This document does not reflect the intent or official position of the bill sponsor or House of Representatives.
STORAGE NAME: h0625z.DOCX
DATE: 5/10/2023
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STAFF FINAL BILL ANALYSIS
BILL #: CS/CS/HB 625 Children's Initiative Projects
SPONSOR(S): Health & Human Services Committee and Children, Families & Seniors Subcommittee, Bracy
Davis and others
TIED BILLS: IDEN./SIM. BILLS: CS/SB 1578
FINAL HOUSE FLOOR ACTION: 115 Y’s
0 N’s GOVERNOR’S ACTION: N/A
SUMMARY ANALYSIS
CS/CS/HB 625 passed the House on April 20, 2023, and subsequently passed the Senate on May 2, 2023.
The Legislature created children’s initiatives in 2008 to assist disadvantaged areas create community-based
service networks that develop, coordinate, and provide quality education, accessible health care, youth
development programs, opportunities for employment, and safe and affordable housing for children and
families living within that area. Children’s initiatives are designed to encompass an area large enough to
include all of the necessary components of community life, yet small enough to allow programs and services to
reach every member of the neighborhood who is willing to participate in the project.
Florida law assigns the Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida, Inc., (the Ounce) the responsibility of reviewing
and approving requests from counties, municipalities, or designated areas to obtain a children's initiative
designation. Section 409.147, F.S., outlines the process to apply to the Ounce to designate an area as a
children’s initiative.
Current law requires the Department of Children and Family (DCF) to award any state funding for children’s
initiatives through performance-based contracts that link payments to achievement of outcomes directly related
to the goals, objectives, strategies, and tasks outlined in the strategic community plan. The Ounce oversees
these contracts and has a $4.2 million contract with the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to fund
new and existing initiatives. Current law requires the Ounce to prioritize counties without a children’s initiative
for funding.
CS/CS/HB 625:
Expands the ways in which a county or municipality may involve a not-for-profit corporation in a
children’s initiative;
Requires the Ounce to give priority for designation to counties that do not have a children's initiative
that are trying to establish an initiative; and
Expands objectives of working groups forming a children’s initiative strategic community plan.
The bill changes the name of the Parramore Kidz Zone to the “Orlando Kidz Zones” and expands the reach of
the initiative by stating that the initiative is designed to encompass the Orlando neighborhoods of Parramore,
Mercy Drive, and Englewood. The bill applies current statutory requirements and exemptions for children’s
initiatives to the Orlando Kidz Zones.
The bill has no fiscal impact on state or local governments.
Subject to the Governor’s veto powers, the effective date of the bill is July 1, 2023.
I. SUBSTANTIVE INFORMATION
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A. EFFECT OF CHANGES:
Background
Florida Children’s Initiatives
In 2008, the Legislature created s. 409.147, F.S., which authorized children’s initiatives. Florida
children’s initiatives are intended to assist disadvantaged areas within the state in creating community-
based service networks that develop, coordinate, and provide quality education, accessible health care,
youth development programs, opportunities for employment, and safe and affordable housing for
children and families living within that area.
1
Children’s initiatives are designed to encompass an area large enough to include all of the necessary
components of community life, including, but not limited to, schools, places of worship, recreational
facilities, commercial areas, and common space, yet small enough to allow programs and services to
reach every member of the neighborhood who is willing to participate in the project.
2
Children’s Initiatives Requirements
Current Law requires the Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida, Inc. (Ounce), to designate new
children’s zones, and distribute to any available state funds. The Ounce is a private nonprofit
corporation dedicated to shaping prevention policy and investing in innovative prevention programs that
provide measurable benefits to Florida’s children, families, and communities.
3
The Ounce identifies,
funds, supports, and tests programs to improve the life outcomes of children, preserve and strengthen
families, and promote healthy behavior and functioning in society.
4
The Ounce has a $4.2 million
contract with DCF to fund new and existing initiatives.
5
Section 409.147, F.S., outlines the process for a county or municipality (or designated area) to apply to
Ounce to designate an area as a children’s initiative. The governing body of the county or municipality
must first adopt a resolution finding the area has issues related to poverty, that changes are necessary
for the area to improve, and that resources are necessary for revitalization of the area.
6
The county or
municipality (or designated area) must then establish a children’s initiative planning team and develop
and adopt a strategic community plan.
7
Once a county or municipality has completed these steps, it
must create a not-for-profit corporation to facilitate fundraising and secure broad community ownership
of the children’s initiative.
8
Children’s initiatives must update strategic community plans every five years to reflect, at a minimum,
the current status of the area served by the children’s initiative, the goals, objectives, and strategies for
each focus area, and the tasks required to implement the strategies the following year. Children’s
initiatives are currently designated in statute as 10-year projects, but some initiatives have existed
longer than 10 years, such as the New Town Success Zone.
9
To facilitate achievement of the strategic
community plans. Ounce must provide technical assistance to the children’s initiative corporations.
10
1
S. 409.147(1)(b), F.S.
2
S. 409.147, F.S.
3
The Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida, https://www.ounce.org/ (last visited Jan. 28, 2022).
4
Id.
5
Department of Financial Services, Florida Accountability Contract Tracking System, Grant Disbursement Information,
https://facts.fldfs.com/Search/ContractDetail.aspx?AgencyId=600000&ContractId=LJ210, (last visited March 23, 2023).
