Immokalee Today Florida's 21st Century

The U.S. Small Business Administration is coming to Immokalee June 19 for a brown-bag lunch and workshop on ways small businesses can access the many government contracts available for all kinds of work and services. 

The workshop is in partnership with the Immokalee Business Development Center or IMMBIZ and is open to the public and, especially, small business owners. 

It is set for noon to 1:30 p.m at the Southwest Florida Workforce Development Center (the One-Stop Shop), 750 South Fifth Street. Email MarieCapita@Immokalee.biz for more information. 

Computer knowledge and skills are so basic to the modern workplace it is difficult to advance in nearly any workspace without them. 

The Immokalee Library, a division of Collier County Public Library, will offer a series of basic computer skills classes in July. The classes are free but registration is required. Please call 239-252-4534 to register for  the classes. The Immokalee Library is located at 417 North First Street. 

Classes will include: 

• PC Basics on Wednesday, July 10 at 10:00 a.m.
• Microsoft Word Basics on Wednesday, July 10 at 1:00 p.m.
• Internet Basics on Wednesday, July 17 at 10 a.m.
• Microsoft Excel Basics on Wednesday, July 17 at 1:00 p.m.
• Email Basics on Wednesday, July 24 at 10:00 a.m.

Collier County Public Library was awarded a $27,000 grant money to teach computer skills to job-seeking individuals who have little or no experience with electronic resources. This project is funded under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, administered by the Florida Department of State’s Division of Library and Information Services. Named “Collier Connects”, this training project runs from November 2012 through September 2013.  The grant money is being used to fund computer instruction for 49 hands-on computer classes at the East Naples, Estates and Immokalee Branch Libraries.  These classes include PC Basics, Internet Basics, Email Basics, Word and Excel 
Basics and are geared towards beginners. 

Some of the money is being used to purchase a mobile lab of laptop computers for the classes. Additionally, grant money funds workshops on career assessment, resume writing and interview skills.  Workshops will be presented every other month and rotate between the three locations. 

As part of the grant project, the library is partnering with Southwest Florida Works and the Department of Children and Families.  East Naples, Estates and Immokalee Branch Library staff have attended training sessions to better assist people with online applications for employment and social service needs.  The three libraries are having weekly two-hour eGovernment assistance labs.  

“This is a very exciting project for the Collier County library system and has the potential to make a significant difference in people’s lives in our community” said David Chalick, Branch Manager, who was responsible for writing the grant.

Like nearly every community in Florida - large and small - Immokalee is filled with immigrants; people from other nations seeking the promise America offers to all. 

And just as in other communities across the Sunshine State, Immokalee families gathered on Father's Day to talk about immigration and how U.S. polices actually affect families on the ground, in real life. 

Read the Naples Daily News coverage of the testimonials offered by Immokalee residents: 

Leonarda Lopez’s sons — Jahel, 3, and 19-month-old Henry — are spending their first Father’s Day without their daddy.

“Every afternoon (Jahel) looks out the window and asks when his father is going to come home,” she said.

Lopez’s husband, Isaias Ortiz, 33, has been detained at the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach since January. He was arrested for not having a driver’s license as he was driving home after work.

“From that moment, my life has not been easy,” said Lopez, 26, of taking care of her U.S. born sons alone.

She was one of about 30 people who lit candles and released white balloons Sunday afternoon in honor of fathers who have been deported or detained because of their immigration statuses.

The vigil, sponsored by the Florida Immigrant Coalition and the Farmworkers Association of Florida and held at the Redlands Christian Migrant Association in Immokalee, was one of a series of nationwide “Father’s Day is for Families” demonstrations calling for Congress and the Obama administration to keep families together by putting a moratorium on deportations.

Read more, see photos in the Naples Daily News. Read additional coverage, see a video at Fox4News. 

Immokalean Floyd Crews and Immokalee supporter Bill McDaniel have been appointed to the Collier County Housing Authority Board of Directors, which oversees Farm Workers Village in Immokalee among other properties. 

