Orlando Prosperity Scorecard

Gain insight to develop strategies for broad-based prosperity with the enhanced Orlando Prosperity Scorecard. Selected with feedback from Orlando’s business and non-profit leaders as well as guidance from scholars at the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program, the scorecard measures 43 indicators across 13 different themes, revealing data by race, ethnicity, and gender in the four-county region of Lake, Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties.

We invite you to use the Orlando Prosperity Scorecard as a catalyst for aligning personal and organizational strategies as critical components of the collective action necessary to achieve Broad-based Prosperity®. Learn more about the scorecard and how you can use it as a tool to address challenges and promote meaningful and inclusive economic growth.

Critical Conversations

In effort to continue ongoing conversations with CEO’s and executive leaders to collectively address issues of social injustice, racism and biases in our communities and organizations, Critical Conversations is designed to enable leaders to engage and openly share in meaningful conversation on topics that impact our business community. Made possible through the support of Florida Blue and hosted by the Orlando Economic Partnership, this event demonstrates a spirit of collaboration and commitment to take action to achieve regional diversity, equity and inclusion goals, providing an opportunity to learn, share experience and best practices, and discuss new ideas and opportunities.

The next Critical Conversations will be June 15, 2023.

Pledge signers will receive special invitation with details on how to reserve your seat closer to the event date.

2021 State Legislative Update

Watch a recap of the Orlando Economic Partnership’s 2021 State Legislative Update and learn where Central Florida regional priorities stand following the close of the 2021 Florida legislative session. During the update, legislators from our Central Florida region shared insights on the impact of policy and budget on our economy and business community.

Watch the 2021 Legislative Update and identify a policy or issue your organization will raise visibility to which aligns with your mission, vision and values.

City of Orlando Youth Employment Program

The City of Orlando coordinates a year-round youth employment program for youth ages 15-25 who reside in several of the city’s lowest socioeconomic communities. Youth are recruited, trained in soft skills and financial literacy, and then deployed to work for local for-profit and nonprofit businesses. Decisions about where youth are placed are based on their future vocational interests. Youth salaries are either paid directly by the employer or via corporate, philanthropic and governmental donations administered by a partner non-profit organization (the Orlando Community & Youth Trust). For businesses, the program presents an opportunity to develop a homegrown employment pipeline and a chance to immerse the next generation of workers into their company’s culture.

The program started in Parramore, as part of Parramore Kidz Zone, several years ago, and recently expanded into three additional Orlando neighborhoods, Holden Heights, Mercy Drive and Engelwood. With that, the number of youth participating in the employment program has doubled to 300.  In this manner, the City is building a diverse coalition of corporate partners who share a commitment to providing job opportunities and mentorship to our city’s most disadvantaged youth. 

Support and promote employment opportunities for youth in areas of need and connect with Reginald Burroughs and City of Orlando’s Youth Employment Program.

Rosen Gives Back: Tangelo Park Program

The Tangelo Park Program, started in 1993 by Harris Rosen, is a youth education initiative that offers access to free preschool and college education for those living in Tangelo Park. Preschool education is available for every two- through four-year-old child and high school students have the opportunity to receive scholarship to any college or trade school in the state of Florida. Scholarships cover full tuition, room and board, and books. Since the adoption of Tangelo Park, the community has had an increase in high school and college graduation rates, a decrease in crime, and positive impacts on multigenerational outcomes.

Harris Rosen expanded the program in the Parramore community and Travel + Leisure Charitable Foundation has adopted Eatonville, FL. The executive team at the Rosen Foundation supports organizations who want to replicate the grass-roots, community-driven program.

Lift Orlando

Lift Orlando works to strengthen neighborhoods by investing in the people and places they live, learn, work and play. Gather your friends, family members or co-workers for a tour of the West Lakes Community Campus to learn about their collective impact approach and how the power of partnerships help Lift Orlando revitalize the Communities of West Lakes.

Schedule a tour with April Richardson and learn about the power of partnerships with Lift Orlando.

The Polis Institute

The Polis Institute is dedicated to amplifying equity and justice in urban communities. Through data with dignity, community empowerment, and collaborative engagement, they deliver place-based equity solutions that enable people living in urban communities, foundations, investors, and leaders to co-create meaningful strategies that build real paths of justice, equity, equality and opportunity. They work primarily with historically African American and Latino urban communities to deliver on zip code equity and uses an evidence-based toolkit that expands local leadership capacity and creates pipelines for access to education, employment, and housing options.

For more information on how you can use data to help design initiatives and policies that create positive impact, contact Chris Ramos, director of partnerships and development, at chris.ramos@polis.org.

Valencia College Peace and Justice Institute

As a staple in our community, the Valencia College Peace and Justice Institute promotes peace and justice for all and aims to nurture an inclusive and respectful community. PJI offers a variety of events and services to facilitate a workshop or training for businesses and organizations. PJI’s workshops are designed to provide tools for engaging in difficult conversations, empathy, listening, perspective taking and relationship building. The tools and techniques allow participants to learn self-governing practices that cultivate and strengthen a healthy and accountable workplace culture centered on inclusive excellence.

Learn more about their workshop offerings and inquire today for a custom facilitated session for your business or organization.

Minority Chambers

Expand your business community engagement to include joining the African American Chamber of Commerce and/or the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Black, Hispanic and Latino business owners face systemic barriers when it comes to growing and scaling their businesses. Minority chambers support minority-owned businesses by providing unique tools and resources to help educate, advocate, and foster a thriving environment for leaders to grow successful businesses. They do this by assisting with access to capital, identifying and preparing businesses for contracting opportunities and provide entrepreneurial training and development resources. With your support, you can build your community by cultivating new business relationships, increasing social capital and creating new business opportunities.

Orange County Regional History Center 

As a gateway for community engagement and education, the Orange County Regional History Center, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institute, is a great resource to learn about our region’s history. The History Center’s vision is to inspire action towards a better tomorrow. As you begin your journey to diversity, equity and inclusion, it is important to gain knowledge of influential past events and understand how those have shaped who we are today. With options for self-guided and guided experiences, we encourage you to reserve a private tour for your team at the History Center. 

Schedule a tour for your team with the Orange County Regional History Center to see the virtual exhibit Yesterday, This Was Home: The Ocoee Massacre of 1920. The virtual tour includes a pre-recorded curator tour of the exhibit, followed by a conversation with staff. Schedule this special tour for your team with Shannon Elliston at shannon.elliston@ocfl.net. 

National Museum of African American History and Culture

The National Museum of African American History and Culture, within the Smithsonian Institute, is located on the National Mall in Washington D.C. It is the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, history and culture. As you begin your journey to diversity, equity and inclusion, it is important to gain knowledge of influential past events and understand how those have shaped our systems, structures and culture. The museum offers online resources to help educate the African-American history, racism and its impact on our systems, and best practices for building community. 

ISO Standards for Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) 

Racial inequality will continue to exist in our community, businesses and institutions unless we are intentional about changing it. As you strive to improve diversity, equity and inclusion in our community, it is critical to evaluate your business on the journey and measure progress toward impact. We recognize that each organization is different and decision makers should take the appropriate steps for integrating DE&I in their business strategy and processes.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO), a worldwide federation of national standards bodies, recently released the Standard for Diversity and Inclusion (D&I). This resource provides guidance on D&I for business leaders and is intended to be scalable to the needs of all types of organizations. Gain knowledge on how your organization can assess needs, review responsibilities and accountabilities and produce positive outcomes.