Catalyze 2025: Amy Foster (City of St. Petersburg)

We’re asking thought leaders, business people and creatives to talk about the upcoming new year and give us catalyzing ideas for making St. Pete a better place to live. What should our city look like? What are their hopes, their plans, their problem-solving ideas? This is Catalyze 2025.

Disaster recovery extends far beyond the immediate aftermath, and a key cog in Mayor Ken Welch’s cabinet hopes to ensure lasting impacts don’t result in additional deaths.

Amy Foster wears several hats as St. Petersburg’s housing and neighborhood services administrator. Her scope increased exponentially following Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Foster led teams that combed neighborhoods searching for residents who needed assistance and secured hotel rooms for displaced constituents and city staff. She is now exploring avenues to reduce loneliness and bolster mental health, particularly among seniors.

“All of our work around recovery, for me, has been focused on making sure we can prevent any increase in harm or suicide due to hopelessness from the storms,” Foster said. “We need disaster case managers who can help people navigate these processes.”

A contingent from City Hall met with Fort Myers officials in May 2023 to discuss lessons learned during Hurricane Ian. “One of the most stunning things we heard from them was that nothing will prepare you for January post-storm,” Foster explained.

“They said, ‘That’s when people lose hope and start jumping off of bridges.’”

Foster noted many residents will experience denials from insurance providers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). They may lack the permitting approvals needed to rebuild. Storms also disrupt social and support networks.

Foster has discussed ways to mitigate those impacts with Dr. Ulyee Choe, director of the Florida Department of Health in Pinellas County. Choe is also a board member for Tampa Bay Thrives, a nonprofit that supports emotionally healthy communities.

The city launched its first Community Support Hub, which provides a trauma-informed and grassroots approach to mental health care, in March. Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Services (JFCS) now leads the holistic initiative, initially based in the South St. Petersburg Community Redevelopment Area.

The plan was always to establish additional hubs according to data-informed needs. “But post-storm, we really started having this conversation and saying, ‘Wait, our seniors are getting taken advantage of,'” Foster said.

“So, that’s something we’re working on with Gulf Coast JFCS,” she continued. “They understood it was important, too.”

Several city staffers and employees suffered extensive storm impacts. Foster asked them what was most needed when the administration launched its We Are St. Pete Fund.

She said all agreed that they needed help navigating arduous processes. “Like, money would be nice, but this stuff is confusing,” Foster explained.

“That is something we hope to bring to fruition in 2025 that I’m really excited about,” she added. “I just hope it brings some relief to any family impacted by the back-to-back storms.”

The We Are St. Pete Fund, created to provide much-needed post-hurricane relief, is now up to $1.02 million. Officials will discuss disbursement parameters at a city council committee meeting in January.

Foster said the money would likely provide housing assistance for those earning up to 120% or 140% of the area median income. Lower-earning households would receive more restricted state and federal funding.

Foster noted officials are also exploring a program for city employees who cannot afford to live in St. Petersburg. The city council must ultimately approve the program’s structure.

The overarching goal is to maximize the impact of limited resources. “Everyone has a role to play,” Foster said. “But when I think about the role the city has to play, it’s going to be a lot smaller than the feds or the state.”

She explained that FEMA and the Florida Department of Emergency Management sit at the top of a funnel. Money then flows through various organizations dedicated to providing disaster relief.

Foster said people then need “something when they’ve been told ‘no’ at other doors” to avoid hopelessness. “We want to be in that space, which is the medium to long-term recovery space,” she said of the administration’s efforts.

“We wanted to see where there are gaps and hear from our residents,” Foster elaborated. “That’s part of the reason we designed our programs so they do not launch right away.”

She expressed pride for her team’s efforts in the immediate aftermath of unprecedented storms, despite their personal impacts. Foster also credited them for ensuring the city’s American Rescue Plan Act funding was disbursed before the Dec. 31 deadline – particularly the more than $3.5 million that helped low-income residents pay overdue utility bills.

“I really love doing this work, and just hope we’re making a difference in people’s lives,” Foster said.