Crews is a long time Immokalee business owner and member of the Immokalee Community Redevelopment Agency's citizens advisory committee as well as occupying a variety of other community and business posts. 

McDaniel is a business owner and resident of Golden Gate. He ran unsuccessfully for the Collier County Commission in 2012. 

Read more about these appointments and others in the Naples Daily News. 

Fletcher Flying Services, the Immokalee Regional Airport's single biggest customer, will continue operations from the airport after Collier County Commissioners awarded it June 11th a 10-year lease. 

Owned by long-time Immokalee aviator Steve Fletcher, the aircraft operation is also the single largest supplier of aerial pesticides to the farms and citrus groves surrounding Immokalee. 

A battle between Fletcher and Immokalee airport management had been brewing for over two years with Fletcher filing a lawsuit against the airport alleging harrassment. County lawmakers presumably put an end to the bickering with the 10-year lease. 

Read coverage in the Naples Daily News. 

Read coverage in the News-Press.

Read coverage from NBC-2 television. 

*Photo from Naples Daily News. 

The Immokalee Community Redevelopment Agency's headquarters will not be moving - at least not any time soon - to the Immokalee Regional Airport. 

Collier County Commissioner Tom Henning suggested the move, as part of an overall cost-cutting measure for the airport, and scheduled the idea for discussion at the June 11 meeting of the lawmaking panel. Just as it came up for discussion, however, he suggested any discussion of the CRA's possible relocation to the Immokalee Airport be postponed until, at least, July. 

"Before we move this idea forward I want to have a discussion with (Immokalee CRA Executive Director) Brad (Muckel) and I want to talk it over with our (CRA) Citizens Advisory Committee," Henning said. "I want to get their input on the idea." 

CRA headquarters will remain, until further notice, at its current location, 1320 North 15th Street (State Road 29 just north of Lake Trafford Road). Both the CRA advisory committee and the Collier County Commission agreed in May to move the CRA offices to the Southwest Florida Workforce Development Center, 750 South 15th Street. That move will be postponed until a decision is reached on a permanent spot. 

The CRA's citizens panel will discuss the move further - possibly with Henning in attendance - when it meets June 19. 

Immokalee High School teacher Steve Becker will put his dedication to students to the test June 22 when he swims 12.5 miles in the open water surrounding Florida’s tropical island when he competes in the annual Florida Keys Community College Swim Around Key West. 

Becker is swimming in support of The Immokalee Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to building pathways to success for the children of Immokalee through programs focused on education, vocation and life skills. Becker’s goal is to raise $5,000 for the organization.

This is Becker’s fourth swim in this strenuous event. 

“Each time I swim in Key West, my times have steadily improved,” he said. “This year I hope to break five hours again.”

A swim race like this demands a strict training schedule and Becker logs a two-mile daily pool swim and a five-mile open-water swim each weekend in the Gulf of Mexico.

Becker’s commitment to The Immokalee Foundation (TIF) is much more than a 12.5 mile swim. His involvement spans several years. He is deeply dedicated to TIF’s career development program that helps students refine academic skills, guides them through a process of career goal setting and increases their knowledge of career opportunities. The program also infuses innovative ideas to attract students who seek alternative choices in their education.

Becker is also a mentor for The Immokalee Foundation’s Take Stock in Children program where he is paired with a student who pledges to earn good grades, exhibit good behavior and meet weekly with their mentor. Students fulfilling the pledge are awarded with a full college scholarship upon high school graduation. The mentor’s role is to motivate the student to reach his or her potential and the assurance of a college education. Becker has committed to meet with his student weekly for about 45 minutes and attends school activities and other events, when necessary.

In August of 2012, The Immokalee Foundation opened the Deanna Franks Learning Center, thus launching its after-school tutoring program including an ACT preparation program for students needing remediation. Two days a week, Becker was able to use the new building’s classrooms to continue working with students throughout the academic year.

“This is the hardest job I’ve ever loved!,” he explained. “While working with the students I see their ongoing improvements. The excitement on their faces when they find out that they were accepted into a university is truly priceless.” 

