Senate Bill sb1942c3
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Florida Senate - 2007 CS for CS for CS for SB 1942
By the Committees on Governmental Operations; Children,
Families, and Elder Affairs; Community Affairs; and Senators
Joyner, Wilson and Bullard
585-2539-07
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to children's zones; creating
3 s. 409.147, F.S.; providing legislative
4 findings and intent; providing policy and
5 purpose; defining terms; providing a process
6 for nominating and selecting a children's zone;
7 requiring a governing body to pass a
8 resolution; requiring the governing body to
9 establish a children's zone planning team;
10 providing the powers and responsibilities of
11 the planning team; requiring that the planning
12 team designate working groups; specifying focus
13 areas for the working groups; providing for the
14 development of a strategic community plan;
15 providing objectives for each of the focus
16 areas; requiring the governing body to create a
17 corporation; establishing the Magic City
18 Children's Zone pilot project; providing for
19 management by an entity organized as a
20 corporation not for profit; providing
21 geographic boundaries for the zone; providing
22 for designation and appointment of a board of
23 directors; providing for duties of the board of
24 directors; requiring the board to enter into a
25 contract to develop a business plan; providing
26 for the Department of Children and Family
27 Services to contract for services to improve
28 the development and life outcomes of children;
29 providing an appropriation and specifying the
30 uses of the appropriation; providing an
31 effective date.
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1 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
2
3 Section 1. Section 409.147, Florida Statutes, is
4 created to read:
5 409.147 Children's zones.--
6 (1) LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND INTENT.--
7 (a) The Legislature finds that:
8 1. There are neighborhoods in this state where the
9 infrastructure and opportunities that middle-class communities
10 take for granted are nonexistent or so marginal that they are
11 ineffective.
12 2. Children in these neighborhoods are read to by an
13 adult on a regular basis and attend a prekindergarten
14 education program at a much lower rate than children in other
15 communities. The children experience below-average performance
16 on standardized tests and graduate from high school in fewer
17 numbers. Most children are eligible for the free or
18 reduced-price school lunch program.
19 3. Children in these neighborhoods often suffer from
20 high rates of asthma, a higher risk of lead poisoning, and
21 inadequate health care, and they are routinely exposed to
22 violence and crime.
23 4. In spite of these obstacles, these communities are
24 many times home to strong individuals and institutions that
25 are committed to making a difference in the lives of children
26 and their families.
27 (b) It is therefore the intent of the Legislature to
28 assist disadvantaged areas within the state by creating a
29 community-based service network that develops, coordinates,
30 and provides quality education, accessible health care,
31 youth-development programs, opportunities for employment, and
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1 safe and affordable housing for children and families living
2 within its boundaries.
3 (2) POLICY AND PURPOSE.--It is the policy of this
4 state to provide the necessary means to assist local
5 communities, children and families, and the private sector in
6 creating a sound educational, social, and economic
7 environment. In order to achieve this objective, the state
8 seeks to provide appropriate investments of sufficient
9 importance to encourage the community partners to commit
10 financial and other resources to the severely disadvantaged
11 areas. The purpose of this section is to establish a process
12 that clearly identifies the severely disadvantaged areas and
13 provides guidance for developing a new social service paradigm
14 that systematically coordinates programs that address the
15 critical needs of children and their families and for
16 directing efforts to rebuild the basic infrastructure of the
17 community. The Legislature, therefore, declares that the
18 creation of children's zones, through the collaborative
19 efforts of government and the private sector, to be a public
20 purpose.
21 (3) DEFINITIONS.--As used in this section, the term:
22 (a) "Governing body" means the commission or other
23 legislative body governing a county or municipality.
24 (b) "Ounce" means the Ounce of Prevention Fund of
25 Florida, Inc.
26 (c) "Planning team" means a children's zone planning
27 team established under this section.
28 (d) "Resident" means a person who lives or who
29 operates a small community-based business or organization
30 within the boundaries of a children's zone.
