The Florida Chamber Foundation[1] and Florida Sheriffs Association[2] are launching a partnership aimed at connecting law enforcement, business leaders and local communities to reduce poverty and improve safety across the state.
The announcement landed during a panel discussion at the Future of Florida Forum[3], the Chamber’s annual event focused on steps and strategies to grow Florida’s economy into the Top 10 if measured as a country.
The new partnership is built on a shared premise: economic opportunity and public safety are inseparable.
Both organizations frame it as a way to tackle the root causes of poverty — from addiction and mental health to family instability and education gaps — by uniting businesses, law enforcement and community organizations around measurable outcomes rather than creating new bureaucracy.
Operating under the Chamber Foundation’s Prosperity Initiative[4], the effort will use data to pinpoint where needs are most concentrated and to connect local businesses with Sheriff’s Offices and nonprofits already on the ground in those areas.
Heather Cogar, the Chamber Foundation’s new Statewide Director of Community Engagement[5] and a former Deputy Sheriff, said the model shifts efforts away from reactive aid.
“When you connect root causes to data, you start figuring out how to prevent a problem instead of being reactive to one,” she said.
Seminole County Sheriff Dennis Lemma echoed Cogar, describing crime as “a symptom of another problem,” naming substance abuse, mental illness, poor parenting and educational inequity as the most common drivers.
“If we can solve those four things on the front end, we can fix a lot of what we see in our communities,” he said. “The people that we turn to first are typically the business community, because you understand proven results, data driven results, and this initiative right here is not going to be based upon hypothesis.”
“When you connect the dots between the business community, the faith community and the educational system, you have a power to be reckoned with when it comes to moving the needle in the right space,” Lemma added.
References
- ^ Florida Chamber Foundation (www.flchamber.com)
- ^ Florida Sheriffs Association (flsheriffs.org)
- ^ Future of Florida Forum (www.flchamber.com)
- ^ Prosperity Initiative (www.flchamber.com)
- ^ Statewide Director of Community Engagement (floridapolitics.com)