The organization has identified four pillars as it looks to improve racial equity and inclusion in the Tampa Bay Community - 1) Education, 2) Workforce Development/Economic Empowerment, 3) Police and Community Relations and 4) Social Services/Humanitarian Assistance. The organization is committing $100,000 to each of the pillars, granting $50,000 each to two non-profits in these spaces. $200,000 is being donated in each of Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties.
''We are pleased to present these Community Hero grants to eight very deserving non-profits," said Jeff Vinik, chairman and governor of the Lightning. "Each is working to build a more inclusive Tampa Bay while focusing on issues such as racism, equity and reform, initiatives we wholeheartedly support."
Working to ensure everyone has access to education, the Lightning are honoring United Way Suncoast and R Club with $50,000 grants - United Way's funding to support the academic support program Reading All-Stars and R Club's funding to support its Early Learning Academies, which serves children eight weeks through five years of age.
To enhance workforce development and economic empowerment, the Lightning are supporting the Community to Develop Communities in Tampa and the Pinellas County Urban League with $50,000 each. Through its Workforce Development Center, CDC of Tampa offers workforce development solutions for career seekers and employers throughout the Tampa Bay region. The Pinellas County Urban League's Workforce Development Council is committed to assisting participants of the "hard to hire" population through skill development and life-long learning.
The Lightning is pleased to bestow $50,000 each on the foundations of the Tampa and St. Petersburg Police Departments, funding that will support training, education and the fostering of positive community relations in both cities. St. Petersburg will not only better train and educate officers on the history and heritage of the city with an emphasis on the contributions of people of color, it is creating a mentorship program whereby each junior officer will be mentored by a senior officer. In Tampa, funding will be directed to Building Bridges, a course which will explore and analyze the existing relationship between the department and the diverse communities it serves, while developing action steps that can be applied to the resolution and reconciliation process.
In the social services and humanitarian assistance space, the Lightning are granting monies to the University Area Community Development Corporation and the St. Petersburg Free Clinic. The Community Development Corporation will use the dollars to help in its mission of bringing economic improvement, job creation and more transportation to the University Area near the University of South Florida's Tampa campus. The St. Petersburg Free Clinic provides for the basic needs of food, shelter and health care for the people of Pinellas County, recently opening a new health education center for its clients.
Collectively, these groups become the 410th Lightning Community Hero since Jeff and Penny Vinik introduced the Lightning Community Heroes program in 2011-12 with a $10 million, five-season commitment to Tampa Bay area non-profits. That initial pledge has since been increased and extended. Inclusive of today's announcement, the Lightning Foundation has granted $21.45 million through 876 donations to 537 unique non-profits in the Greater Tampa Bay area since the program's beginning.
