Help End the Sarasota and Manatee Housing Crisis

The Arlington Park Neighborhood Association and the Jericho Project, both 501c3 organizations, invite you to attend the Helpful Hopeful Housing Summit on February 18, 2020 from 4PM to 9PM at the Frank Berlin Save Our Y Facility in Sarasota. We encourage every concerned citizen and relevant organization to join us in crafting an Action Agenda that brings the entire community together to tackle our region’s most pressing housing concerns.

We believe everyone deserves a permanent and safe place to live that is within their budget. Join us in building comprehensive solutions to our housing crisis. Thousands of people in our community lack affordable and safe housing. Let your voice be heard! Help us craft a plan that ensures everyone can feel safe and secure in Sarasota.

Discussions will involve potential improvements to our region’s physical, policy, programmatic, and regulatory approaches to permanent and affordable workforce housing. We need your input to create a Housing Action Agenda that is best for everyone!

Executive Director of The Jericho Project and President of Arlington Park Neighborhood Association Mary Anne Bowie explains, “Our five-hour event features fast paced input from community members, inspiration and information from two national speakers, a healthy dinner, and interactive conversation circles. Our community result will be proposed Actions that will be tweaked the following morning. I believe this Action Agenda will provide multiple paths and that our community, working together, will find the ways out of our unruly and complicated housing crisis.”

Keynote Speaker is Lee Blons, CEO/President of Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative from St. Paul, Minnesota. She will be joined by Laura Cantwell, Associate State Director of Advocacy and Outreach with AARP. Your opinion matters! Local groups and passionate individuals are welcome to purchase a ticket and provide 90 written words in advance, by February 10, 2020, to BowieFAICP@gmail.com in order to speak for 90 seconds or longer, if needed, at the event.

Thanks to our presenting sponsors: Save Our Y and Homeless to Home South County Group and to our Gold Sponsor: Ian Black Real Estate.

Event sign-in begins at 3:30 PM at the Bari Brooks Teen Center located at the north end of the Frank Berlin Branch at 1075 Euclid Ave. Sarasota, FL 34237. Tickets are $20. Vegetarian/Vegan buffet is included. For more information contact BowieFAICP@gmail.com.  Purchase Tickets Online here.

Photo from Helpful Hopeful Housing Summit