LIFT Orlando

EDUCATION: Lift Orlando's Cradle-to-Career goal is to support a high performing educational pathway beginning with early childhood all the way to promising careers. Lift Orlando supports the educational pathway by engaging community members and coordinating alignment between the community schools, community members and best in class not-for-profits, while measuring and evaluating progress towards our shared goals. To further this mission, Lift began developing a scholarship program in 2023, EmpowerEd Scholars. The program addresses identified barriers that create a lack of access to academic support resources, which can lead to students being underprepared for post-secondary education. The program includes a Scholarship Advisory Committee that recruits students/families into the program, selects recipients, advises on program components, and more. In 2023, 8 West Lakes' students were awarded scholarship funding. Lift Orlando continued its support of the West Lakes Early Learning Center (ELC) by participating in fundraising, community engagement and programmatic partner coordination. The ELC provides high quality and affordable early childhood education for the children of West Lakes. In 2023, the ELC provided 150 comprehensive speech opportunities including speech and language, ABA therapy, occupational therapy and more; 406 patients were seen in the ELC's onsite pediatric clinic serviced by Lift partner and Heart healthcare provider Community Health Centers (CHC). Lift's Education team executed its second year of an early learning program which supports early education providers in West Lakes by providing missing resources needed to nurture young children's cognitive and social emotional development for success in school. Through this program, our team invested in 18 early learning providers in the 32805 ZIP Code. These funds have been allocated to make infrastructure updates, enhance curriculum and teaching resources. Our partnership with early learning providers has impacted approximately 927 students within the 32805 ZIP Code. Lift Orlando resumed its partnership with Legends Academy, a local STEM-focused charter school serving grades K-8, to enhance literacy and education. This collaboration has provided 11 teachers with 30-40 hours of Orton-Gillingham training, impacting 179 students. The summer reading initiative and the Accelerated Reading Program greatly enhanced literacy skills, resulting in a 91.7% increase in reading scores and promoting sustained reading engagement through tailored book selections and assessments. Lift Orlando's Resource Teacher supported 38 students and 20 teachers, and 303 parents engaged in literacy training. Efforts also include purchased books & storage bins, providing supplies and aiding teacher recruitment, with additional community events drawing over 500 participants. Lift continued to work with The Jacqueline Bradley & Clarence Otis Family Branch Boys & Girls Club. Lift provided funds to purchase 75 musical instruments and accessories for use in music lessons, practice, and performances at the West Lakes' club. Sixty children (59% of club membership) participated in the 10-week summer music program and 83% continued lessons during the school year in the Club's after-school program. In 2023, Lift continued to foster relationships with and work beside school administrators, teachers, parents, and community partners to actively develop services that dismantle barriers that prevent educational advancement, while tackling historic gaps and environmental factors that inhibit a child's achievement potential. In addition to this, Lift continued to provide funding toward teacher appreciation at the Jacqueline Bradley & Clarence Otis Boys & Girls Club, Jones High School, Memorial Middle School, Rock Lake Elementary, Legends Academy, Orange Center Elementary School, and the West Lakes Early Learning Center.

COMMUNITY QUARTERBACK: As the Community Quarterback in West Lakes' Collective Impact Initiative, Lift Orlando helps to facilitate and coordinate open collaboration between residents, nonprofit partners, businesses, and community leaders, who are collectively working to strengthen The Communities of West Lakes and 32805 ZIP code. Lift Orlando collaborated with and provided funding to West Lakes Partnership (WLP) to pursue projects that increase the wealth and well-being of West Lakes residents. Alongside the Residential Paint & Beautification Program, Community Clean-Up and Dream Housing Rehab Program, WLP issues "The West Lakes Newsletter", with 22,272 individuals opened and viewed e-newsletters and 6,600 physical newsletters delivered to residents in 2023. Lift Orlando launched the Dinner Club in Fall 2023, offering free Monday evening dinners at the Heart of West Lakes Wellness Center. This initiative aimed to address food insecurity and reconnect our team with West Lakes residents through a valuable and needed service. Over the course of the program's highly successful 9-week run, 2,849 meals were served and baseline data for approximately 300 (approximately 17%) West Lakes households was acquired. Also, Lift Orlando relaunched community meetings in Q3 and Q4 2023. These town hall-style meetings invite residents to hear updates on what is occurring in their community, engage with our team and partners, provide feedback, enjoy dinner provided by Lift Orlando, and participate in focus groups. In order to monitor and evaluate how Lift and its partners are impacting the community, Lift engages Polis Institute to track and monitor impacts as well as execute a door-to-door survey to collect feedback from West Lakes residents on how they feel about the changes in their community and gather information on specific topics such as health, economic viability, education, etc. Polis recruited, trained, and managed the community surveyors, who were hired from the community. In 2023, Think Twice Consulting guided Lift Orlando through a knowledge management (KM) initiative aimed at improving efficiency, consistency, and leveraging knowledge as an organizational asset. This project allowed our team to align grant templates and data requests with new KM principles, document current data practices, identify gaps, and develop a data strategy. We also piloted data agreement frameworks with a program partner. Additionally, to enhance document management, we created and launched a new cloud storage system, the "Lift Hub," trained staff on its use, and established governance for its content.

HEALTH & WELLNESS: Lift Orlando works to provide a mix of high-quality facilities, programs, and services that enhance health, quality of life, and increase overall life expectancy. Lift is the sponsor of The Heart of West Lakes Wellness Center, developed and operated by West Lakes HWC, Inc. The Heart is a resident-focused center, designed to strengthen the community by providing convenient access to holistic health, financial, and lifestyle services under one roof. The two-story facility is a space for residents to connect, learn, and thrive, and features first-class amenities paired with decor that pays homage to the community's rich history. In our work to promote and provide healthy-living programs to the community, we held community work-out sessions with a local fitness trainer on the Heart of West Lakes Wellness Center's lawn. Additionally, Lift Orlando engaged in relationship building with key health and wellness partners, Florida Blue and Community Health Centers, in an effort to bridge the gap between these vital healthcare service providers and West Lakes residents. Lift Orlando and Florida Blue co-hosted two Health Equity Laboratory Experiences, conducting focus groups with 47 residents to explore their healthcare and insurance experiences. Participants highlighted that racial factors and lack of trust in providers led to delays in seeking care, with a strong emphasis on the need for personalized care and higher-quality services. The sessions also provided information on the Heart of West Lakes Wellness Center, allowing residents to voice their preferences and expectations for future healthcare services. Furthermore, Lift supported community engagement efforts such as the West Lakes Community Clean-Up, which facilitated a clean-up effort involving four communities and provided funding for a Lake Lorna Doone Park movie night.

Economic viability

Housing

Leasehold improvements to affiliates