A vision for economic growth in South St. Petersburg to be unveiled next week

** Please disregard introductory text in the Daily Spark. The text was an introduction to yesterday’s media piece, How I Built This With Guy Raz, with the founder of Bumble.**

Click the arrow above to listen to St. Pete Catalyst publisher Joe Hamilton’s interview with One Community members Izabelle James and April Harley.

In June 2018, a contingent of 27 St. Pete residents from One Community, a group born out of the City of St. Petersburg’s 2020 Plan, took a two-day fact-finding trip to Durham, North Carolina.

Since its inception, One Community’s focus has been squarely on developing strategies and initiatives to grow the economy of South St. Petersburg; through wealth building, increased earned income, and building black business.

The trip to Durham was a “knowledge sharing experience,” and a deep dive into the black business community. There, they toured Durham’s historic Black Wall Street and visited its famous incubator, American Underground. The group saw inclusive, equitable economic development efforts driven by a spirit of collectivism. They visited with leaders in unique concepts like the national headquarters of Self-Help Federal Credit Union, and a vision investment group.

Surrounded by these innovative methods, they were inspired to bring them back to St. Petersburg, said Izabelle James, a member of the One Community development committee.

“There’s a lot going on here in St. Petersburg as we can see, but how can we get the community in which all of that development is happening to get involved in that process?” James asked. “Often, things are happening around them and not with them.”

On Tuesday April 30, One Community will share those economic development mechanisms at their event, the unveiling of the Vision District, the One Community Innovation Plan. That night, One Community is inviting all of St. Petersburg to join them at Pinellas Technical College to share their top 18 big ideas for changing the economy of South St. Petersburg in an expo-style event. One Community welcomes the larger community to attend, learn, ask questions and give feedback on which methods could be most effective in helping South St. Petersburg.  

This event is the culmination of the year-long One Community planning process, jointly led by the Pinellas County Urban League, Collective Empowerment Group of the Tampa Bay Area, and The 2020 Plan team. Get a sneak preview of the event by listening to the audio interview above. Event details are below.

Vision District: One Community Innovation Plan

Tuesday, April 30

Pinellas Technical College

5:30pm Dinner / 6:00pm Expo/Presentation

Register at: https://www.1commvisiondistrict.com/