DeSantis said Hope Florida experts are in every sheriff's office. Are they?
Gov. Ron DeSantis and first lady Casey DeSantis led a news conference in Tallahassee on April 1 to announce that trained Hope Florida liaisons were in every sheriff's office.
The DeSantises, flanked by uniformed sheriffs and deputies in the state Capitol, touted the liaisons as dedicated conduits between the program and law enforcement. The governor said each one 'serves as a trained expert in Hope Florida' who can educate others 'on the philosophy and functions' of the first lady's signature initiative.
'To have cooperation from all 67 counties across the state of Florida is really special,' Casey DeSantis told reporters.
But thirteen sheriff's offices — including some of Florida's largest agencies — told the Tampa Bay Times that they have no such experts. When asked about their work with Hope Florida, the agencies said they'd had little interaction beyond providing a contact name after they were asked to do so by the Florida Sheriff's Association.
'We're not actively engaged in anything with Hope Florida,' Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said when asked last week.
The discrepancies come as lawmakers have recently begun to question the scope and effectiveness of the program's work.
The Hope Florida initiative, announced by the first lady in 2021, aims to get people in need off government services and connected with community resources like charities and religious groups.
DeSantis Deputy Press Secretary Molly Best said that liaisons 'have been identified' in each sheriff's agency and training 'is well underway.'
At least three sheriff's offices that responded to the Times' inquiry — in Brevard, Volusia and Pasco — say they have staff trained on understanding Hope Florida and how to work with the program.
Best referred questions to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. A spokesperson there said video trainings are being produced and materials are being shared with police agencies and sheriff's offices.
'We are working our way through each of Florida's sheriff's agencies,' spokesperson Gatlin Nennstiel told the Times in an email nearly a month after the DeSantises' announcement, adding that trainings are being held the first Friday of each month. He didn't say when the monthly sessions started.
Several sheriff's agencies said they weren't aware of any ongoing trainings and hadn't received materials. Two said the Florida Sheriff's Association contacted them this week about joining a training on Friday morning, days after a Times reporter sent questions to law enforcement around the state.
A spokesperson for the Orange County Sheriff's Office said in a statement this week that the agency could not find anyone internally with information about the program and has 'no indication that anyone has reached out to us yet about this.'
The Hope Florida program has come under scrutiny in recent months after Gov. DeSantis pushed to have an Office of Hope Florida enshrined within the governor's office. Lawmakers began asking questions about the program, particularly related to $10 million that the state steered to a separate charity created to support Hope Florida.
Times/Herald reporters revealed the $10 million was part of a settlement with a state Medicaid contractor. The Hope Florida Foundation gave the money to two nonprofit groups. Those groups then gave $8.5 million to a political committee overseen by DeSantis' then-chief of staff, James Uthmeier.
As lawmakers mulled the program, the Florida Sheriff's Association on March 19 organized a virtual meeting for sheriff's offices to hear about Hope Florida, records show.
Several sheriff agencies said the meeting, which included representatives from the governor's office, wasn't a training. Nennstiel disagreed, saying that it was a training led by the Florida Department of Children and Families.
During the meeting, each sheriff's office was asked to provide a future point of contact for the initiative. Records obtained by the Times show that the association shared a list of those Hope Florida contacts with sheriffs' agencies on March 27, writing that the program would 'send communications or call from time to time.'
Five days later, the DeSantises announced that there were trained liaisons in every sheriff's office.
At the news conference, the governor pointed out that Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Prummell, president of the Florida Sheriff's Association, was there in support. But more than three weeks later, a spokesperson for the Charlotte County Sheriff said the agency had a liaison appointed in March but hasn't been contacted. The spokesperson added that the agency is 'anxiously awaiting further direction from Hope as it sounds like a great program.'
Captain Chris Simms at the Alachua County Sheriff's Office said in an email to the Times that he has not received any training or gotten other information since he was made a point of contact.
Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Teri Barbera, when reached by phone April 25, initially said she wasn't aware of Hope Florida or what it does. After speaking with the office's point of contact, Barbera said the agency 'has not heard from anybody at Hope Florida yet.'
A spokesperson for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office on April 25 said the initiative 'is still in the early phases of development.'
Nennstiel referred the Times to sheriff's offices in Indian River, Brevard, Volusia, St. Lucie and Levy counties.
A Volusia County sheriff spokesperson said the agency has been working with Hope Florida since 2023 to help connect 74 families to food, clothing, toiletries, gas cards, bus passes, baby supplies, temporary housing, substance use services and more. The agency said Hope Florida has the records of the referrals.
A Brevard County Sheriff's spokesperson said in an email that the agency has a Hope Florida liaison who 'is performing those roles described in the Governor's Press Release.' The spokesperson did not answer follow-up questions about training.
The Levy County Sheriff's Office did not respond.
The Pasco County Sheriff's Office also said it's been working with Hope Florida through the Department of Children and Families since 2023 to refer people to community services. The agency said the Department of Children and Families — which has spearheaded Hope Florida — would have records of the referrals.
