When we gathered in small groups across the county last fall, one clear, quiet fear threaded through every conversation: our children are hurting. Parents and youth told us about bullying in hallways and online, about nights when anxiety kept teenagers awake, about the unbearable silence that can lead to thoughts of suicide. Those house meetings gave voice to what many of our congregations already suspected — mental health for young people is not a distant problem; it is a present emergency for our communities.

That worry is why CareAboutME felt like an answer. After five years of persistent organizing — highlighted by our 2019 Nehemiah Action where 2,200 of us stood together and won commitments from the County — the county finally launched a single access pathway in spring 2024 so families could get behavioral health help quickly. We celebrated that win because we knew how many doors it could open for children and their parents: one number to call or text, one website to visit, appointments often available within 24–72 hours.

But the promise hasn’t yet matched the need. Since launch, 2,465 county residents called the line, 1,255 made appointments, and 436 kept them. That 38% attendance rate, and an average of only about 150 appointments per month against a planning estimate of 1,000 per month, tell a worrying story: the service exists, but too few people are using it. The county only recently began broader marketing and has just started partnering with Pinellas County Schools so guidance counselors and school staff can refer students — steps that should increase access, but they need time to take effect.

In a recent research meeting with the Assistant County Administrator and the Director of Human Services who runs CareAboutME, we learned the next chapter could be bleak. County funding that keeps the pathway running may be drastically reduced unless usage rises. In other words, a program born from our organizing and designed to protect kids’ mental health is at risk of being scaled back just when our members say support is most needed.

That makes this moment urgent. We have a narrow window — roughly the next two months — to show our county leaders that these are not abstract statistics but kids and families from our neighborhoods who need steady access to care. On April 16th, a County Commission working session may discuss CareAboutME, and that timing gives us a concrete moment to show up, speak up, and press for continued funding.

So our next steps are simple and powerful: fill commission hearings with people who can tell their stories, meet with individual commissioners to make the case, work with CareAboutME staff and school leaders to learn what barriers keep families from completing appointments, and use our congregations’ networks to help get out the word and support follow‑through.

This is the kind of justice work FAST was made for: a community that organized to create a pathway for care now must organize again to protect it. The children and youth who worried us in our fall house meetings are counting on us to act — to turn concern into presence, presence at the commission meetings and at our Nehemiah Action on Thursday, April 16th. Our People Power at the Nehemiah Action will support the continued funding that keeps CareAboutME helping families in our county.

Through dozens of our congregations’ house meetings in 2020, we heard firsthand how poor water quality and flooding are affecting families and children across our community.

Residents shared concerns ranging from health impacts linked to Red Tide to repeated flooding during heavy rains caused by inadequate infrastructure. Some even reported sewage discharges into neighborhood waterways, polluting local environments. In response, at our 2021 Annual Assembly, we voted to take action on water quality and flooding.

Since then, our Water Quality and Flooding Committee has conducted extensive research and met with scientists, experts, and community stakeholders. This work has highlighted serious concerns. For example, consuming more than one fish per week from Tampa Bay may pose health risks due to mercury contamination. We also learned that the Piney Point leak contributed to worsening Red Tide in 2021, even as new phosphate mining proposals continue to be considered, often in low-income communities.

With approximately 60% of Pinellas County developed, stormwater frequently runs off paved surfaces directly into drains that empty into Tampa Bay and the Gulf. To address this, we have focused on Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI), which captures and filters stormwater before it reaches local waterways. Examples include rain gardens, bioswales, and permeable pavement.

Working with the City of Dunedin, we supported the adoption of a Sustainable Development Scorecard, approved by the City Council in February 2026. This scorecard is a tool used to evaluate new development proposals based on sustainability criteria, including stormwater management, environmental impact, and resilience.

Developers are encouraged to incorporate features such as rain gardens featuring native landscaping, water retention systems, and reduced impervious surfaces. Projects are scored based on how well they meet these standards, and higher-scoring developments may receive incentives such as expedited permitting, fee reductions, or other forms of city support. The scorecard helps ensure that future growth reduces flooding risks, improves water quality, and aligns with the city’s long-term environmental goals.

