Casey DeSantis to speak at Daytona economic summit on reducing childhood poverty
The event, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., is being put on by the Florida Chamber of Commerce to look at ways to reduce by half the number of children living in poverty in the Sunshine State by the year 2030, according to Kristina Donahue, the chamber's director of prosperity.
More than 250 business leaders, community advocates and policy makers are expected to take part in the summit, which is held in a different part of the state each year. This will be the first time it is held in Volusia County.
The event will "address the 10 root causes of generational poverty, the business impacts of poverty, and ways to get involved at the ZIP code level to create a pathway to prosperity for all Floridians," according to a statement put out by the chamber.
"Our goal is for attendees to walk away and have a key action item they can implement within their community, to get them to say 'I can do this piece,'" said Donahue, in a phone interview. "It's really all about collaboration. No one sector can solve it alone, but if we work together, things can move in the right direction."
The goal of reducing poverty levels is part of a statewide initiative called the Florida 2030 Blueprint that launched in 2018.
According to the chamber, more than 730,000 children live in poverty statewide, including many in Volusia County.
"32114 (in Daytona Beach) is one of the poorest ZIP codes in the state of Florida," said Forough Hosseini, the founder and chair of Food Brings Hope, a local nonprofit that provides food for families with children struggling to make ends meet. Hosseini is also the chair of this year's Florida Prosperity & Economic Opportunity summit.
The summit will feature nearly two dozen speakers and panelists.
Kevin Thompson of the Florida Prepaid College Board & Foundation and Frank Kelleher, president of Daytona International Speedway, will give the welcome and opening remarks.
Mark Wilson, president and CEO of the Florida Chamber, will deliver a report on the current state of childhood poverty in Florida.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University President Dr. P. Barry Butler will moderate a panel discussion on how the space economy is driving Florida's workforce and economic opportunities. The panelists will include Robert Long, president and CEO of Space Florida, Brandon Burroughs of The Boeing Co., Jeanette Nunez, interim president of Florida International University, and Dr. Mark Rendell, superintendent of Brevard Public Schools.
Casey DeSantis and Dr. Audrey Gregory of AdventHealth will give a presentation on "Hope Florida: Building Pathways to Prosperity Through Community Partnerships across Florida."
Hosseini will give a talk on "Forming Impactful Partnerships to Create Prosperity & Homeownership."
The event will include breakfast and lunch.
For more information, including how to buy tickets to attend, visit the chamber's website FLChamber.com/Events or call Thelma Givens, the chamber's director of events, at 850-521-1284.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona to host economic summit to help reduce childhood poverty
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
5 hours ago
- Washington Post
U.S. aid money to Gaza trickles in, belying Trump's claims, as U.S. officials visit
Despite President Donald Trump's repeated assertion this week that the United States has contributed $60 million for food to Gaza, U.S. pledges have been half of that amount, only a fraction of which has been actually disbursed. A State Department spokesperson said Friday that 'we have approved funding for $30 million' to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the controversial U.S.-Israeli backed food distribution system, adding that 'an initial amount has been disbursed as of this week.' The spokesman, speaking on the condition of anonymity under rules set by the State Department, declined to address Trump's remarks, first made during his visit to Scotland last weekend.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Human Rights Watch says Israel committing war crimes in alleged killings at aid sites
The international NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Friday accused Israel of war crimes and violations of international law because of the killings of people near food aid distribution sites in Gaza -- as well as deprivation of food, aid and other basic services. There have been several mass casualty events near the four sites run by the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) since it began operating in late May, HRW said. In a statement in response to the HRW report, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it allows the GHF "to operate independently" in the distribution of aid and that troops operate "in proximity" to make sure food is delivered in an orderly fashion.' MORE: A famine hasn't been declared in Gaza, but that may not matter, experts say The HRW's report came as U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee visited Gaza on Friday, inspecting food aid delivery. In previous incidents, the IDF has said that it only fires "warning shots" at crowds and when it feels like its personnel are in danger. At least 58 people were killed near Zikim aid distribution center on Wednesday, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health, and another 14 were killed near an aid center in Muraj in southern Gaza, local hospital authorities confirmed to ABC News. In response to the Zikim shooting, the IDF said troops fired "warning shots in the area, not directed at the gathering, in response to the threat posed to them." The Israeli government has also previously claimed that Hamas shoots people waiting in food lines and films the events for propaganda videos. Hamas has denied these claims. "Israeli forces are not only deliberately starving Palestinian civilians, but they are now gunning them down almost every day as they desperately seek food for their families," Belkis Wille, associate crisis and conflict director at HRW, said in a statement. "U.S.