November 18, 2009. The Lakeland Ledger.
WINTER HAVEN | The public school dropout rate in Polk County is now a priority for an interdenominational social action council.
The Polk Ecumenical Action Council for Empowerment, or PEACE, held its annual assembly Monday to hear status reports on issues the council has been working on and to choose a new issue of common concern to its members.
About 300 people representing 15 of the council’s 20 member churches attended the assembly at Hurst Chapel AME Church.
The council had previously indicated a desire to address community problems involving youth. Monday’s assembly was asked to choose from a list of concerns, including violence, school discipline, the dropout rate, quality of education and improving parenting skills. There was some interest in focusing on parenting, but the assembly voted by more than 2-to-1 to make its new priority reducing the dropout rate, which is about 25 percent in Polk County, said the Rev. Ronnie Clark, pastor of Hurst Chapel AME.
Members of PEACE will conduct research on the issue to develop specific proposals for local officials. The council is scheduled to hold its annual action rally in April at which public and nonprofit officials are asked to agree to action plans.
In the past, PEACE has received commitments from county, city and law enforcement officials on issues such as increased police patrols, better treatment of Spanish-speaking clients at public health clinics and continuation of drug-treatment programs at the county jail. The council had less success in advocating for a reading curriculum in the public schools.
The dropout rate will be added to three priorities already undertaken by PEACE. They are:
Expanding affordable rental housing
Creating a residential drug rehabilitation center
Expanding health care for the poor and uninsured through construction of primary care clinics.
The assembly heard progress reports on the action plans the council has adopted on those issues. PEACE co-chairman Earl Brown said council leaders were unhappy with the draft of a plan produced by County Manager Mike Herr to address the need for more affordable rental housing.
Herr agreed in April to a PEACE request to finalize a plan by February to add 1,724 affordable rental units, or 10 percent of the total need, over the next three years. Brown said council leaders met with Herr on Friday to discuss the draft, which called for just 80 additional rental units.
“We let him know we are extremely disappointed, and this is not acceptable. We are extremely concerned a workable plan will not be ready by February,” Brown said. “But Mr. Herr committed to finishing the plan, and he said he knows now what it would take to get the job done. We will not give up, quit or be denied.”
Eileen Stone, chairman of the council’s health care task force, reported that ground will be broken next month on a federally qualified primary health care clinic in Winter Haven, the second such clinic in the county. County commissioners have approved requests for proposals for two additional clinics, including one in Haines City, she said.
PEACE has supported the opening of five clinics, but they are opposed by leaders of the Polk County Medical Association, who say physicians in the county can care for the disadvantaged through a county-run insurance program, the Polk County Health Plan.
Stone told the assembly on Monday that the Health Plan only covers 3,000 people, far short of the 167,000 uninsured and underinsured people in Polk County.
“We feel like we can do better. Polk County can do better,” she said. “The clinics are far more cost effective than fee-for-service care.”
Progress continues on a 72-bed residential drug rehabilitation center for adults, said Harry Pettit, chairman of PEACE’s drug rehab committee. A lease has been drafted for two buildings formerly housing the Polk County sheriff’s boot camp program, a treatment model has been defined and staff requirements determined, he said. A business plan will be presented by Polk County Commissioner Bob English to the County Commission in January, but funding for the projected $2 million operating budget needs to be developed, Pettit said.
The PEACE assembly set a five-year goal for the organization to expand its reach. The goal calls for PEACE to have more than 40 member churches and a turnout of 5,000 people at its annual action rally by 2015.
