Gainesville Launches Entrepreneurial Training Program For At-Risk Youth The City of Gainesville Economic Development Department has begun a new program to provide at-risk youth with entrepreneurial training. Beginning February 4, 2006, The Institute for Youth Entrepreneurship (IYE) located at the Reichert House, 1734 SE 2nd Avenue, launched its educational effort designed to improve the lives of children served by the City’s established Reichert House program. IYE instruction is offered from 8:30 am to 12 Noon each Saturday. Program goals include providing participants with formal knowledge and training in entrepreneurial education, providing exposure to successful models of entrepreneurship and supporting and aiding participants in their efforts to launch and capitalize specific business projects. This program offers at risk youth the chance to learn about the value and opportunities available through entrepreneurship and to become involved in real life business management. It also helps them to gain access to resources to prepare them to manage their own businesses, while providing an opportunity to earn income as entrepreneurs, said Nelson Pizarro, Small Business Development Coordinator for the City of Gainesville. To date, three volunteer instructors from the community have successfully completed a three-day training course to learn how to teach entrepreneurship to youth; additionally, six aspiring youth entrepreneurs have been recruited. IYE uses a curriculum from the National Foundation For Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE). Since its founding, NFTE has reached over 120,000 young people from low-income communities and trained more than 3,700 Certified Entrepreneurship Teachers in 45 States and 16 countries. The 16-session youth entrepreneurship program is divided into three modules: 1) The Academy for Future entrepreneurs; 2) business plan presentation; and, 3) entrepreneurship business experience. Participants will develop skills such as business ethics, marketing, record management, customer relations, financial management and various life skills. For more information, please contact Nelson Pizarro, Small Business Development Coordinator at (352) 334-5012 or by email at: pizarron@cityofgainesville.org . ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Popular Science Magazine ranks Gainesville the most technologically advanced city in Florida; 30th in the nation Gainesville is rapidly becoming a leading technology center in the United States and the word is beginning to spread. Popular Science magazine ranks Gainesville as the 30th most technologically advanced city in the nation and top high-tech hot spot in the State of Florida. The ranking, found in a February 15 Popular Science article entitled, "Technopolis Found," places Gainesville ahead of other Florida cities such as Tampa/St. Petersburg/Clearwater (ranked 34th) and Jacksonville (ranked 43rd). Magazine researchers graded 127 cities with populations above 25,000 using information obtained from sources such as the U.S. Census Bureau, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Transportation, private foundations and medical institutes. 36 technology indicators were selected, weighted and grouped into one of six categories: Transportation, Connected Citizens, Medical, Jobs, Education and Energy. Weighted indicators were summed by category to obtain a category score. Category scores were weighted, summed and converted to a 1-100 scale to obtain an overall "High-Tech" score for each city. Gainesville was awarded 72 out of 100 possible points, equal to the score received by Los Angeles. A closer look at the statistics reveals that Gainesville ranked 3rd in the category of high-tech jobs per capita, following only San Jose, CA, and Orange, CA, according to Hallie Deaktor, publicity manager at "Popular Science." "Most of those high-tech jobs are spin-offs from the University of Florida (UF)," explains Erik Bredfeldt, Gainesville economic development director. "New technologies are developed at UF and by graduates that start new businesses. Additionally, Gainesville has Santa Fe Community College, the Chamber of Commerce, the city and county governments, the Gainesville Technology Enterprise Center and other organizations working together to stimulate the economy," says Bredfeldt. According to "Techno-polis Found," Gainesville ranked ninth in connected citizenry, or how city residents use technologies such as cell phones, HDTVs, computers, satellite, cable and wireless Internet hot spots. Gainesville also ranked 37th in medical and emergency response systems, 73rd in smart use of energy and 104th in transportation innovation. Gainesville's comprehensive national rank of 30 is higher than peer cities, Ann Arbor, MI (ranked 32nd) and Austin, TX (ranked 53rd). For more information about Gainesville's "High Tech" ranking, contact the Marketing and Communication Office at 352-334-5017 or by email: gainesvillepio@cityofgainesville.org. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gainesville Police Department puts its public records on Web! The Gainesville Police Department has taken advantage of technological advances and is now allowing citizens to access police reports on the Internet. A range of public records that previously were available only at GPD headquarters have been moved on to the information superhighway at http://p2c.gainesvillepd.org . "It lets the citizens know what crimes are going on, what they might want to look out for," GPD Chief Norman Botsford said. "Better informed citizens make for a better police department." Gainesville Police Department worked with OSSI, Inc. to develop the Internet tool. GPD Lieutenant Edward Posey says the system is integrated with the department's new records management system, allowing incident reports to be posted online as soon as they are written and put into the system. Residents are able to view the first page of incident reports and complete vehicle crash reports. "We release a significant portion of what State Statute allows us to release via our new site," Posey said. A "daily bulletin" that lists information about police incidents, arrests, traffic crashes and traffic citations is continually updated and is also available on the website. There are some restrictions. Traffic crash reports cannot be disclosed to persons who are not involved in the crash and are only available on-line to persons involved in the crash. Crash reports are not available on-line to the public for 60 days because of Florida law, however, they are available after that period has expired, Posey said. Information about sexual batteries, child abuse, juveniles and other similar reports will not be included on the Web site because state law protects these records. "We're breaking new ground," Botsford said. "I'm sure a lot of new issues will come up." The on-line records will not include some private information such as home phone numbers, Botsford said. Driver's license numbers will be available as part of traffic incident reports but are already considered a public record, he said. GPD believes that by allowing citizens’ access to these reports the department’s efficiency will increase. Until this system was utilized, a citizen who needed a copy of a crash report had to come to the police department and fill out a request form. The form was left at the front desk. A Record’s Clerk would then receive the request, pull the paper file from the folder, photocopy it and send it in the mail the citizen. This process took about 3 to 5 days. Due to this new system, the citizen can download a crash report at home or in their office hours after the incident occurs without any intervention from GPD staff. This saves the time the clerk has to retrieve copy and mail the report, as well as saving the cost of the paper, photocopying and mailing reports. At the City of Gainesville, Florida contact: Lt. Ed Posey, Gainesville Police Department (352) 334-2152 or poseyej@ci.gainesville.fl.us ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ City of Gainesville Selected As a Growth Management Pilot Community On October 19, 2005, the City of Gainesville was selected by the Florida Department of Community Affairs (DCA) to serve as one of the eight pilot communities for the annual Capital Improvements Element (CIE) update, a key component of the 2005 growth management legislation signed into law by Governor Jeb Bush last June. All eight CIE pilot communities are state leaders in innovative capital facilities planning. As a pilot community, the City of Gainesville will help the State document its current best practices. The models developed by the pilot communities will be used by local officials across the state to help expedite implementation of Florida’s new growth laws. The new law more clearly defines the requirements for the CIE that all local governments must adopt into local comprehensive plans, identifying future infrastructure needs and costs, and a plan for providing sufficient funding. Capital Improvements Elements are important tools that local governments use to better manage their communities financially and plan smarter. “I applaud these communities for leading the state as we take the next step in implementing Florida’s landmark new ‘pay as you grow’ system,” said DCA Secretary Thaddeus Cohen. “Financially feasible plans will ensure that Florida is providing adequate public infrastructure, including roads, schools and water, to meet the needs of our growing communities.” For additional information, please visit the DCA web site.