Current Campaigns

Youth & Education

At HOPE’s 2025 Convention, we voted to take action on youth and education concerns!

We have heard stories about parents needing to lean on high-up connections to receive information about where their children could go to school, elementary-age children struggling for over a year before finally getting support in place to make academic progress, parents moving out of county or pulling their children out of school because the Hillsborough schools were not meeting their needs, and parents having to hire or become full-time experts to advocate for their children.

We are now working to identify the specific problem and work together toward a solution.

Affordable Housing

In Hillsborough County, 68,000 families, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities are spending over half of their income on housing— living only one paycheck away from homelessness.

In 2019, HOPE pressed the County Commission to address this problem by investing in housing for low income families. In September of that year, all 7 County Commissioners voted to establish the HOPE Affordable Housing Act— named in our honor. In the years since, over $45 million in County funds have been leveraged to create 1,100 new affordable homes in our County.

While the Affordable Housing Act is no longer in place, millions in funds and property still remain earmarked for affordable housing but unattached to progress.

We are currently working to ensure that remaining funds and assets are utilized to create affordable housing.

Flooding & Water Quality

Flooding in Tampa neighborhoods is dangerous, increasing pollution and mold, which pose serious health risks.

Well-maintained stormwater drainage ponds reduce storm-event flooding and filter pollutants. There are over 240 stormwater ponds Tampa— but they vary in condition. In low-lying East Tampa, the ponds have been neglected for decades, leaving residents vulnerable.

In 2023, HOPE pressed City Council to fund green infrastructure updates to East Tampa’s ponds to reduce flooding, improve water quality, and create a vibrant community green space. Since then, millions have been allocated for this purpose.

We are currently working to ensure that funding is allocated for 5 more key ponds and to set green infrastructure as a City of Tampa standard.

Past Victories

  • Affordable Housing: Got the County to pass an ordinance - the HOPE Affordable Housing Act - to establish an Affordable Housing Fund of at least $10 million a year in local public funds to create, rehab and preserve quality affordable housing. To date $46,000,000 of local funds have been allocated to the HOPE Affordable Housing Fund in the county budget.

    Birth Certificates and IDs: Persuaded Hillsborough County to establish a Birth Certificates and ID Homeless Assistance program that enabled people to get housing and jobs to get off the street. Over 2,800 birth certificates and IDs were given to the homeless in the first four years.

    Expedited Rent Assistance: Got Hillsborough County and the Clerk of Circuit Court to expedite rent assistance checks to landlords within 14 days, instead of several months, to maintain people in housing.

  • Hillsborough Civil Citation Program: Successfully encouraged the Chief Judge, State Attorney, Public Defender, Sherriff, and Police Chiefs to establish a permanent Hillsborough Youth Civil Citation policy that makes civil citations mandatory for children for all first-time misdemeanor offenses, thereby reducing the arrests of children and protecting their futures, increasing public safety, and saving taxpayer money.

    Florida Civil Citation/Arrest Avoidance: Helped expand Florida Civil Citation law so children under 18 can receive a Civil Citation for up to 3 misdemeanor offenses instead of an arrest and requiring all Florida Counties to establish a program.

  • Fair Chance Hiring: Persuaded Tampa City Council to pass the Tampa Criminal History Screening Practices Ordinance that removed the question of past arrests to reduce discrimination and open doors to jobs for people with criminal records.

    Training: Encouraged Hillsborough Community College to develop 9 Fast-Track Job Skill Certificate Programs and an outreach plan to connect the unemployed with training in job skills needed to obtain employment.

    Jobs: Helped establish the Tampa Women/Minority Business Enterprise Ordinance.

  • Elder Care: Got the County to increase in-home services for seniors to live healthy and with dignity in their homes by allotting an additional $4.5 million to the Department of Aging Services over two years.

    Dental Services: Persuaded the County Health Department and two federally qualified Health Centers to advocate for funding, develop and implement a plan to increase dental services for at least 15,000 people at 200% or below poverty, leading to an increase of 26 new dental chairs and the doubling of dental patients.

    Behavioral Health: Got County and stakeholders to commit $1.6 million for the establishment and operation of a Recovery Through Work Clubhouse for people with severe mental illness to find stability, job training, employment, and peer support.

  • Bus Service: Encouraged HART to extend late-night bus service until 1:00 A.M. on 8 priority bus routes during the week and 2 extra hours on weekends, as well as construct bus shelters at identified locations.

  • Suspensions: Got the School District to establish the Alternative-to-out-of-School-Suspension (ATOSS) program, which supervises and protects the GPAs of thousands of suspended children each year. The ATOSS program in now called EPIC. Secured a commitment from the school district to not suspend children out of school for tardiness.

    Reading: Positively impacted the reading success of thousands of low-income children in K - 3rd grade, and now Special Education, through implementation of a phonics-based reading program called Direct Instruction (DI). Secured $921,000 of state funding for Hillsborough County School District to implement DI in 10 schools and $7.25 million during the 2000 Legislative Session for use of DI in 7 Florida School Districts.

    Minority Teachers: Got School District to hire Minority Teacher Recruiter to hire more Black and Hispanic teachers.

  • Rezoning: Reclaimed Dobyville, a historic African American neighborhood, by reversing 1950 Industrial Zoning to Residential and Mixed-Use Zoning, leading to the development of new and rehab of old housing.

    Demolition: Successfully encouraged the Mayor of Tampa to demolish and clean up the abandoned Belmont Heights Lumber Company, a dangerous health, safety, and fire hazard in the community.

    Sidewalks: Convinced the City of Tampa to construct a 1.2-mile sidewalk on N. 22nd Street in East Tampa at a cost of $65,000, leading to construction of many other sidewalks in the area.

    Code Enforcement: Persuaded Tampa City Council to rehabilitate or demolish 200 condemned buildings and mow over 100 gravely overgrown empty lots to improve the safety of the neighborhood.

    Infrastructure: Obtained traffic signs, street repair, drainage, and upgraded street lighting from Tampa’s Public Works.