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1 (4) CHILDREN'S ZONE NOMINATING PROCESS.--A county or
2 municipality, or a county and one or more municipalities
3 together, may apply to the Ounce for the designation of an
4 area as a children's zone only after the governing body:
5 (a) Adopts a resolution that:
6 1. Finds that an area exists in the county or
7 municipality, or in the county and one or more municipalities,
8 which chronically exhibits extreme and unacceptable levels of
9 poverty, unemployment, and physical deterioration, as well as
10 limited access to quality educational, health care, and social
11 services;
12 2. Determines that the rehabilitation, conservation,
13 or redevelopment, or a combination thereof, of the area is
14 necessary in the interest of improving the health, wellness,
15 education, living conditions, and livelihoods of children and
16 their families in the county, municipality, or the county and
17 one or more municipalities; and
18 3. Determines that the revitalization of the area can
19 occur only if the state and the private sector invest
20 resources in infrastructure and services.
21 (b) Establishes a children's zone planning team in
22 conformity with this section.
23 (c) Develops and adopts a strategic community plan
24 under this section.
25 (d) Creates a corporation not for profit under this
26 section.
27 (5) CHILDREN'S ZONE PLANNING TEAM.--
28 (a) After adopting the resolution, the county or
29 municipality must establish a planning team to be known as a
30 children's zone planning team.
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1 (b) The planning team must include residents,
2 representatives of community-based organizations, and other
3 community institutions. No fewer than 50 percent of the
4 members must be residents.
5 (c) The planning team must:
6 1. Develop a planning process that sets direction for,
7 builds commitment to, and develops the capacity to realize the
8 children's zone concept.
9 2. Develop a vision of what the children's zone will
10 look like when the challenges, problems, and opportunities in
11 the zone are successfully addressed.
12 3. Identify important opportunities, strengths,
13 challenges, and problems in the children's zone.
14 4. Develop a strategic community plan consisting of
15 goals, objectives, tasks, responsible parties, resources
16 needed, timelines, and plans for monitoring implementation and
17 outcomes.
18 (d) The planning team shall designate working groups
19 to specifically address each of the following focus areas:
20 1. Early development and care of children;
21 2. Education of children and youth;
22 3. Health and wellness;
23 4. Youth support;
24 5. Parent and guardian support;
25 6. Adult education, training, and jobs;
26 7. Community safety; and
27 8. Housing and community development.
28 (6) CHILDREN'S ZONE STRATEGIC COMMUNITY PLAN.--After
29 adopting the governing body resolution, the working group
30 shall develop objectives and identify strategies for each of
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1 the focus areas. The objectives for a working group may
2 include, but are not limited to:
3 (a) Early development and care of children.
4 1. Providing resources to enable every child to be
5 adequately nurtured in the first 3 years of life.
6 2. Ensuring that all schools are ready for children
7 and all children are ready for school.
8 3. Facilitating enrollment in half-day or full-day
9 prekindergarten for all 3-year old and 4-year old children.
10 4. Strengthening parent and guardian relationships
11 with care providers.
12 5. Providing support and education for families and
13 child care providers.
14 (b) Education of children and youth.
15 1. Increasing the level and degree of accountability
16 among those responsible for the development and well-being of
17 all children in the children's zone.
18 2. Changing the structure and function of schools to
19 increase the quality and the amount of time spent on
20 instruction, and to increase programmatic options and
21 offerings.
22 3. Creating a safe and respectful environment for
23 student learning.
24 4. Identifying and supporting points of alignment
25 between the children's zone community plan and the school
26 district's strategic plan.
27 (c) Health and wellness.
28 1. Facilitating enrollment of all eligible children in
29 Florida Kidcare and providing full access to high-quality drug
30 and alcohol treatment services.
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1 2. Eliminating health disparities between racial and
2 cultural groups, including improving outcomes and increasing
3 interventions.
4 3. Providing fresh, good quality, affordable, and
5 nutritious food within the children's zone.
6 4. Providing 100 percent of children in the children's
7 zone with access to safe, structured and unstructured
8 recreation.
9 (d) Youth support.
10 1. Increasing the rates of high school graduation.
11 2. Increasing leadership development and employment
12 opportunities for youth.
13 (e) Parent and guardian support.
14 1. Increasing parent and adult literacy.
15 2. Expanding access to critical resources for parents
16 such as jobs, transportation, day care, and after-school care.
17 3. Improving the effectiveness of systems that
18 communicate and collaborate with parents, and the ways in
19 which parents communicate and collaborate with systems.
20 4. Making the services of the Healthy Families Florida
21 program available to provide multiyear support to expectant
22 parents and those raising infants and toddlers.