The Immokalee Foundation has a range of programs that focus on building pathways to success through college and post-secondary training, mentoring and tutoring, and opportunities for broadening experiences, life skills development and economic independence. To learn more about TIF, the Charity Classic Celebration, volunteering as a mentor or for additional information, call 239-430-9122 or visit The Immokalee Foundation's website.

Collier County Commissioner Tom Henning wants to move the Immokalee CRA headquarters and staff to the Immokalee Regional Airport and put the CRA staff to work on aiport customer service. 

Collier County's lawmakers agreed May 28 to allow the Immokalee CRA to move its headquarters from its current location, 1320 North 15th Street (S.R. 29, to the Southwest Florida Workforce Development Center, 750 South 15th Street, a building also widely known as the "One Stop Shop" because it houses a variety of governmental agencies. 

But Commissioner Henning, who represents Golden Gate on the county's lawmaking panel, will ask his fellow lawmakers June 11 to reconsider that move and, instead, have the Immokalee CRA headquarters and staff moved to the Immokalee Regional Airport. Commissioner Henning's suggestion comes as part of a series of recommendations for Collier County Airports, all aimed at saving money and making the airports self-sustaining operations. 

One of his recommendations is to "partner with the Immokalee Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) by moving the CRA offices to the Immokalee Regional Airport’s management office and utilize CRA staff as airport customer service support in lieu of rent to offset staff reductions." 

See UPDATE from June 11. 

The move would not take place until October. Immokalee CRA Interim Director Brad Muckel is set to sign a lease with Southwest Florida Workforce Development. The lease on the CRA's current headquarters, which is owned by the Barron Collier Corporation, expires in July. 

Special from the Naples Daily News: 

The odds weren’t in Jesus Velazco’s favor early in life.

Not when his mother snuck him and his siblings across the border from Mexico without papers, nor the ensuing eight years living undocumented in Immokalee.

Not with two parents who, though hard-working, hadn’t made it to college and fought to make ends meet for their five children, working in the fields and in carpentry.

Not with his two older brothers who stumbled, one with teen parenthood, the other with substance abuse and a rap sheet.

“You would never know what’s he’s been through, with what you see now. As an adult you don’t even juggle that,” said Joe Lee Gallegos, a mentor to the senior through Immokalee High School’s Migrant Resource Center.

Jesus, 18, admits he shelters the personal information. But when a friend is going through a hard time and feels alone, or a scholarship application triggers reflection on his life, he lets the information flow.

“It’s not what you’ve been through, it’s what you become in your future,” he said.

The teen eschewed negative influences and naysayers. He focused on school and sports, and worked part time in food service the last two years to help his parents out financially.

See photos of Jesus' graduation and all the Immokalee High graduates here. 

Read more of Jesus' story in the Naples Daily News. 

Special from the Naples Daily News: 

Immokalee-based Lipman, North America’s largest open field tomato grower, recently awarded $48,000 in scholarships to current and former Immokalee High School students. Fourteen IHS seniors received scholarships totaling $18,000.

The company also provided more than $30,000 in scholarship renewals to college students who previously received educational funding though Lipman, known previously for decades as 6Ls Farms. 

Scholarship winners were chosen based on essays that detailed their educational goals and demonstrated financial need.

“The IHS scholarship recipients have experienced extreme financial hardship, and without scholarships or other funding, higher education is often out the question,” said Jaime Weisinger, director of community and government relations for Lipman.

In addition to scholarships, Lipman offers a textbook reimbursement program to all Immokalee High School students who continue their education after high school. The fund reimburses textbook costs up to $100 per semester.

Since 2003, Lipman has provided $450,000 in scholarships to Immokalee High School students. Located in Collier County, Fla., the school has a student population of 1,386. According to the Collier County School Board, nearly 94 percent of those students are listed as “economically needy.”

“At Lipman, we’re dedicated to serving the local community – and investing in education and youth organizations is one of our primary focuses,” added Weisinger. “We’re very proud of these students and their accomplishments, and we hope that these scholarships will help fund their future successes.”