Speak out at the Pinellas County Commission meeting Tuesday, June 13

Join other Black Power 96 Radio and African People’s Education and Defense Fund (APEDF) supporters as we speak out at the Pinellas County Commission meeting on Tuesday, June 13 at 9:30am.

In this meeting, the Commission will vote on whether to honor the recommendations of the Pinellas Community Foundation to provide well-deserved funding for a back-up generator to keep the power on at the Uhuru House in St. Pete through our frequent power outages.

Earlier this year, Pinellas County’s elected Commissioners told lies about APEDF and took back $36,801 in promised funding for our radio station. Now they plan to deny our application for the back-up generator, even though we scored 4th out of 79 nonprofits.

This is federal money that’s supposed to help “historically marginalized” communities recover from the negative economic impact of COVID shut-downs. Don’t let them deny these resources to the black community!

5 ways you can make your voice heard over the next week:

🎤 Join us in person on Tuesday, June 13: Meet at the Uhuru House (1245 18th Ave. S., St. Pete) at 8:00am to carpool – OR – go directly to the County Courthouse (315 Court Street, Clearwater). The meeting begins at 9:30am.
📱 Join virtually by phone or Zoom on Tuesday, June 13 at 9:30am ET: You MUST pre-register by 5:00pm ET on Monday, June 12. Register at https://comment.pinellas.gov.
On the registration page, choose Agenda Item #42: “Recommendation to award grant funding to applicants of the first round of large projects funded by the American Rescue Plan Act Nonprofit Capital Fund.”Then you can attend the meeting via Zoom or phone and speak when called on.

Please email contact@blackpower96.org to let us know you have registered!
📞 📩 Call and Email the Commissioners to let them know you support the funding of the black community programs of the African People’s Education and Defense Fund. (See contact info below)
✍🏾 Sign the petition!
💰 Donate to the legal fund. Contribute to the initial goal of $2,500 urgently needed for legal expenses! Thank you to those who have given so far!

Contact the Commissioners

Janet Long, Commission Chair (District 1 – Countywide)
(727) 464-3365 Tel
JanetCLong@pinellas.gov

Brian Long (District 2 – Countywide)
(727) 464-3360 Tel
brscott@pinellas.gov

Charlie Justice (District 3 – Countywide)
(727) 464-3363 Tel
cjustice@pinellas.gov

Dave Eggers (District 4)
(727) 464-3276 Tel
deggers@pinellas.gov

Chris Latvala (District 5)
(727) 464-3278 Tel
clatvala@pinellas.gov

Kathleen Peters (District 6)
(727) 464-3568 Tel
kpeters@pinellas.gov

Rene Flowers (District 7)
(727) 464-3614 Tel
rflowers@pinellas.gov