23 (f) Adult education, training, and jobs.
24 1. Creating job opportunities for adults which lead to
25 career development.
26 2. Establishing in the children's zone a career and
27 technical school, or a satellite of such a school, which
28 includes a one-stop career center.
29 (g) Community safety.
30 1. Providing a safe environment for all children at
31 home, school, and within the community.
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1 2. Eliminating the economic, political, and social
2 forces that lead to a lack of safety within the family,
3 community, school, and institutional structures.
4 3. Assessing policies and practices, including
5 sentencing, incarceration, detention, and data reporting, in
6 order to reduce youth violence, crime, and recidivism.
7 (h) Housing and community development.
8 1. Strengthening the residential real estate market.
9 2. Building on existing efforts when developing a
10 comprehensive land use strategic plan that promotes
11 socioeconomic diversity.
12 3. Promoting neighborhood-beautification strategies.
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14 In addition, the planning team shall develop objectives and
15 identify strategies for addressing issues that necessitate
16 involvement across more than one of the focus areas.
17 (7) CHILDREN'S ZONE CORPORATION.--After adopting the
18 governing body's resolution, the county or municipality must
19 create a corporation not for profit which must be registered,
20 incorporated, organized, and operated in compliance with
21 chapter 617. The purpose of the corporation is to facilitate
22 fundraising, to secure broad community ownership for the
23 children's zone, and, if the area proposed by the governing
24 body is designated as a children's zone, to:
25 (a) Begin to transfer responsibility for planning from
26 the children's zone planning team to the corporation; and
27 (b) Begin the implementation and governance of the
28 children's zone community plan.
29 (8) CREATION OF MAGIC CITY CHILDREN'S ZONE, INC.,
30 PILOT PROJECT.--
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1 (a) There is created within the Liberty City
2 neighborhood in Miami-Dade County a 10-year pilot project zone
3 that, by November 1, 2007, shall be managed by an entity
4 organized as a corporation not for profit which shall be
5 registered, incorporated, organized, and operated in
6 compliance with chapter 617. The corporation shall be known as
7 the Magic City Children's Zone, Inc., and shall be
8 administratively housed within the Belafonte Tacolcy Center.
9 However, Magic City Children's Zone, Inc., is not subject to
10 control, supervision, or direction by the Belafonte Tacolcy
11 Center. The Legislature determines, however, that public
12 policy dictates that the corporation operate in the most open
13 and accessible manner consistent with its public purpose.
14 Therefore, the Legislature specifically declares that the
15 corporation is subject to chapter 119 relating to public
16 records, chapter 286 relating to public meetings and records,
17 and chapter 287 relating to procurement of commodities or
18 contractual services.
19 (b) This pilot project is designed to apply to an area
20 that is large enough to include all of the necessary
21 components of community life, including, but not limited to,
22 schools, places of worship, recreational facilities,
23 commercial areas, and common space, yet small enough to allow
24 programs and services to reach every willing member of the
25 neighborhood. Therefore, the geographic boundaries of the
26 pilot project are:
27 1. Northwest 79th Street to the north;
28 2. Northwest 36th Street to the south;
29 3. North Miami Avenue to the east; and
30 4. Northwest 27th Avenue to the west.
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1 (c)1. The corporation shall be governed by a 15-member
2 board of directors. The board of directors shall consist of
3 the following members:
4 a. The chief executive officer of the Belafonte
5 Tacolcy Center.
6 b. The executive director of Miami-Dade College,
7 Carrie P. Meek Entrepreneurial Education Center.
8 c. The director of the City of Miami Parks.
9 d. The director of the Miami-Dade Cultural Arts
10 Center.
11 e. The chief executive officer of the Urban League of
12 Greater Miami.
13 f. The director of the Liberty City Service
14 Partnership.
15 g. The regional superintendent of the Miami-Dade
16 County Public Schools.
17 h. The president of the Student Government Association
18 of Northwestern High School.
19 i. The president of the Student Government Association
20 of Edison High School.
21 j. The president of the Parent-Teacher-Student
22 Association of Northwestern High School.
23 k. The president of the Parent-Teacher-Student
24 Association of Edison High School.
25 l. Four members from the local private business
26 sector, to be appointed by a majority vote of the members
27 designated in this paragraph, all of whom must have
28 significant experience in one of the focus areas specified in
29 this section.
