The Florida Prosperity Initiative
Together, We are Ending Childhood Poverty in Florida.
Incredibly, while Florida’s overall economy grows, there are 711,576 children living in poverty in Florida’s 983 zip codes, and half reside in just 15% (or 152) of our zip codes.
For Florida’s families to fully prosper, every Floridian must have an equal opportunity at earned success, regardless of their zip code or other dynamics that often act as headwinds for them.
When our President & CEO, Mark Wilson, testified before Congress in 2016 about his commitment to start a movement to end generational poverty for children in Florida, he highlighted that poverty isn’t just a household issue; it’s a business and community one. Replacing generational poverty and government dependency with self-sufficiency is another form of economic development that changes lives and communities.
Where it All Started: Mark Wilson's U.S. Congressional Testimony on Prosperity
Because cutting childhood poverty in half matters, the Florida Chamber Foundation launched the Florida Prosperity Initiative to leverage the business community’s knowhow, resources, and focus to drive real solutions and Promising Practices through our nationally recognized “Florida Model.”
To learn more about applying the Florida Model in your zip code, reach out to the Florida Prosperity Initiative team:
The 10 Root Causes of Poverty
Food Insecurity
Lack of consistent access to affordable, nutritious food due to financial hardship, food deserts, limited availability, or weak social safety nets.
Unattainable Housing
Rising costs, lack of employable skills, and inaccessible jobs make stable and affordable homes unattainable for many families.
Lack of Access to Quality Healthcare, Including Mental Health Services
Limited healthcare access can stem from financial, geographic, and other barriers that prevent individuals from receiving consistent, accessible, and affordable health care.
Unsafe Homes and Neighborhoods
Unsafe domestic and neighborhood conditions arise from generational poverty, trauma, violence, and limited access to services that support community stability.
Lack of Employment Opportunities
Lack of applicable job training can limit access to stable, meaningful, and well-paying jobs with upward career potential.
Lack of Available Quality Education
Insufficient education and workforce development options result from local barriers that limit access to quality schooling, training and career pathways, reducing upward economic mobility.
Insufficient Transportation
Absence of reliable, affordable individual transportation or transit options that connect people to jobs, schools, healthcare, networks and essential services is a major barrier to self-sufficiency.
Unaffordable and Unattainable Child Care
High costs, limited availability, and limited/uneven public investment prevent families from accessing reliable and affordable quality care for their children.
Lack of Financial Literacy
Individuals need access to education, resources and systems that teach effective money management and wealth-building skills.
Lack of Agency and Community Voice
Residents sometimes feel hopeless or disconnected from shaping decisions and solutions that impact their lives, and having a voice and avenue to bring light to barriers to prosperity is essential.
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.
Join the Mission to Cut Childhood Poverty in Half
The Florida Chamber Foundation partners with business, nonprofit, policy, community, and faith leaders who believe that it takes a village to break the cycle of generational poverty. Whether you are interested in joining our Florida Prosperity Initiative Statewide Advisory Board or becoming the leader in your zip code, we invite you to engage in your community to address the 10 root causes of generational poverty.
Become Your Zip Code Leader
Zip code leaders serve as the local champion within a specific zip code, coordinating root cause partners, implementing data-driven strategies, and advancing solutions tailored to address the 10 Root Causes of Poverty and economic challenges at the zip code level. The principal role of a zip code leader is to help raise awareness to better connect the dots of local resources and local needs.
Become a Root Cause Leader in Your Zip Code
Root cause leaders lead zip code-level efforts, each focused on one of the 10 Root Causes of Poverty, working with the local zip code leader and stakeholders to discover, connect, and advance targeted strategies that address the systemic barriers impacting economic self-sufficiency.
Join Our Statewide Prosperity Initiative Advisory Board
The Florida Prosperity Initiative Advisory Board provides strategic guidance, policy direction, and statewide leadership for the Florida Prosperity Initiative, helping align regional efforts with our mission to eliminate generational poverty and improve economic mobility.
Request a Speaker: Heather Cogar
Heather Cogar, Statewide Director of Community Engagement, leads our Florida Prosperity Initiative's zip code and county-level efforts to replace childhood poverty with prosperity and self-sufficiency. She travels the state building strategic “root cause” solutions between business leaders, community organizations, and families in need.
Get Involved: Contact Kristina Donohue
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.
Florida Prosperity & Economic Opportunity Solution Summit
At the annual Florida Prosperity & Economic Opportunity Solution Summit, Florida’s business leaders, community advocates, and policymakers address the 10 root causes of generational poverty, the business impacts of poverty, and ways to get involved at the zip code level to create a pathway to prosperity for all Floridians.
Prosperity Partners Highlight Statewide Promising Practices
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.
The Florida Prosperity Initiative Advisory Board is Growing
The Florida Chamber Foundation partners with business, nonprofit, policy, community, and faith leaders who believe that it takes a village to break the cycle of generational poverty. Whether you are interested in joining our Florida Prosperity Initiative Statewide Advisory Board or becoming the leader in your zip code, we invite you to engage in your community to address the 10 root causes of generational poverty.
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
The Florida Prosperity Initiative in Action
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Help Create Paths to Prosperity for All Floridians
Become a Prosperity Initiative leader—whether at the state, county, zip code, or root cause level—and help drive real, local solutions to end childhood poverty in Florida.