The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority received a $120,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration through the Accelerating Innovative Mobility (AIM) initiative to support mobility and innovation in the transit industry. The funds will help integrate PSTA’s Direct Connect program, which connects riders in areas with low-frequency transit service to subsidized on-demand trips, into the Transit app. This project will offer riders a simple way to plan and book trips. With the grant, PSTA will build on that work to make the innovative PSTA Direct Connect program fully accessible from within Transit, PSTA’s official app. PSTA Direct Connect multimodal trips will appear as an option in Transit’s trip planner alongside fixed route bus service and other shared mobility options, and riders will be able to hail their Direct Connect ride from within Transit and make a seamless connection to fixed-route service.
Venues across the country will be lit red Tuesday to support the Save our Stages Act, RESTART Act and the fight to extend pandemic unemployment assistance for the 5.1 million event workers who lost their jobs when the shutdown began in March. Organizers of the Red Alert Day of Action ask that people share their stories of what live events mean to them by posting on social media with the hashtags #wemakeevents, #redalertRESTART and #saveourstages and including photos of their homes lit in red. They're also requesting people write to their elected officials to show support for the arts, entertainment and media industries.
Mnimise, an energy management and conservation service firm based in Tampa, has renewed and expanded an agreement with UK-based RSF Capital Partners LLP. RSF Capital Partners structured an initial facility of up to $400 million for Minimise, a news release said. The funding agreement is designed for the Minimise No Capital Outlay Plan Agreement, or NCOPA, being used at several Florida public schools. NCOPA is a financial model which allows the company to provide energy efficiency, energy management, energy production, health and safety upgrades and solutions to large public institutions and corporations at no cost.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded two grants, totaling $689,094, to Pinellas County and the Community Health Centers of Pinellas. The new funding follows a $1.1 million award earlier this summer to ramp up Covid-19 testing. Community Health Centers currently serve as one of the main Covid-19 testing sites for Pinellas residents. "While Covid-19 positivity rates are declining in Pinellas, the virus is very much still with us, with the worst impacts disproportionately impacting low-income communities and people of color ... Community Health Centers are responding to this disparity by providing Covid-19 tests free of charge to all who need them," said Rep. Charlie Crist, D-St. Petersburg, in an announcement about the new grants.
Florida bars and breweries have until the end of the year to renew their liquor licenses. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order Friday that his office said is designed to help businesses adversely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The order delays the existing renewal deadline through Dec. 31, 2020 for the holder of any license, permit, registration, or certificate issued by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, for the purposes of engaging in the manufacturing, sale, or distribution of alcoholic beverages in Florida. Bars and breweries that don't serve food were ordered shut down earlier this year to control the spread of Covid-19, while establishments with liquor licenses that also serve food are limited to 50 percent capacity.
Two St. Petersburg companies are among the best employers in Florida, according to a new list from Forbes. Raymond James Financial (NYSE: RJF) placed No. 4 on the "best employers by state 2020" list, and Jabil (NYSE: JBL) is No. 23. BayCare Health System, headquartered in Clearwater, was the only other Pinellas County company on the list, at No. 72. Several Tampa employers also made the list: Moffitt Cancer Center (No. 8), Tampa General Hospital (No. 14), Bloomin' Brands (Nasdaq: BLMN) (No. 26), Rooms to Go (No. 75) and Hillsborough Community College (No. 98). Publix, headquartered in Lakeland and one of the largest employers in St Petersburg, ranked No. 34. Forbes partnered with market research company Statista to survey 80,000 Americans working for companies with 500 employees or more on criteria such as safety of work environment, competitiveness of compensation, opportunities for advancement and openness to telecommuting. See the full list here.
The City of St. Petersburg, the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, the Florida Council of Churches, The Connection Partners and a team of other organizations are collaborating to select and train up to 50 citizen leaders in the art of hosting conversations that matter. The goal is to create a culture of conversational leadership by hosting opportunities to increase understanding, empathy and build an atmosphere conducive to transformational growth and positive change. Led by Amy Lenzo, Director of Learning Programs at The World Café Community Foundation and senior World Café host Frances Baldwin, this free 11-week online course is open to anyone 18 or older who lives, works, studies or volunteers in St. Pete. Applications are due September 7 and can be found by clicking here.
The Adi Dassler International Family Office LLC recently launched U.S. operations in Tampa and in Miami. The privately owned, independent, multi-family office is a wealth advisory firm co-founded by three grandsons of Adi Dassler, founder of Adidas, a German company that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. Julian “Brad” Bradham, who is CEO, and the Adi Dassler family, along with fellow founding partner Allen Johnson, formerly of Alex Brown, recently restructured the office and relocated the headquarters to Miami from the Bahamas, a news release said. ADIFO also has partnered with Apollon Wealth Management LLC, a registered investment advisor backed by Merchant Investment Management, to provide financial planning, technology, client support, and business platform services.
St. Petersburg ranks No. 4 on a new list of best cities for women entrepreneurs. The list was compiled by Fundera, an online financial resource for small businesses, and based on factors such as the percent of self-employed women, the earnings gap between men and women business owners, housing costs and job growth. St. Petersburg is affordable because there is no state income tax, housing costs are low and the earnings gap is less than 10 percent, Fundera said. Women business owners in St. Petersburg earn 91 percent of their male counterparts and housing costs are 26.1 percent of earnings, according to Fundera. Seattle ranked No. 1 on the list, and overall Arizona and Florida are described as "very women entrepreneur friendly," while California cities are not kind to women entrepreneurs. See the full report here.
There's a new date for the upcoming St. Petersburg Power and Sailboat Show and a permanent calendar switch for the annual event. The next show will now take place from Jan. 14 to Jan. 17, 2021. Informa, which owns and operates the event, said the four-day show will now be held in January permanently. The boat show previously took place in early December. It's the largest and longest running boat show on the west coast of Florida, according to Informa, and is expected to include more than 400 power and sailboats, nearly 250 exhibitors and more than 60 cruising and sailing seminars and educational workshops. For more information about the St. Petersburg Power and Sailboat Show, visit the website: www.stpeteboatshow.com.
A new partnership between two well-known St. Petersburg marketing firms is designed to better target consumers while cutting marketing expenses. Direct mailer Valpak is partnering with Catalina, a technology company that collects and analyzes shopping trends, to help brands leverage point of sale loyalty insights, a news release said. The partnership follows a technology initiative Valpak unveiled earlier this month, called household select, that allows for in-zone targeting at the household level. That allowed Valpak to become the first shared mailer to allow advertisers to select only the households they want to reach while still achieving the postal efficiency of shared mail, the news release said. The partnership with Catalina will allow Valpak's envelopes to further be targeted based on known purchases, preferences and shopper behaviors.
The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority will receive a $120,000 grant from the Department of Transportation to boost current efforts to drive innovation in financing, system design and service, Representative Charlie Crist announced Wednesday. This new funding follows a $1.2 million grant to help secure to upgrade the PSTA bus fleet, $21.8 million for the construction of the SunRunner Bus Rapid Transit Line and $40 million in CARES Act funding for Covid-19 response and recovery.
