The following are recent SCOPE headlines of interest...

YOU'RE INVITED TO THE SCOPE ANNUAL EVENT THIS THURSDAY! DON'T MISS IT!

On this coming Thursday, June 16th, SCOPE will hold its 5th annual event. Each year, SCOPE invites the public to a free event for hors d'oeuvres and conversations about the year gone by. This event will be marked by a special award -- the first of its kind. Starting this year, SCOPE will give an annual award to a "Boundary Crosser," a person who connects people across boundary lines that traditionally diminish and divide community. They are citizen leaders who extend past their familiar territory, whether that's government, social agencies, corporations, ethnic groups or religions, to become community builders. Come join SCOPE chair Sarah H. Pappas who will reflect on community successes, see local filmmaker Bruce Rodgers showcase his newly-produced video on what it means to be a boundary crosser, and help welcome SCOPE's newest incoming chair! We hope you will be able to join us. Please call SCOPE at 365-8751 if you are planning to attend this Thursday, from 5:30 to 7:00 pm. This event is made possible thanks to support from Michael's on East, Michael Saunders and Company, and the Venice Little Theatre.

SCOPE INVITES YOU TO CONVERSATIONS ABOUT RACE RELATIONS --  PLEASE JOIN US!

SCOPE is currently engaging community members around the topic of Race and Cultural Relations in our community. Its focus for this important and complex topic is, "What is the role of every community member?"  SCOPE will have discussions to create relationships among community members to allow them to strengthen their connections to the community and identify meaningful and active roles. We hope you decide to be a part of this conversation because you live in and care about this community. Its future is dependent on people with diverse interests finding a way to come together in a way that is not just an extension of the past. If you choose to participate, you will be committing to two initial gatherings at which participants will have an intentional conversation about the role of local residents in addressing community issues. In further gatherings, these dialogue principles will be used to address race and cultural relations in our community. This will be facilitated by SCOPE and structured along specific conversations for possibility, ownership and commitment. Participating means that you are willing to use this structure and "try it on" for these two gatherings to see if it gives us all more power to create a positive future for our community.

There will be two sessions to accommodate people's schedules. Choose to attend either both Tuesday evening sessions or both Thursday afternoon sessions. Session 1: Tuesday evenings 5:00-7:00 June 21st, and 28th at The Center for Arts and Humanity, 1226 N. Tamiami Trail and Session 2: Thursday afternoons 3:30-5:30 June 23rd and 30th at North Sarasota Public Library. Please confirm your intention to participate to SCOPE as soon as possible by calling 365-8751.

SCOPEXHIBIT EXTENDED THROUGH JULY DUE TO POPULARITY

When SCOPE decided to feature artwork from its collaboration with Ringling School of Art and Design students in an exhibit for all to see, it had no idea what an overwhelming response it would receive! Aptly named the "SCOPExhibit," the show features 24 black and white sketches inspired by data gleaned from the SCOPE Community Report Card. The opening reception, held on June 3rd, attracted a crowd of just nearly 100 people, many of them new to SCOPE. Thanks to the Ringling School of Art and Design, who sponsored the reception, to Sarasota Emporium, who donated a portion of the framing, and to A Beautiful Florist for adorning the hors d'oeuvres table. SCOPE received several calls during the last week from local organizations requesting to exhibit the show in their buildings. Originally slated to hang in the Center for Arts and Humanity during the month of June, the SCOPExhibit has been extended to remain in the building until the end of July, after which it will be housed in the Unitarian Universalist Church of Sarasota in August. If your organization is interested in hosting the exhibit, please contact SCOPE at 365-8751.

AGING INITIATIVE ACTION TEAMS PLAN NEXT STEPS

SCOPE has wrapped up the first meetings of 10 Action Teams along the themes of: Community Awareness, Community Design & Land Use, Economic & Workforce Issues, Healthcare & Supportive Services, Housing, Intergenerational Opportunities, Lifelong Learning, Mobility & Transportation, Neighborhood Connections, and Wellness & Active Living. Each team clarified its purpose and determined its next steps in the "learning phase." Staff is gathering research and will schedule speakers in the neat future. Check out the SCOPE website for a summary of those meetings. Last week, due to an overwhelming response to this latest community initiative, SCOPE added an additional two meetings to share information about the Aging Initiative and invite more local residents to participate in these conversations about possibilities for active aging in Sarasota County.

REDEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES AND WORKFORCE HOUSING

SCOPE participated in a Workforce Housing Strategy session last week, representing the Redevelopment and Infill Study. The purpose of the meeting was to create recommendations under the strategy of redevelopment/infill/mixed use that would lead to improving the availability of workforce housing in the community.

SCHOOL DROPOUT IMPLEMENTATION COMES TO A CLOSE

The co-chairs of the School Dropout implementation met for a third and final work session with the School Board of Sarasota County. They shared their reflections about continuing to implement the recommendations of the 2003 report and the Board talked about the various tools and strategies available to them to fulfill the goals of the report. The Implementation Task Force will have its final meeting this summary and SCOPE staff will prepare a report detailing the status of the recommendations. For more information, please contact Catherine (Cat) Clouse at 365-8751.

FAMILY VIOLENCE TASK FORCE INITIATIVES

SCOPE volunteers from the Family Violence Implementation Task Force (ITF) are meeting regularly to discuss the role of the newly-created Family Violence Task Force. At the last ITF meeting, members determined that the new Task Force will divide its responsibilities between community awareness and education initiatives and making tactical improvements to the Family Violence system. Meanwhile, faith leaders who attended the Family Violence breakfast on May 6th have all received copies of the full SCOPE Family Violence study report. Volunteers are now working on organizing information gleaned from a survey completed by the attendees and will be working to develop a resource guide of family violence related services in Sarasota County.

MENTAL HEALTH AND LAW INITIATIVE

Although the implementation period of the Mental Health Report is coming to a close, many of the groups wanted to stay involved with the issue of mental health in Sarasota County. One such group is the Mental Health and Law Initiative, a group of local professionals who are dedicated to creating opportunities for lawyers to learn about mental illnesses. They will be teaching courses that lawyers can use as continuing education credit in the area of professionalism and ethics and hope to replicate the successful CIT Training that teaches police officers how to deal with people who are mentally ill and in crisis. Dates of this seminar will be available soon.

DONOR SPOTLIGHT

SCOPE would like to thank the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce for its recent donation to help SCOPE continue its community initiatives! And a very special thank you goes out to Steve and Kimberly Rabow for their continued support of SCOPE and helping to raise the public's awareness of important issues like family violence, affordable housing and school dropout! SCOPE salutes you as Suncoast business owners who strengthen their community in more ways than one!