What Attendees Have to Say:

Kim Miner, Weed & Seed Coordinator
East Tampa II Weed & Seed
“Symposium was excellent. It provided an understanding of the concept, tools and strategies for building sustainable community capacity that far outweighed any other training that I have explored. Thank you for your valuable work.”

Robert Vincent, Chief of Police
City of Gulfport
“The program brought together exactly the components necessary to help provide meaningful results in our community. I look forward to putting these tools to use.”

Linda Holland, President
Gillespie Park Neighborhood Association - Sarasota
“I have attended numerous anti-crime conferences and workshop for close to 30 years. While many of the basics remain the same, a gathering such as this seems to renew one's commitment to keep moving forward to share and find ideas to help each other in our communities. I was particularly impressed with the comments by Senator Crist and Statewide Prosecutor Bill Shepherd. They were informative and useful. I met several new people and found our shared experiences encouraging. The sessions stimulated some creative thinking on my part to take action to address issues in my neighborhood.”

Suparna Robertson, Community Development Specialist
Pasco County Government
“The symposium was awesome and is a very powerful tool to develop proactive community agencies and balanced, sustainable communities. The plethora of information provided by the speakers was extremely motivating…”

Calvin Ross, Police Chief
Florida A&M University - Tallahassee
“The success of a coordinated and collaborative effort in developing strategies to impact and turn high crime areas into safe and sustainable communities was quite interesting. Indicative of what can be accomplished if we as a community come together and focus our energy, resources and long term commitments in the same direction. Good initiative!”

James Hurley, Chief of Police
Fernandina Beach Police Department
Click here to view video.

Mary Beth Ridderman, Coordinator/Planner District 4 and District 6
Jacksonville Housing and Neighborhoods Department/Community Development Division
“We had six people travel all the way from Jacksonville… The event was very well planned, the agenda detailed and the speakers informative… The information will be useful in our jobs and volunteer work. Overall, it was a fantastic experience. Thank you for including us in the invitation.”

Jay Etheridge, Special Agent in Charge
Florida Department of Law Enforcement/Pensacola Regional Operations Center
“The information was very relevant and useful for any community to implement a similar anti-crime/community improvement initiative. Working with FDLE I have the opportunity to engage with multiple cities and counties and the information I gained will be shared with others in my region.”

Calandra Wise, Volunteer Facilitator/Instructor
The Greater Lake City Community Development Corporation, Inc.
“I would encourage community leaders to attend the anti-crime initiative symposium to network with other organizations and police departments to implement successful programs in the at-risk areas within their community. You learn the process to develop plans, needs assessments and to sustain a community to fix problems.”
Click here to view video.

Adriane Reesey, Community Involvement Specialist
Broward Sheriffs Office
“My experience with the anti-crime symposiums has been positive from beginning to end. Networking opportunities have proven invaluable, and the information gleaned throughout the sessions has proven to be very useful. The combination of academia, data, and street level solutions is a great blend!”

Sandra Pelham, Chairperson
Powell Subdivision Neighborhood Watch Group - Melbourne/Palm Bay
“I’m always asking myself ‘what can I do’ and the conference gave me the tools to work with. It helped me reconnect with the community. The Tampa community used as an example is very similar to Melbourne. I look forward to one day having the same success.”

Katie Fields, Community Relations and Crime Prevention Analyst
Alachua County Sheriffs Office
Click here to view video.

Sam Hayward, Student Service Specialist
Alachua County Schools
“The Symposium was well organized and presented. All the presenters were excellent, informative and well prepared with their presentations.”