6
S. 409.147(4)(a), F.S.
7
S. 409.147(5), 409.147(6), F.S.
8
S. 409.147(7), F.S.
9
New Town Success Zone, Five Year Report to the Community, Spring 2012, ntsz-5yr-report.aspx (coj.net) (last visited March 23,
2023).
10
S. 409.147(3)(b), F.S.
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Florida law states that each children’s initiative shall be managed by an entity that is registered,
incorporated, organized, and operated in compliance with Chapter 617, F.S, relating to corporations not
for profit.
11
Non-profit corporations created and designated as children’s initiatives are not subject to the
control, supervision, or direction by any department of the state in any manner. However, the
corporations are subject to Chapter 119, relating to public records, Chapter 286, relating to public
meetings and records, and Chapter 287, relating to procurement of commodities or contractual
services. Corporations must comply with these requirements to “operate in the most open and
accessible manner,” consistent with their public purpose.
12
Section 409.147, F.S., sets requirements for children’s initiatives to receive funding. Unless otherwise
specified in the general appropriations act, children’s initiatives must be awarded state funding through
performance-based contracts that link payments to achievement of outcomes directly related to the
goals, objectives, strategies, and tasks outlined in the strategic community plan.
13
Counties that do not
currently have an initiative and are trying to establish one have priority for funding.
14
Current Children’s Initiatives - Impact
There are five children’s initiatives in Florida:
15
New Town Success Zone in Jacksonville.
Miami Children’s Initiative.
Parramore Kidz Zone in Orlando.
Sulphur Springs Neighborhood of Promise in Tampa.
Overtown Children and Youth Coalition in Miami.
As an example of the impact of the designation and operation of Florida children’s initiatives, between
2006 and 2019, the Parramore Zone served more than 6,000 children. In the neighborhood served by
the children’s initiative:
Juvenile arrests were down 78.3 percent;
Teen births went down 63.4 percent;
Infants, toddlers and preschoolers attending early learning programs went up 117 percent; and
Verified cases of child abuse and neglect went down 62.4 percent.
16
New Children’s Initiative
In 2020, the success of the Parramore Kidz Zone
17
inspired the city of Orlando to replicate the model in
the additional Orlando neighborhoods of Mercy Drive and Engelwood.
18
The Orlando Kidz Zones
11
Id.
12
Id.
13
S. 409.147(8), F.S.
14
Id.
15
The Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida, Children’s Initiative Communities in Florida, https://www.ounce.org/fci_communities.html,
(last visited March 23, 2023).
16
City of Orlando, Orlando Kidz Zones, https://www.orlando.gov/Our-Government/Departments-Offices/FPR/Orlando-Kidz-Zones, (last
visited March 24, 2023).
17
City of Orlando, Orlando Kidz Zones, https://www.orlando.gov/Our-Government/Departments-Offices/FPR/Orlando-Kidz-Zones, (last
visited March 24, 2023).
18
Id.
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children’s initiative aims to introduce Florida children’s initiative funding and programming into these
neighborhoods to further reduce juvenile crime, teen pregnancies, child abuse and neglect and high
school drop-out rates among Orlando’s most vulnerable youth.
19
The geographic area of the Orlando
Kidz Zones was carefully selected based on need and consideration of areas where infrastructure and
programming were already being built out.
20
Effect of the Bill
Current Children’s Initiatives
The bill expands the ways in which a county or municipality may recognize a not-for-profit corporation’s
involvement in a children’s initiative. The county shall either identify an existing, qualified not-for-profit
corporation, or create a not-for-profit corporation which shall be registered.
The bill states that counties that do not currently have a children's initiative and are trying to establish
an initiative have priority for designation by Ounce, rather than priority for funding.
The bill expands the objectives of the working groups involved in the formation of the children’s initiative
strategic community plan. The bill expands the “youth support” objectives of a working group to include
increasing the high school graduation rates, and increasing college enrollment and graduation rates,
among neighborhood youth.
Children’s Initiative Requirements
The bill changes the name of the Parramore Kidz Zone to the “Orlando Kidz Zones” and expands the
reach of the initiative by stating that the initiative is designed to encompass the Orlando neighborhoods
of Parramore, Mercy Drive, and Englewood. The bill states that all three of these neighborhoods are
large enough to include all of the necessary components of community life.
The bill applies current requirements and exemptions for children’s initiatives to the Orlando Kidz
Zones, including public records and meetings requirements and Chapter 287 requirements related to
procurement of commodities or contractual services.
The bill also changes the name of the Tampa Sulphur Springs Neighborhood of Promise Success Zone
(SSNOP) to the “Tampa Sulphur Springs Neighborhood of Promise.” The bill renames children’s
initiatives as “Florida children’s initiatives” and removes the specification that children’s initiatives are
10-year projects.
The bill provides an effective date of July 1, 2023.
II. FISCAL ANALYSIS & ECONOMIC IMPACT STATEMENT
A. FISCAL IMPACT ON STATE GOVERNMENT:
1. Revenues:
None.
19
Id.
20
Fox 35, Orlando, Orlando expanding Kidz Zone model to 3 neighborhoods to help at-risk youth,
https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/orlando-expanding-kidz-zone-model-to-3-neighborhoods-to-help-at-risk-youth, June 15, 2021 (last
visited March 24, 2023).
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2. Expenditures:
None.
B. FISCAL IMPACT ON LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
1. Revenues:
None.
2. Expenditures:
None.
C. DIRECT ECONOMIC IMPACT ON PRIVATE SECTOR:
None.
D. FISCAL COMMENTS:
None.