-backed Israeli forces and private contractors have put in place a flawed, militarized aid distribution system that has turned aid distributions into regular bloodbaths." HRW called on nations to pressure Israel to stop using deadly force as a crowd control method, to lift restrictions on aid entering Gaza and to end the GHF system. Meanwhile, in its statement, the IDF accused Hamas of starving and endangering the population in order to maintain control over the strip and taking actions "to prevent the success of food distribution in Gaza." "The IDF stresses that, as part of its operational management of the main access routes to the distribution areas, IDF forces are conducting systematic review processes in order to improve the operational response in the area and minimize, as much as possible, any friction between the civilian population and IDF forces," the statement read, in part. "As part of these efforts, IDF forces have recently worked to reorganize the area by installing new fences, placing signs, opening additional routes, and more." "Additionally, following reports of civilian casualties near distribution areas, in-depth examinations were conducted by the Southern Command, and the incidents are under review by the authorized bodies within the IDF," the statement continued. MORE: UK to recognize Palestinian state as Netanyahu considers annexing parts of Gaza Meanwhile, a hunger crisis is reportedly worsening across Gaza. At least 159 people have died from starvation and malnutrition, including at least 90 children, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, since the war began in the wake of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack on southern Israel. Aid slowly resumed entry into Gaza after Israel instituted an 11-week total blockade on all humanitarian supplies entering the strip earlier this year. The blockade caused widespread malnutrition and conditions likely to lead to famine, according to the U.N. and aid groups. Israeli officials have long accused Hamas of stealing aid, which Hamas denies. Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the idea that Israel is applying a campaign of starvation in Gaza is "a bold-faced lie," adding that "there is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza." However, a new report on Tuesday from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a global initiative monitoring hunger, said that "the worst-case scenario of famine is playing out in the Gaza Strip," and that "access to food and other essential items and services has plummeted to unprecedented levels." Additionally, a USAID analysis appeared to undercut some of the assertions about the extent to which Hamas had allegedly stolen humanitarian aid. A presentation reviewed by ABC News, examining more than 150 reported incidents involving the theft or loss of U.S.-funded humanitarian aid in Gaza, showed that the group failed to find any evidence that Hamas engaged in widespread diversion of aid to cause the amount of hunger seen in the strip. On Friday, Witkoff wrote in a post on X that he and Huckabee spent the previous day meeting with Israeli officials to discuss the humanitarian situation in Gaza "Today, we spent over five hours inside Gaza -- level setting the facts on the ground, assessing conditions, and meeting with [GHF] and other agencies," Witkoff wrote. "The purpose of the visit was to give [President Donald Trump] a clear understanding of the humanitarian situation and help craft a plan to deliver food and medical aid to the people of Gaza." It came amid Trump's plan to expand aid deliveries to Gaza, although there are no signs the White House is moving away from the GHF. Hamas senior official Izzat al-Risheq criticized the visit in a statement. "Witkoff's visit to Gaza is nothing but a publicity stunt aimed at containing the growing outrage over the U.S.-Israeli partnership in starving our people in the Strip," he said. "Witkoff sees in Gaza only what the occupation wants him to see, viewing the ongoing tragedy through a misleading Israeli lens." ABC News' Will Gretsky and Diaa Ostaz contributed to this report.
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
Prime Medicine Announces Closing of Public Offering and Full Exercise of the Underwriters' Option to Purchase Additional Shares
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Aug. 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Prime Medicine, Inc. (Nasdaq: PRME), a biotechnology company committed to delivering a new class of differentiated one-time curative genetic therapies, today announced the closing of its underwritten public offering of 43,700,000 shares of its common stock, which includes the full exercise of the underwriters' option to purchase 5,700,000 additional shares of its common stock, at a public offering price of $3.30 per share. The underwriters did not receive any discounts or commissions with respect to an aggregate of 1,818,181 shares of common stock sold to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. All of the shares of common stock in the offering were sold by Prime Medicine. The gross proceeds to Prime Medicine from the offering, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses, were approximately $144.2 million. TD Cowen and BMO Capital Markets acted as joint book-running managers for the offering. The shares of common stock were offered by Prime Medicine pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement on Form S-3 that was previously filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on November 3, 2023 and declared effective by the SEC on November 13, 2023 (File No. 333-275321). The offering was made only by means of a written prospectus and prospectus supplement that form a part of the registration statement. A final prospectus supplement relating to and describing the terms of the offering was filed with the SEC and is available on the SEC's website at Copies of the final prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus relating to the offering may be obtained from TD Securities (USA) LLC, 1 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, New York 10017, by telephone at (855) 495-9846, or by email at or BMO Capital Markets Corp., Attention: Equity Syndicate Department, 151 West 42nd Street, 32nd Floor, New York, New York 10036, by email at bmoprospectus@ This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction. About Prime Medicine Prime Medicine is a leading biotechnology company dedicated to creating and delivering the next generation of gene editing therapies to patients. The Company is deploying its proprietary Prime Editing platform, a versatile, precise and efficient gene editing technology, to develop a new class of differentiated one-time curative genetic therapies. Prime Editors are designed to make only the right edit at the right position within a gene while minimizing unwanted DNA modifications. Prime Medicine is currently progressing a diversified portfolio of investigational therapeutic programs organized around our core areas of focus: liver, lung, and immunology and oncology. Across each core area, Prime Medicine is focused initially on a set of high value programs, each targeting a disease with well-understood biology and a clearly defined clinical development and regulatory path. Investor and Media ContactsGregory DearbornPrime Medicine857-209-0696gdearborn@ Hannah DeresiewiczPrecision