We will continue to monitor implementation in Dunedin and advocate for other Pinellas County municipalities to adopt similar approaches, especially in light of recent state regulations limiting local changes to building codes.

Pinellas County is facing a housing crisis. Many working families are living in hotels or cars because they cannot afford rising housing costs. Others are forced to choose between paying rent and buying food or medication—choices no one should have to make.

Data from the Shimberg Center shows that in 2021, more than 60,000 families earning 80% of Area Median Income or less ($69,500 for a family of four) spent over half their income on rent. That puts them one missed paycheck away from losing their housing.

At the same time, housing costs have surged. Rent in Tampa Bay increased 24% in 2021—among the highest increases in the nation—followed by another 17% increase in 2022. In St. Petersburg, 90% of home sales in 2021 were all-cash offers, and in one zip code (33712), 37% of homes were purchased by investors. These trends have pushed working families out of their own communities.

Nonprofit housing providers report that the biggest barrier to helping people find stable housing is the severe shortage of affordable options.

In response, we have worked with local governments to secure funding for affordable housing. In 2019, Pinellas County committed 4.15% of Penny for Pinellas sales tax revenue to affordable housing, prioritizing families earning 80% of Area Median Income or less. The City of St. Petersburg also committed $15 million from its Penny funds, with 75% designated for these same income levels.

Together, these efforts have secured $100 million in funding for affordable housing between 2020 and 2030. So far, more than 700 housing units have been completed or are under construction.

Earlier efforts also made an impact. In 2006, an affordable housing trust fund was established, generating $19.2 million and creating 1,469 units for families earning under $40,000. In 2015, an additional $15 million in Penny funds supported 736 more units, with more in progress.

In 2026, the St. Petersburg City Council further strengthened its commitment by prioritizing housing for residents earning 80% of Area Median Income or less when awarding development subsidies.

We will continue working to ensure these funds are used effectively and to pursue additional solutions to address the housing crisis.

For more information:

• Rental housing: www.floridahousingsearch.org or 1-877-428-8844

• Homeownership opportunities: www.pinellascounty.org/community or 727-464-8210

• Tampa Bay CDC: 727-442-7075

Through the FAST Hot Spots campaign, local law enforcement of the county, Clearwater, and St. Petersburg have, in total, cleaned up over 77 hot spots of drugs and crime in our communities.

ItemIn 2011, Dr. Law, President of St. Petersburg College (SPC), responded to the concerns of FAST by creating the Learn to Earn Program. This program created short-term, affordable training opportunities such as industry certification and licensures. Since 2011, the workforce institute has served over 30,000 participants. As of 2019, over 9,000 industry certifications and licensures have been awarded. Additionally, as of 2017, there were over 4,500 successful job placements for students who participated in over 60 SPC certificate programs.

After five years of work, the St. Petersburg City Council voted unanimously in 2015 to pass the disadvantaged worker ordinance, designed to ensure that for construction contracts of over $2 million, 10% of work hours will to go ex-offenders or people who have been on public assistance in the last year. To date, almost 10,000 hours have been logged by disadvantaged workers. description

About 200,000 adults in Pinellas County lack access to affordable dental care. In Pinellas County, for people living at 100% of the Federal Poverty Line – which for a family of 4 is a household income of $26,200 – most can get covered for only ‘relief of pain' services, like extractions. After two years of hard work by FAST members, three dental clinics were added in 2013 which serve an additional 1,900 people per year. In 2014, we successfully got the county commissioners to allocate $958,000 of reoccurring funding into the county budget for dental care. This resulted in an additional 1,600 people getting access to dental care each year. In total, 3,500more people are getting access to comprehensive dental care in Pinellas County because of our efforts. 

CARE ABOUT ME (CAM) Victory

How does the figure $9.16 million sound to you? That's how much money the County Commission just allocated when they approved a contract to create a coordinate access model for behavioral health services. This is a justice win in Pinellas County that is directly a result of the power of FAST and the work that over 50 interfaith communities have been doing for five and a half years.

