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Wex Wimpy
August 26th 03, 04:32 PM
Jack Levine
Published August 24, 2003

Q. Bottom-line it for me: Is Florida a child-friendly state?

A. Florida has made some progress, there's no doubt. We can document
it. We were in the low 40s in Kids Count [state-ranking survey]. Now,
we're in the mid-30s. We've done health care better than most other
states, in terms of access to prenatal care and early immunizations.
We've put our money where our mouth is when it comes to health access.

Now, we know that Florida is underachieving. I don't think this is any
individual's fault. It's not a [political] party fault. We were ranked
low when the Democrats ruled the roost, but the bottom line is that
we've made progress in areas that have prevented other problems.
Health care is the prime example.

Our challenge now is that we can't keep acting like we're Arkansas or
Mississippi, which are poor states with poor outcomes for kids. What
we have is the potential because we're 18th in per capita income and
34th in child well-being, according to Kids Count. We believe there's
a justice and morality in having a child being ranked equal or better
than the per capita income. We've got a very achievable goal to afford
the very services that we know our kids need, and we think we should
be ranked 18th. That's our mission.

Q. Do you think society doesn't care? Is that an explanation for the
gap between child well-being and per capita spending rankings?

A. Families care. I believe, if we negotiate it right, that
communities care. For example, in the last three years, the three
mega-counties of Florida -- Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach --
voted themselves more taxes for kids. People will vote for kids.

What we have is a disconnect. Never before has Tallahassee been
further away from the people of Florida than it is right now, and I'm
just not talking hundreds of miles, I'm talking mentality.

Tallahassee right now is not the place where leadership is making a
difference. What I say is Tallahassee has lots of double letters and
lots of double-talk. They [Republican state leaders] like to say
they're living within their means. They like to say we're not going to
burden anybody with an undue tax system, but the bottom line is that
they are cramming mandates to the locals for them to pay the tab. I
think that is the wrong way to go. I think the locals, whether it be
the school boards, the children's services councils or the county
commissions, are rising back up and saying, `Don't order up a big meal
with your laws and expect us to pick up the tab.'

I think where we are right now is that the relationship has to be
built from the community back up to the legislative delegation and
they can't make speeches about being low-tax and less-government while
forcing the locals to pick up the tab.

Q. Have you seen signs of a change?

A. We're in a lull. Recent polls are very clear that the Legislature
is ranked lower in community esteem than ever before. They seem to be
warring parties, talking from a script. We think that is a partial
outgrowth of term limits, but that's not the only issue. The issue is
who is fueling those campaign funds. I think our problems -- which
need to be addressed not only for kids but also for elders -- won't be
addressed in the traditional top-down political-party structure.
Neither Democrats nor Republicans talk about meeting the real needs of
the state when they meet; they talk about warfare. They talk about
throwing grenades across party lines and how to raise tens of millions
of dollars to get their people in office. We've got to break that up.

Q. So, how is that accomplished? Is the timing right as we enter the
upcoming political season?

A. I can't imagine any better timing. With the California mess
rolling, there is this question of are our government leaders
trustworthy? Are our government leaders telling us the truth? Why
should they say, for example, the only issue for seniors is a slight
percentage point of prescription drug medicine when we've got tens of
thousands of seniors who need a safe place to stay? How dare they say
we achieve greatness in the child protection system when our waiting
lists are longer than ever? There's a distrust of leadership on both
sides of the age spectrum.

Most voters really don't differentiate between executive and
legislative. They know that they're not hearing the truth about what's
really concerning them. So, I believe the timing is perfect to
question the big-money politics that isn't producing big changes for
families.

Q. You mentioned seniors. Doesn't the conventional wisdom suggest that
there's a rift between children's concerns and senior citizen issues?

A. Elder voters, if properly approached with information and a
solution, tend to vote right for kids. In precinct after precinct,
especially in this urban South Florida corridor, it's the seniors who
vote for the kids. In the 2000 vote for the Children's Services
Council in Palm Beach County, it was the elder precincts that voted
yes at a higher percentage than the parenting precincts.

Now, no one wants his or her pockets picked. You can't go to seniors
and say, `Give me your money!' without making the case. But seniors
are smart. They're savvy. They are the big force in politics.

We don't have a shift in strategy. We've got a reality check. The
reality check is we're now four generations but budgeted for three.
The parents of this state and nation, the 25- to 45-year-olds, and the
grandparents, the 45- to 65-year-olds, have dual responsibilities for
grandma, great-grandma and the kids. What we're creating with this
intergenerational agenda is a reality check that is what people are
really worried about. It's not grandma or grandchild. It's we have the
resources, if we're willing to tap them, to take care of both sides of
the age spectrum.

Q. You use examples of tax increases in South Florida for children.
What about other parts of the state?

A. All the way up the Treasure Coast, we have children's services
councils -- Martin County and St. Lucie County. In the Tampa Bay area,
we have Pinellas County and Hillsborough County. The granddaddy of
this movement was called the Juvenile Welfare Board; it occurred in
Pinellas County in 1946, two generations ago.

Florida really consists of 12 very distinct and powerful markets, and
we have to be smart and sensitive about what's different between the
Treasure Coast and the hub of South Florida. We've gone through a
three-year planning phase that we're just coming out of with a
marketing focus. The reason we're doing that is that's how you win --
recognition, votes and, quite frankly, power. We're really a
12-market focus and that's what is inspiring about carrying a message
locally. We believe our market focus is the road of achievement.

