted not only the shrimp boat fleet in the region, but also the facilities used by shrimpers along the Gulf Coast. Prior to Hurricane Ian, more than 50 shrimp boats made up the harvesting industry fleet; today only 10 boats remain in operation. All docks on San Carlos Island were lost along with many of the support facilities including worker housing. To assist in recovery efforts, the Southwest Florida RPC wrote grants totaling over $38 million. As they recover, the local shrimpers are considering more resilient practices for rebuilding docks, support facilities, and worker housing.

Apalachee RPC "Wills on Wheels"

an AARP Community Challenge

The Apalachee RPC was awarded a $20,000 grant through AARP’s Community Challenge 2023, to launch an initiative offering legal assistance to residents in its nine-county region. The Apalachee RPC partnered with Legal Services of North Florida to provide legal assistance via mobile clinics throughout the region.

 

In coordination with county senior citizen agencies, this initiative, dubbed “Wills on Wheels”, provided information on estate planning, end-of life planning and assistance to help resolve heirs’ property issues. 

 

At each clinic, residents were given a presentation covering The Last Will and Testament document, Healthcare Directives and Surrogate Forms, The Living Will document, The Power of Attorney Document, and Guardianship forms. Eligible attendees were provided questionnaires that will be used to draft documents prior to executing them.

 

Five initial clinics were held around the region, reaching over 200 residents. Questionnaires are being received and plans are being made to coordinate meetings between the residents and volunteer attorneys for document execution.


Denise Imbler | dimbler@arpc.org | flregionalcouncils.org