On Nov. 3, Florida voters will have a say in setting the state’s minimum wage.

Amendment 2, one of several constitutional amendments on the ballot this year, would incrementally increases the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026.

Under the proposed constitutional amendment, which needs to receive 60% of votes to pass, the state’s minimum wage would increase to $10 an hour effective Sept. 30, 2021. It would then increase $1 an hour annually until it reaches $15. From that point forward, future minimum wage increases would be annually adjusted for inflation.
Florida’s minimum wage is currently $8.56 an hour, about a dollar more than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.

The Greater Naples Chamber supports targeted approaches to helping low wage earners upward mobility in the workforce, such as strengthening workforce development programs, and creating higher-skill, higher-wage jobs through economic development opportunity. However, the Chamber does not believe a constitutional amendment is the appropriate way to address the issue of wages in Florida.

The citizen initiative, which is backed by Florida for a Fair Wage and Orlando-based attorney John Morgan, received 770,458 signatures to get on the November ballot. Proponents of the initiative say the amendment ensures Floridians can early a living wage, or the hourly rate that an individual must make to support themselves. According to the living wage calculator created by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the living wage for a single adult in Florida is $12.39.

Opponents say the initiative will have a significant, negative impact on the state’s small businesses. The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association is among those organizations opposing the amendment, and officials with the organization have said business owners would be “forced to make changes to accommodate a 77% increase in labor costs,” including reducing the number of employees, increasing costs to customers and eliminating entry-level positions.

​The upcoming Leadership Collier Foundation (LCF) Alumni Association "Leadership Lunch" will focus on the growing challenge of incivility in our society. Our hope is that this event will be an important step in elevating and prioritizing a community conversation on civility.
​
By Michael Wynn
President of Sunshine Ace Hardware
​Past chairman of the Leadership Collier Foundation.

Why the Leadership Collier Foundation? For almost 30 years, the LCF has been the champion for leadership development in our county. We have promoted respectful advocacy as part of our curriculum. We have practiced civility in our public policy initiatives through our umbrella organization, the Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce. We have invested in programs to continually educate our alumni so that they have informed opinions on the issues that matter most to our community.
 
Who better to take on the challenge of promoting civil discourse and leadership?
It used to be that you could safely debate anything, as long as you didn’t talk about politics or religion. Now, we seem to have arrived at a point where everything is politicized. As a result, we have seen a shift in recent years, where many people speak primarily to those they already agree with. This reinforces existing opinions and ultimately limits the ability to grow and learn.
 
Unfortunately, this mindset permeates our national politics at a time when we are facing critical decisions for our country’s future. Debate seems to be a formality versus a necessary foundation for uncovering ideas that lead to the best solution.
 
Many seem to have forgotten that at its core, leadership is influence. However, you cannot influence opinions if you don’t take time to listen to understand the other side. Too often, we listen only so we can reply with a more convincing argument. In addition, a good friend often reminds me that “you cannot influence and antagonize at the same time.” Too many have forgotten that ageless wisdom.
 
So where do we start?
The Leadership Collier Foundation believes the path starts with self-reflection and changing our own behavior.
 
Do we truly listen to understand, and do we assume good intentions from others, or do we label others and dismiss their input?
 
Do we share and promote information that is at its core divisive and condescending?
 
Through our example, we can help people disagree without being disagreeable.
 
We understand that our civility work might be a heavy lift. Our society thrives on quick validation and reinforcement of long-held viewpoints. We often fail to separate people from the problem or issue, which can lead to decisions based on personal animosities rather than on the facts that support the best solution. We need to be aware that disagreement and hate are not the same thing.
 
In their article “The Meaning of Civility,” Heidi and Guy Burgess discuss the fact that many differing interests divide our society. They acknowledge that there will be a long series of confrontations over moral and social issues and “often these issues will have an irreducible win-lose character and, hence, not be amenable to consensus resolution. While continuing confrontation is inevitable, the enormous destructiveness which commonly accompanies these confrontations is not.”
 
The growing lack of civility impacts all of us. It leads to increased incidents of violence and limits honest debate that results in the best solutions.
 