Care About Me is a new, innovative and streamlines resource. It provides experienced behavioral health specialists who screen residents in need of services and match them directly with local providers, making sure they have an appointment before they get off the phone with the helpline.

How did we get here?

In the fall of 2018 , the house meeting listening process raised up serious concerns about the difficulty in accessing mental health and addiction services. As an organization, FAST voted to work on this as an issue and took action. We did our research and found that in our county, there was a maze of different providers and services that were too complex to navigate.

At our 2019 Nehemiah Action, we asked the County Administrator and two key funders of behavioral health services to work together to create a plan for a central pathway that would connect services so that residents only had to call ONE number to get an appointment. There were 2,200 people in attendance at the Action. Facing that kind of power, all three said, "Yes!"

Persistence Pays Off!

Our job wasn't done. It has taken five and a half years, while the County hired consultants and conducted studies, and at times dragged their feet and needed reminders of their previous commitment. But through it all, FAST has been there. There were follow up meetings, hundreds of letters sent to county staff and officials, and numerous county commission meetings.

That is why we are proud to announce that the central pathway is up and running with the capacity to assist up to 1,000 residents of Pinellas County each and every month! Anyone can go to careaboutme.org or call 1-800-431-1998 to get assessed by a mental health professional who can help you figure out what you need and make appointments. If you or anyone you know uses the website or calls to get helps, please let us know about your experiences so we can report back to the county.

Many thanks to Rabbi Torop of Temple Beth-El for compiling this information!

We got our county transportation agency, PSTA, to upgrade many of the bus stops to provide shelter and more safety for their riders, especially senior citizens.

We got the Director of the Metropolitan Planning Organization to create a new, one-number system for senior transportation. This system, unveiled in March 2006, works with the Area Agency on Aging and allows seniors to speak directly with a trained professional who can help them with their transportation needs. There are over 20,500 seniors in Pinellas County who do not drive and who will benefit from this new system.

Reducing Youth Arrests:

In the summer of 2014, for the first time ever, all School Resource Officers participated in a mandatory training on alternatives to student arrests. From the 2013-14 school year to the 2014-15 school year, the total number of arrests decreased by 30%.

Five years ago, we decided to work with our 10 DART-affiliated sister organizations in the state of Florida to reduce the number of youths in Florida who are arrested for non-serious offenses. The state created a program called Civil Citations through which local law enforcement can divert youth to community-based programs without giving them criminal records. Youth who go through such programs face consequences for their actions. They do community service, make restitution to victims and the community, and complete whatever interventions are deemed necessary to change their behavior. Youth in the civil citations program are three times less likely to get into trouble again as youth who are arrested for the same infractions. Because of our work over the last 5 years, 23,255 children in Florida were NOT arrested for first-time for nonviolent misdemeanor offenses and instead got access to a civil citation. This means that we have saved the state over $104 million dollars by reducing youth arrests. Further, Pinellas County has gone from 80% of children receiving access to diversion program to 97% (the highest in the state)! In our county, over 800 fewer children have been arrested because of our work!

Reducing Youth Suspensions:

Since 2014, FAST has been pushing for an end to out-of-school suspensions (OSS). These suspensions are proven to be ineffective at changing a child's behavior and increase the likelihood that a child will drop out of school. We asked the district to eliminate all out-of-school suspensions, and, as a result, they changed their policies so that K-2 students are no longer allowed to receive OSS without approval of the area superintendent, and students in grades 3-5 cannot receive OSS longer than two days without approval.  

For many years, the Pinellas County School District has used a “zero tolerance” policy of discipline. Because of our work, the district has taken steps to move away from “zero tolerance” discipline and instead roll out restorative practices in all 123 schools. The district identified the highly experienced International Institute of Restorative Practices (IIRP) to train school staff, and the district has signed a multi-year contract amounting to $500,000 to provide monthly coaching to teachers and staff on implementing restorative practices.

