The Florida Prosperity Initiative

"We're cutting childhood poverty in half, one zip code at a time."

Mark Wilson

President, Florida Chamber of Commerce and Florida Chamber Foundation

Together, We are Ending Childhood Poverty in Florida.

714,768 children in Florida are living in poverty—and half of them live in just 150 (15%) of our zip codes. In response to this staggering statistic, The Florida Chamber Foundation created the Prosperity Initiative, a business-led initiative to cut childhood poverty in half by 2030. The Florida Prosperity Initiative unites business leaders to tackle the root causes of generational poverty one zip code at a time. Our approach is known nationally as The Florida Zip Code Model.

The Florida Zip Code Model focuses on understanding the unique challenges in each of Florida’s 983 zip codes and addressing the 10 root causes of poverty through tailored, community-driven solutions.

The Florida Chamber Foundation research shows these are the 10 root causes of poverty:

Food Insecurity
Unattainable Housing
Quality Health and Wellness
Safer Homes and Neighborhoods
Lack of Employment Opportunities
Lack of Available Quality Education and Workforce Development
Insufficient Transportation
Unaffordable and Unattainable Child Care and Family Care
Lack of Financial Literacy and Assistance
Lack of Agency and Community Voice

Since its launch, the Initiative has developed tools like TheFloridaScorecard.org and TheFloridaGapMap.org to provide real-time data, connect leaders to local challenges, and track measurable progress. We believe the business community is uniquely positioned to drive long-term solutions at the local level—zip code by zip code.

We’re inviting businesses and community leaders to apply the Florida Model and take ownership of their neighborhoods. Get started today.

The Florida Model

Whether you lead at the county level, within a specific ZIP Code, or as a champion of a single root cause, your commitment can make all the difference.

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Heather Cogar, Statewide Director, Community Engagement, Florida Prosperity Initiative

The 10 Root Causes of Generational Poverty In Florida

Food Insecurity

Food insecurity is the lack of consistent access to affordable, nutritious food due to financial hardship, food deserts, high living costs, limited availability, or weak safety nets.

Unattainable Housing

Unattainable housing occurs when rising costs, stagnant wages, and limited supply make safe, stable, and affordable homes inaccessible for families.

Quality Health and Wellness

Limited access to quality health and wellness stems from financial, geographic, and systemic barriers that prevent individuals from receiving consistent, accessible, and affordable care.

Safer Homes and Neighborhoods

Unsafe homes and neighborhoods arise from generational poverty, trauma, violence, and limited access to services that undermine household and community stability.

Lack of Employment Opportunities

A lack of employment opportunities reflects structural and economic barriers that limit access to stable, meaningful, and well-paying jobs with upward career potential.

Lack of Available Quality Education and Workforce Development

Insufficient education and workforce development options result from local barriers that limit access to quality schooling, training, and career pathways, reducing economic mobility.

Insufficient Transportation

Insufficient transportation is the absence of reliable, affordable individual transportation or transit options that connect people to jobs, schools, healthcare, networks, and essential services.

Unaffordable and Unattainable Child Care and Family Care

Unaffordable childcare and family care stem from high costs, limited availability, and insufficient public investment that prevent families from accessing reliable, quality care.

Lack of Financial Literacy and Assistance

Financial literacy challenges arise when individuals lack needed access to education, resources, and systems that teach effective money management and wealth-building skills. Short-term financial assistance is often necessary as a bridge out of poverty and should be paired with improved financial management skills which are passed on to the next generation.

Lack of Agency and Community Voice

A lack of agency and community voice occurs when residents are, or feel, hopeless or disconnected from shaping decisions and solutions that impact their lives.

Hover over each root cause to explore the barriers to economic mobility in your zip code.

THE PROSPERITY PLAYBOOK: HOW TO CHANGE OUTCOMES IN YOUR ZIP CODE

Take a deeper dive into the ten root causes of generational poverty and our roadmap for addressing them, one by one, in each zip code.

Join These Leading Businesses On the Front Lines of the Movement to Eliminate Poverty in Florida

Contact Kristina Donohue, Director of Mission Advancement and Board Development

Kristina Donohue leads the Florida Chamber Foundation’s Florida Prosperity Initiative and works with our Florida Prosperity Initiative Advisory Board to cut childhood poverty in half. She would love to talk to you about how your business can unite with us to reach this goal—feel free to contact her at kdonohue@flchamber.com.

"No child in Florida should go to bed without knowing they will eat tomorrow. Sadly, for over 714,768 children in Florida, that is a reality. Through the Florida Chamber Foundation's Prosperity Initiative, Florida's businesses have the opportunity to lead in helping Florida's children move from poverty into prosperity." - Karen Moore, CEO & Founder, The Moore Agency

"I don't know that there is a way to completely eradicate it, but we should be creating a society where someone born into poverty doesn't have to stay that way." - Will Weatherford, Former Speaker, Florida House of Representatives, Managing Partner, Weatherford Capital

"Some community issues are too massive for any single nonprofit to solve and yet too important for community leaders to ignore." - Forough B. Hosseini, EVP of Information Systems at ICI Homes and Founder & Chair of FBH Community

Business Leaders Across Florida CREATING PATHS TO PROSPERITY

Promising Practices in Focus

The Path to Prosperity Scholarship Program seeks to raise $20 million in college scholarships for Florida's most economically disadvantaged students.

Hope Florida's mission is to create pathways for individuals and families to overcome barriers like lack of resources, skills, and opportunities, enabling them to achieve long-term prosperity and the American Dream through personalized support and community involvement.

In the summer of 2020, The Moore Agency partnered with Feeding America and the Second Harvest of the Big Bend to deliver more than 20,000 meals to families in 32304. This targeted effort powered a “Summertime Food on the Move” program, a mobile food truck-style distribution system that delivered over 11,000 free “Grab and Go” meals.

Established by Forough Hosseini, the Prosperity Initiative's zip code leader for 32114 in Volusia County, Homes Bring Hope helps people qualify for home loans and prepare them for the challenges – and joys – of homeownership. Ultimately, Homes Bring Hope will help people become homeowners and break the bonds of generational poverty by building equity, the first step to accumulating wealth.

Promising Practices for Addressing the 10 Root Causes of Poverty

We have pockets of excellence in Florida. We need patterns of excellence. These dedicated business leaders are driving change at both the state and zip code level. Have a Promising Practice to share? Click below to get involved.

Statewide Data for Statewide Action

Ending generational poverty can’t be done from the national or state level. In fact, even counties can be too large.

To end generational poverty, we must identify the hurdles blocking one’s path to prosperity, understand each neighborhood’s unique identity and troubles, and work with business leaders within those neighborhoods to provide solutions tailored to their communities. To facilitate this chain, the Florida Chamber Foundation has created an innovative set of tools that not only raise awareness to the issues in our state and its communities, but provide the insight and analysis needed to prescribe the remedies.

The Florida Gap Map

TheFloridaGapMap.org visualizes the intersection of childhood poverty and third-grade reading scores for every public school in Florida to spotlight where support is most urgently needed.

The Florida Scorecard

TheFloridaScorecard.org tracks key poverty-related metrics across all Florida counties and ZIP Codes to help leaders understand where we stand, measure progress, and drive local solutions.

Promising Practices for Prosperity In Action