By Martha Cecilia Ovadia, Senior Program Associate, Equity & Communications 
 In advance of TFN’s 2oth Anniversary Conference: Power Forward in Miami, we’ll be sharing interesting and insightful resources that provide context for many of the issues we’ll explore as part of our annual conference, which takes place March 18-20, 2019.

Don’t forget to catch our weekly #MiamiSpotlight and #TFNMiami news on our twitter (Funders_Network) and facebook (Funders’ Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities) feeds, and check out our TFN 20th Anniversary: Power Forward annual conference page for updates on speakers and sessions.

Florida towns face dark weeks without power. ‘This isn’t a restore. This is a rebuild.’ (Samantha J. Gross and Elizabeth Koh | Miami Herald | October 16, 2018)

A week after Hurricane Michael’s rampage, large swaths of the Florida Panhandle and tens of thousands of residents face a dark, powerless future. Major utilities say it will still take weeks to repair downed lines and poles and reconnect customers — and that’s only for the homes and businesses in good enough shape to “take electrical service.”

The reality is that mass damage left by Michael — which left a monster 80-mile-wide path of ruin — means it may take even more time to turn the lights back on in damaged structures. Leaders in some counties are warning it could take up to a month to fully restore power to what is still standing and far longer for homes that were leveled and need to be rebuilt. Read more here. 

Stoneman Douglas Student Activists Plan D.C. Summit And Multi-City Tour Ahead Of Election Day (Dan Sweeny| WLRN | October 16, 2018)

The Road to Change has an additional dozen stops across the country and the state, ending on Election Day in Parkland, where Marjory Stoneman Douglas High Schoolstudents started the movement. Another group of students from the school is helping put together a gun-control summit in Washington, D.C.

The new tour dates, including one in Miami on Oct. 27 and in Parkland on Nov. 6, have been added onto the Road to Change tour that saw high school students from Stoneman Douglas spend their summer break on multiple bus tours, one around the country and another around Florida, encouraging people to register to vote and show up to the polls. Read more here. 

The Colony: A Theatre That Looks Like Miami (The New Tropic | June 29, 2018)

Miami has a multilingual and multicultural voice, and the Colony Theatre, along with Miami New Drama, is making sure to magnify it on stage for a local and international community.

Today, the Colony Theatre stands on Lincoln Road opening its doors to everyone in Miami and shares the responsibility of telling the diverse stories that have created the city. With that duty, the Colony can pave a way for what “the future of art in America can be,” says the theatre’s Artistic Director Michel Hausmann.  Read more here. 

The High Cost Of Living By The Water (Tom Hudson & Alexander Gonzalez | WLRN | October 12, 2018)

Floridians pay a price for living by the coast. Hurricane Michael, which made landfall just shy of a Category 5 storm, ravaged the Panhandle and Big Bend area. The storm destroyed neighborhoods and washed out roads – changing lives forever.

Meanwhile, South Florida faced the peak of king tide season. This year, the highest of high tides brought spotty flooding across the region. Read more here.

With help from journalism students, Miami man freed after 12 years behind bars for murder (David Ovalle | Miami Herald | October 16, 2018)

One month after a judge ordered a new trial and cast doubt on the evidence against him for murder, Andre Gonzalez is a free man.

Prosecutors on Tuesday dropped the case against Gonzalez, who spent 12 years behind bars for a murder outside a North Miami-Dade nightclub, a killing his defense lawyers said he did not commit. Gonzalez, who was also known in court records by the alias Tony Brown, walked out of jail just before noon.

“The sun and the breeze just felt so wonderful, knowing I’m walking on real pavement,” Gonzalez said of walking out of jail. “It’s been such a long time and hard struggle. It’s a wonderful feeling right now.” Read more here.

About the Author

Martha Cecilia Ovadia is TFN’s senior program associate for equity and communications. Contact her at marci@www.fundersnetwork.org.