Education:

In 2005, we secured commitments from the director of the Early Learning Coalition to provide funding so that all low-income children in Pinellas County can attend a full-day Pre-K program. From 2005 to 2018, 12,794 children benefited from this program, and more children continue to be helped every year.

In 2016, we convinced the county to fund a new mental health pilot project. This project continues to provide services to people with serious mental illness.  The county reports that $2 million dollars a year has been saved by keeping these individuals out of our jail and hospitals, and 28 of the 33 individuals targeted for this program have had success. The program was recognized in 2016 by the White House for its effectiveness.

For years, we  heard stories from those who felt they had been pulled over because of the color of their skin. One young man was pulled over for having window tint that was too dark, despite the fact he’d had the car for 10 years and it had never been a problem. Through research we found out that the St. Petersburg police, Clearwater police, and Sheriff’s office all accept complaints from community members about racial profiling. However, in St. Pete and the Sheriff’s office there had been no complaints of racial profiling in 2018. We realized that either community members did not know they could report such things, or they did not feel comfortable doing so. In order to fix this, we created “Law Enforcement Interaction Cards” for community members to fill out and turn into FAST. FAST keeps their contact information but passes the complaint on to law enforcement anonymously. In May 2019, the three police leaders listed above came to our Joshua Assembly and affirmed their commitment to investigate any complaints regarding racial profiling!

In our conversations with Sheriff Gualtieri, Chief Holloway and Chief Slaughter, a common theme they all mentioned is the importance of hearing the complaint as soon as possible. It is difficult for them to investigate incidents when months have gone by. We encourage all members of the community to report incidents with law enforcement officers to the appropriate department as soon as possible. Law Enforcement Interaction cards are available through the FAST office or through the links below. We also encourage everyone to keep an interaction card on hand so that it is easily accessible to you should you need it. Please turn in your completed cards to the FAST office or email them to us at fastsecretary2004@gmail.com

Law Enforcement Interaction Card in English

Law Enforcement Interaction Card in Spanish

IIn house meetings over the course of the last few years, we have heard story after story of people who have been branded for life with arrest records for committing misdemeanors. Sometimes, these arrests are for minor mistakes, like having expired car tags, or trespassing in a public park after dark. Other times, people are arrested simply because they don’t have the money to pay fees and fines. If you have court fees or tickets you can’t pay, for example, your license can be suspended.

If your license is suspended, many find that they still have to go to work to pay off those fees.  They find themselves faced with an impossible decision: continue driving to work (on a suspended license) so that they can pay off their fees and pay for food and housing and their family’s medical bills – or – stop driving completely and lose their job (which happens to 50% of people whose licenses are suspended.)  Once the choice is made, and a person decides to continue driving to work, they can then be arrested for driving on a suspended license. This results in a cycle of poverty that is incredibly difficult to stop, all the while branding people with lifelong criminal records.

In Pinellas County, for example, there are over 106,000 drivers with suspended licenses, and 75% of these licenses were suspended for unpaid fees and fines and not for driving offenses.  (see https://finesandfeesjusticecenter.org)

The good news is that Pinellas County does have an Adult Pre-Arrest Diversion (APAD) program that gives people second chances instead of arrest records. The problem is, however, that driving related offenses are not currently included in this program.  In fact, there are only 11 offenses included in the qualifications for APAD’s diversion program.   This means that in 2019, of the 12,000 people arrested, only a little more than 1000 got access to the program. 

At the Action in 2021, we won commitments from various Criminal Justice stakeholders across the County to expand the diversion program to include more misdemeanors. At this time, we are following up with those stakeholders and more to ensure that access to this program is indeed expanded and that more adults will have the opportunity to forego an unnecessary arrest and lifelong criminal record for a minor, and often unknown, mistake. It is crucial that approved offenses to the APAD program are not only expanded, but that they do include driving related offenses such as “Driving With License Suspended.”  This will help to ensure that people who are poor and low income are not criminalized for being unable to pay fees and fines.