It’s time for all of us to make civil discourse a priority. We look forward to continuing this conversation in the months ahead and invite you to contact Amanda Beights, Amanda@napleschamber.org, at the Leadership Collier Foundation to learn more.

About the event: 
In Florida's Capital City, The Village Square has built bridges across color, creed and ideology for a decade and a half. As the national division has accelerated, they're increasingly seen as both a thought leader and practical model in addressing the divisions we're wrestling with in hometowns across the country.

Village Square Founder & CEO Liz Joyner will offer a short-course in their sometimes counter intuitive lessons learned, whether you're wanting to have a conversation with a friend who disagrees with you, launch a bridge-building effort at work or just sleep better at night. A good news tickler: she says it's easier to address that you'd think, and that hometowns are just the place to start.

​Election Day is closer than you think.
 
The Collier County Supervisor of Elections Office will mail the first round of vote-by-mail ballots on Thursday, Sept. 24. Collier elections officials will continue mailings through Oct. 26.
 
Elections officials are preparing for an uptick in the number of vote-by-mail ballots requested, and processed, this election cycle because of concerns surrounding COVID-19. And it’s already a popular option, with more than 2.7 million Floridians – including 56,637 Collier voters and 157,130 Lee voters – voting by mail during the 2016 general election.
 
Florida is one of 29 states and the District of Columbia that offers a “no excuse” vote-by-mail option, which means any registered voter can request a mail-in ballot without providing an excuse.
 
If you haven’t requested your ballot yet, don’t worry. Registered voters in Collier County have until 5 p.m. on Oct. 24 to request a vote-by-mail ballot. Ballots must be completed and returned to the elections office by 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
 
Not registered to vote? Time is running out. The deadline to register to vote in the 2020 general election is Oct. 5.
 
Visit the Collier County Supervisor of Elections to register to vote, update your voter information or request your vote-by-mail ballot.

The Florida Chamber wants to cut childhood poverty in half by 2030. The plan: Address the root causes of poverty at the zip code level.

Michael Williams, the executive director of the Florida Prosperity Initiative, called on Collier County business leaders to join the effort during a virtual Wake Up Naples sponsored by the United Way of Collier and the Keys. Williams told attendees that creating pathways to prosperity for all Floridians will take the “entire business community.”

There are more than 3 million Floridians living in poverty, or nearly 15 percent of the population. Williams said 870,505 children live in poverty, and half of those live in just 150 of the state’s 983 zip codes.

“We have to remember that we’re not talking about situations that grew up organically,” said Williams. “Nobody in this room was probably alive when these polices were made. But through housing policies, urban planning policies, and through all kids of decisions at the governmental level, we have situations where these neighborhoods are created where you see the disparity in the demographics.”

There are 14,089 children living in poverty in Collier County. A zip code by zip code breakdown showed that 4,706 of those children live in the 34142 zip code, which accounts for about 50% of people under the age of 18 living there.

The analysis found 2,637 children in the 34116 zip code, or nearly 29%, live in poverty. By comparison, 255 children, or 20%, in the 34102 zip code live in poverty.

The zip code analysis is important, Williams said, because the research has shown a key indicator for “whether someone was going to go to college or not,” wasn’t SAT scores or where they ranked in their high school, but “the zip code they were born into.”

“The thing that is lost on many people and the thing that is most important … is the complete connectivity of these things. Nobody is in poverty just because they don’t have affordable housing. Nobody is in poverty because they have poor health benefits,” he said. “All these things are interrelated and the relationship that these root causes play against each other can look very different community to community, but all of them have a part to play in causing generational poverty.”

Williams called on businesses to lead the way on addressing the issue by adopting a zip code and working together to create pathways for prosperity in their own communities. 

“What we’re trying to do through the Prosperity Initiative throughout the state of Florida is create a framework for zip code relief,” he said. “It’s going to take all of us. It’s going to take the entire business community stepping up and saying this is something that’s important and something we need to be in support of.”

For more information about the Florida Prosperity Initiative or to become a zip code champion, click here.