KidsPACK, which provides meals for 1,800 food-insecure children in Polk County, is reaching out to the community for donations of food and other assistance, saying their bulk suppliers are hampered by grocery hoarding | KidsPACK website
The United Way of Central Florida and GiveWell Community Foundation have formed a United Community Relief Fund at unitedcommunityrelief.org to “support local nonprofit organizations serving those most vulnerable to the economic and health-related impacts triggered by a community crisis.” More
A flight this morning will take more than 30 cats and kittens from SPCA Florida in Lakeland to Chicago, where two Humane Society organizations will find new homes for them. It’s part of the initiative to achieve no-kill status for Polk County.
Kirk Eich. CEO of YMCA of West Central Florida since 2013, has resigned to take over as chief executive of YMCA of Upper Palmetto in Rock Hill, S.C. More
City commissioners are expected to approve an affordable housing plan Monday that encourages building homes on vacant city-owned lots and selling them to residents who have very-low to moderate incomes. More
An affordable housing program passed its first hurdle last week. On Feb. 17, the Lakeland City Commission will be asked to proceed with a project to offer roughly 80 city-owned lots for sale at 120% of assessed value to developers to build houses or apartments aimed at buyers and tenants whose family income is up to 120% of the city’s median. Non-utility impact fees would be waived once houses are sold to qualifying families.
Several local experts this morning gave an overview of homelessness in Lakeland and what is happening at social service agencies and schools to address it. The session, sponsored by the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce, was moderated by City Commissioner Sara Roberts McCarley. More
A company working with the city of Lakeland is hoping to win a competitive grant to build a low-income housing complex on East Bella Vista Street just south of Tigertown. But first it had to get chosen by city commissioners against another company with considerable affordable-housing experience. More
The federal government wants to lease a 100,000-square-foot facility in Central Florida to house undocumented migrant children, and Lakeland is in the southwest corner of a large swath of Central Florida where the site could be placed. (The area under consideration stretches nearly to Deltona and includes Orlando, Kissimmee and parts of Leesburg.) The General Services administrative is soliciting offers for sites, and the facility could open by November 2020.
LINKS: News Channel 8 coverage | GSA Solicitation | Map | Housing Plan | Earlier: Orlando Sentinel
A former Navy cryptologist who runs motorcycle training courses in Lakeland, Tampa and Ocala has joined with two partners to form a nonprofit organization (registration) and open a thrift store, Helping Single Parents Outlet and Auction Center (website), at 1100 Griffin Road.