Q. Sounds good, but what should we be looking for to see if this
approach is actually working?

A. Well, nobody took the early childhood agenda seriously, other than
the moms and dads and a couple of the local providers. All of a
sudden, we have … an array of business organizations endorsing early
childhood care. We go and get a pre-K referendum passed … not by a
squeaker vote but by a full 14-point spread. Gov. [Jeb] Bush endorsed
it. Toni Jennings, who was in the private sector at the time, endorsed
it and you get your traditional Democrats endorsing it.

You don't start educating at "K." The reality of early childhood
education is that one-third of your kindergarteners aren't ready for
kindergarten -- and that's a fact in Florida. When you get them ready
for kindergarten, you win. The voters in Florida not only bought the
concept, but they supported it with their votes. Now we have to
implement.

That's one example. About a year ago, the governor proposed a budget
that lacked youth prevention programs, runaway shelters, PACE Center
for Girls. We, along with some very important allies, came forward and
said, how dare you not support the very crime prevention strategies
that keep kids out of detention, jail and prison? That's crime
promotion. Let's turn this back. Governor, you should listen to those
who have benefited by this educational, early intervention victory.

Did we get all that we wanted? No. There are 30,000 to 40,000 kids who
need those services and we had to play defense this year, but we're
going to play offense from now on because these kids were out of
school on suspension on expulsion. We can prevent that.

Q. Sounds good again, but what happens next year when the state
grapples with another budget crisis?

A. We challenge, on its face, that Florida is in a budget crisis. The
state continues to sell itself to the lowest bidder for two
generations. When we've put out the billboard that says `Come here. We
won't ask much of you and you'll be fine and happy.' That is starting
to crush our quality of life. Environmentally, educationally and
economically, we can't afford to go on the cheap. That won't get us to
our goals.

More recently, we've put our prison budget on steroids. Everybody says
that helps fight crime. What really helps fight crime is a good
economy. When the economy softens, crime increases. If your only
answer is concrete, steel and razor wire, you lose. The states that
have long-term [lower] crime rates have good education systems and
good job opportunities.

So, we believe Florida is on the cusp of a contest between old
thinking, which is small government is better, and new thinking, which
is smart government is better. There's a difference. Slogans aren't
solutions. We believe there is a force within Florida, which are
business-oriented Republicans and Democrats who know very clearly that
you can't be an extremist in this world. You can't shut down a
government and expect us to be in better shape.

Q. There is a strong anti-government sentiment in state government.
Can you accomplish what you want without changes in Tallahassee?

A. Change is the law. We have term limits. We'll get change, but the
change for me is not a change of persons. It's a change of a new kind
of articulation that doesn't just cover the next election, but the
next generation. We're seeing a whole lot of Republicans, and some
Democrats, starting to get the picture that they just can't come home
from Tallahassee and make a speech about what they didn't do.

Take Ken Pruitt, for example. In the early days -- and I remember;
this is my 25th regular session -- he didn't know very much about the
needs of Florida. He didn't appear to care very much about many
issues; he had a couple of things from his area. He's a modest
small-business man who ultimately went on a learning curve. How did he
do that? By listening to lobbyists in Tallahassee? No. He did it by
visiting his community and listening to those voices that needed
government partnership. Then a state Senate seat opens up and guess
what? He decides to take the next step and learn everything he can
about the appropriations process. [Now] there's no better voice in
that appropriations process for balancing the needs of a growing
Florida than Ken Pruitt. Is he a staunch Republican? Of course, but we
don't care what the individual's party affiliation is. We want the
folks who have progress on their minds to win, and Ken Pruitt is
starting to win.

Q. You've been a child advocate for sometime now. What keeps you
going?

A. I believe in the power of personal experience. I'm not a
bureaucrat. I'm the anti-bureaucrat. Our organization is the antidote
to the disease of bureaucracy. Because I don't work for government, we
have the freedom to meet folks, learn, listen and take their stories,
not only to Tallahassee, but also to the corporate sector of Florida
and to the media.

This is my career, this is my voice and this is my role. But now we're
getting stronger because it isn't just me anymore. We've changed our
name to Voices for Florida's Children. That's a diversity issue -- the
old, the young, black, white or Hispanic. I don't care what language
you speak, if your grandmother falls down, you need to pick her up. I
don't care where you're from, if there's a child who is in pain
because they don't have a dentist, then we need to find a dentist for
that child. I don't know if I could do this job in North Dakota or
Arkansas, where there is not the vitality, diversity and power of
Florida. I'm in the right place at the right time.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/columnists/sfl-dlcol24aug24.story

Fern5827
September 3rd 03, 04:48 PM
Wex found:

>The
>state continues to sell itself to the lowest bidder for two
>generations. When we've put out the

Wex, what was your experience with the privatized agency?

>I believe in the power of personal experience. I'm not a
>bureaucrat. I'm the anti-bureaucrat. Our organization is the antidote
>to the disease of bureaucracy. Because I don't work for government, we
>have the freedom to meet folks, learn, listen and take their stories,
>not only to Tallahassee, but also to the corporate sector of Florida

One of the major conflicts will be the outsourcing of foster care. Apparently
it was ABYSMAL when the state managed it and is still ABYSMAL in terms of
managing the folks who WISH TO BECOME FOSTERS.

I KNOW THERE ARE EXCELLENT FOSTERS OUT THERE.

However, we need more KINSHIP CARE.

Teens have cried to me about where is their family? DHS has been structured
poorly and managed inefficiently when FAMILY ARE NOT UTILIZED.