Everyone is invited to the Nehemiah action!!!
Please join us on Monday May 8th at 630 pm at Harvest United Methodist Church (14305 Covenant Way, Lakewood Ranch FL).
STREAM and community members from all of Manatee County are invited to this event.
STREAM leaders will ask elected officials to agree to take specific actions to address our community’s Affordable Housing and Criminal Justice Reform needs.
We need your help to drive an impressive turnout that shows the officials that our community wants and needs these reforms!
We will also share announcements and celebrate successes.
Feel free to contact us for questions or additional information.
More than 100 people attended our April 24 Rally…We are ready (and fired up) for the Nehemiah action!!!
Manatee County will implement an adult pre-arrest diversion (APAD) program!!!
The Manatee County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) is implementing an APAD program (as requested by STREAM)!!! See the Herald-Tribune article and Tampa Bay news coverage for more details!
The program does not include minor traffic infractions as STREAM had hoped, but will still help many adults who commit minor offenses stay out of jail.
We thank Sheriff Wells and our law enforcement agencies for their partnership on this important issue.
STREAM will celebrate this accomplishment at the May 8 Nehemiah Action and continue to advocate for criminal justice reform in Manatee County.
Our Affordable Housing (AH) team had a strong turnout at the March 21 Manatee Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) special work session!!!
The Florida Housing Coalition provided great information including recommendations to address homelessness and affordable housing issues in Manatee County.
Stay tuned for more details about BOCC implementation of the recommendations.
You can review the agenda items here.
You can also watch the work session on YouTube.
March 9 Candlelight/Prayer Vigil was a success!!!
More than 50 clergy and lay leaders came to pray in front of the Sheriff's office. In response to our prayers, Sheriff Wells has now agreed to meet with STREAM about the Adult Pre-Arrest Diversion program. Stay tuned for more details!
The event also received media coverage from multiple outlets. See what Channel 10 Tampa Bay and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune had to say…
March 9th Candelight/Prayer Vigil!!!
All Team Members and Supporters are invited to attend a Candlelight and Prayer Vigil on Thursday, March 9th at 6:30 pm outside of the Manatee County Sheriff's Headquarters!
600 301 Blvd W, #202, Bradenton, FL
(Directions: Head south on 9th St. past Lecom Field. Follow as it veers left and becomes 11th St./301 Blvd.
The Sheriff's Office is Just SE of the bus station and across from the DMV.)
Sheriff Wells has yet to meet with STREAM about implementing an Adult PreArrest Diversion (APAD) program as promised at our Nehemiah Action last April.
On March 1st, STREAM delivered over 500 letters urging Sheriff Wells to train his deputies and begin the APAD program from State Attorney Brodsky which has been launched in Sarasota County. See some photos below!
Join us in prayer and song as we reach out to Sheriff Wells to meet with us on this very important issue.
DEC 22 UPDATE!!!
See what the Bradenton Herald had to say about STREAM’s successful year and policy wins! A Manatee County Commissioner described us as “a force to be reckoned with” and a group that will get things done.
Check out other recent news to see what else we’ve been doing - including our Oct 26th prayer vigil/press conference.
We are now focusing on our January 23rd Research Kickoff - please let us know if you are interested in joining one of these issue teams.
Speaking of research, the Florida Housing Coalition has just released its 2022 Home Matters report and advocacy toolkit! See report highlights (the latest on our affordable housing crisis) here.
Interested in DART ALTI (Advance Leader Training Institute) training in Tampa on January 13th and January 20th? Please contact us for registration information - the cost is $50 for one or both classes.
UPDATE - COMMUNITY ACTION ASSEMBLY!!!
STREAM’s Community Action Assembly on December 5th at St. Mary’s Episcopal in Palmetto generated a lot of excitement! 113 network members attended and voted unanimously to continue our work on Affordable Housing/Homelessness and Adult Pre-Arrest Diversion (formerly called Criminal Justice Reform) issues.
Opening and Closing with Song
Check out this video to see how SURE (our DART sister organization) and local officials have worked together to implement a diversion program in Sarasota County.
UPDATE - Homelessness and Affordable Housing
The STREAM Affordable Housing team has also been busy!
We have recently begun participating as a stakeholder in the FL Housing Coalition’s homelessness study for Manatee County and continue to attend County Commissioner and Affordable Housing Advisory Board meetings to keep on top of developments.
The county has adjusted the Livable Manatee program to meet our 80% or less AMI target. The county is also researching changes to zoning, density, codes, and a community land trust that should also help meet our target of 500 new units.
LATEST UPDATES FROM AUGUST BOARD MEETING!!!
We have begun planning for the launch of our 2nd inaugural Research-to-Action cycle and are excited about building on our momentum and successes in the year ahead.
Speaking of the year ahead, we have determined our 2022-2023 key event schedule. Please mark these dates on your calendar and refer to the Events page for additional details as they become available.
Monday December 5th 6:30pm Community Problems Assembly (St. Mary’s Episcopal Church)
Monday April 24th 6:30pm Rally (location TBD)
Monday May 8th 6:30pm Nehemiah Action (location TBD)
Monday June 12th 6:30pm Joshua Assembly (location TBD)
Our Affordable Housing/Homelessness and Criminal Justice teams have continued to meet with local officials to monitor progress on their commitments from the Nehemiah Action. Check out housing crisis reports from the United Way and the dashboard from the Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness for updated housing/homelessness info for our community.
We are continuing to actively search for a new Lead Organizer. In the meantime, Jessica Sanchez (a former organizer for DART in Pinellas) joined STREAM on 8/16 in a contracted part time position with an estimated 4 month tenure. Jessica will initially be working with our Team Leaders to help us prepare for house meetings and meetings with local officials. Welcome Jessica!!!
House Meetings (with listening sessions to launch the Research Cycle) will begin in mid-October.