30 2. All members appointed to the board of directors
31 shall be appointed no later than 90 days after the
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1 incorporation of the Magic City Children's Zone, Inc. The 11
2 members designated under this paragraph shall be appointed to
3 4-year terms. The four members initially appointed under
4 sub-subparagraph 1.l. shall be appointed to 2-year terms.
5 Members designated or appointed thereafter shall be appointed
6 to 4-year terms. A member may not serve for more than 8 years
7 in consecutive terms.
8 3. A vacancy shall be filled in the same manner in
9 which the original designation or appointment was made, and a
10 member designated or appointed to fill a vacancy shall be
11 appointed for the remainder of that term.
12 4. The board of directors shall annually elect a
13 chairperson and a vice chairperson from among the board's
14 members. The members may, by a vote of at least eight board
15 members, remove a member from the position of chairperson or
16 vice chairperson before the expiration of his or her term as
17 chairperson or vice chairperson. His or her successor shall be
18 elected to serve for the remainder of the removed
19 chairperson's or vice chairperson's term.
20 5. The board of directors shall meet at least four
21 times each year, upon the call of the chairperson, at the
22 request of the vice chairperson, or at the request of a
23 majority of the membership. A majority of the membership
24 constitutes a quorum. The board of directors may take official
25 action by a majority vote of the members present at any
26 meeting at which a quorum is present. The board may conduct
27 its meetings through teleconferences or other similar means.
28 6. A member of the board of directors may be removed
29 by a majority of the membership. Absence from three
30 consecutive meetings results in the automatic removal of a
31 member.
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1 7. Each member of the board of directors shall serve
2 without compensation, but is entitled to reimbursement for
3 travel and per diem expenses as provided in s. 112.061 while
4 in the performance of his or her duties.
5 8. The corporation shall create a standing advisory
6 board to assist in any part of its delegated duties. The
7 membership of the advisory board must reflect the expertise
8 necessary for implementing the children's zone pilot project.
9 9. The board of directors has the power and duty to:
10 a. Adopt articles of incorporation and bylaws
11 necessary to govern its activities;
12 b. Begin to transfer responsibility for planning from
13 the children's zone planning team to the corporation;
14 c. Begin the implementation and governance of the
15 children's zone community plan; and
16 d. Enter into a contract with a management consultant
17 having experience working with social service and educational
18 entities for the purpose of developing a 10-year comprehensive
19 business plan to carry out this section.
20 (d) Magic City Children's Zone, Inc., shall submit an
21 annual report to the Governor, the President of the Senate,
22 and the Speaker of the House of Representatives by January 31,
23 2008, and each year thereafter which must include a
24 comprehensive and detailed report of its operations,
25 activities, and accomplishments for the previous year as well
26 as the corporation's goals for the current year. The initial
27 report must also include information concerning the status of
28 the development of a business plan.
29 Section 2. The Department of Children and Family
30 Services shall contract with an existing private nonprofit
31 corporation, incorporated for the purpose of identifying,
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1 funding, supporting, and evaluating programs and community
2 initiatives to improve the development and life outcomes of
3 children and to preserve and strengthen families with a
4 primary emphasis on education and community support. The
5 existing private nonprofit corporation shall implement the
6 Magic City Children's Zone Pilot Project.
7 Section 3. The sum of $3.6 million in nonrecurring
8 funds is appropriated from the General Revenue Fund and the
9 sum of $28,362 in nonrecurring funds is appropriated from the
10 Tobacco Settlement Trust Fund to the Department of Children
11 and Family Services during the 2007-2008 fiscal year as a
12 grant for a 3-year period for the purposes of implementing the
13 provisions of this act, which includes contracting with a
14 nonprofit corporation to develop a business plan and for the
15 evaluation, fiscal management, and oversight of the pilot
16 program.
17 Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2007.
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19 STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
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22 Requires the Department of Children and Family Services to
contract with an existing nonprofit corporation to implement
23 the Magic City Children's Zone Pilot Project.
24 Appropriates $3.6 million in nonrecurring funds for a 3-year
period to the Department of Children and Family Services to
25 implement the act.
26 Requires the Magic City Children's Zone to comply with laws
regarding public records, public meetings, and public
27 procurement.
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