Two sheriff's agencies that Nennstiel referred the Times to — Indian River and St. Lucie — said last month that there were liaisons at their offices. But they weren't aware of any official training. And they said they wouldn't consider them experts.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Boston Globe
28 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
A different kind of Trump Derangement Syndrome
Advertisement On April 30, Carol was arrested in St. Louis during what she thought was a routine immigration appointment. The tourist visa that allowed her to travel to this country has long since expired. Now, she could be deported. Vanessa Cowart, a Trump voter who attends the same church as Carol, told the Times that 'no one voted to deport moms. We were all under the impression we were just getting rid of the gangs, the people who came here in droves.' 'No one voted to deport moms' is the lie now-regretful Trump voters tell themselves to anesthetize their complicity. In other words, they voted for Trump to throw out the bad people, not good people, like Carol. They, and others in a similar predicament, failed to recognize, willfully or not, that this president makes no such distinctions between good and bad — or documented and undocumented — when it comes to immigrants. Advertisement Under Trump, thousands of 'good' people, whose only violation is their immigration status, have been ripped from their families and communities and detained. A recent These are the same people who Trump and others called 'savages,' 'monsters,' and 'the worst of the worst.' It's a lie, but one that many of the president's most ardent supporters have chosen to believe — until an immigrant they knew and loved was snatched by the government and jailed. In the Times story, Adam Squires, a former mayoral candidate in the town where Carol lived, endorsed Trump's mass deportations and called out his neighbors for being upset when cruel presidential policies disturb their peace. 'They vote for Trump, and then they get mad because the stuff starts happening,' he said. 'We've got to get rid of all the illegals. This is just a start.' During Trump's first term, Republicans often used the term ' But that syndrome applies even more aptly to his supporters. In the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump made mass deportations a cornerstone of his platform. He often spoke of immigrants ' Advertisement Never forget that much of Trump's evergreen appeal to his base is as a savior of white supremacy and as an avenger of white grievance. Trump supporters knew what was coming and voted for all of it. But only when a woman they embraced as one of their own was taken away from her three children, her partner, and her community did the president's followers in one small town see the horrors of his sweeping immigration policies. Their town is not the first to receive such a rude awakening nor will it be the last. And it will get worse, and fast. Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security secretary, and Stephen Miller, resident White House ghoul and Trump's deputy chief of staff, have set a quota of at least Celena Horton, one of Carol's heartbroken friends, told the Times, 'I can't believe they're doing this to her.' While I don't deny the validity of her emotions, Horton also said she otherwise loved everything else the president has done. Perhaps, as they organize fundraisers for their friend and sport 'Bring Carol Home' T-shirts, Horton and her neighbors should reckon with the fact that they, too, did this to Carol. Advertisement This is an excerpt from , a Globe Opinion newsletter from columnist Renée Graham. .
CBS News
2 hours ago
- CBS News
Judge largely denies request to block requests on law that restricts Florida's citizen-driven ballot amendments process
A federal judge has largely denied requests by grassroots campaigners to block portions of a new Florida law that restricts the state's citizen-driven process for getting constitutional amendments on the ballot. Organizers of separate campaigns to expand Medicaid and legalize recreational marijuana had urged U.S. District Mark Walker to block implementation of parts of the law, arguing that the new requirements violate their First Amendment rights. But in an order issued Wednesday, Walker granted a narrow injunction, barring state officials from enforcing one section of the law criminalizing ballot petition fraud against one campaign staffer. The order means that at least for now, the campaigns will largely have to operate under the new restrictions as they try to gather enough signatures to qualify for the 2026 ballot. Legislatures in dozens of states have advanced bills recently to crack down on the public's ability to put measures up for a vote, according to the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center. Voting rights advocates say the trend betrays the promise of direct democracy. Under Florida's new law, an individual could be charged with a felony if they collect more than 25 signed ballot petitions, other than their own or those of immediate family members, and don't register with the state as a petition circulator. The law signed last month by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis also gives campaigns just 10 days instead of the previous 30 to return signed petition forms to local elections officials. Petitioners could also face stiff fines if they don't return the petitions on time, or send them to the wrong county. Lawmakers argue that the new restrictions are needed to reform a process they claim has been tainted by fraud. The Republican-controlled Legislature pushed the changes months after a majority of Florida voters supported ballot initiatives to protect abortion rights and legalize recreational marijuana, though the measures fell short of the 60% needed to pass. Attorneys for the campaigns Florida Decides Healthcare and Smart & Safe Florida have argued the new law makes gathering enough petitions from voters prohibitively expensive and effectively impossible. In his order, Walker wrote that the new provisions have caused "an immediate reduction in protected speech" by constraining the campaigns' ability to collect petitions — and volunteers' willingness to help. But Walker said the campaigners didn't prove that their free speech rights had been "severely burdened." "Instead, the record shows that these provisions simply make the process of getting their proposed initiatives on the ballot more expensive and less efficient for Plaintiffs," Walker wrote. But there are still free speech concerns to address as the lawsuit moves forward, Walker noted: "this Court is not suggesting that Plaintiffs are not likely to succeed on their First Amendment challenges to the new deadline and associated fines." In a statement, Mitch Emerson, the executive director for Florida Decides Healthcare, said he remains optimistic for the legal challenge ahead. "While the Court did not grant every part of our motion for preliminary relief, this is far from the final word," Emerson said. A spokesperson for Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Axios
2 hours ago
- Axios
Hillsborough schools superintendent faces criticism over broad library book removals
The leader of Hillsborough County's school district is set to face state regulators on Wednesday, but he's also facing tough questions at home, including from the school board. Why it matters: Superintendent Van Ayres, with the district under state scrutiny over library books some argue are age-inappropriate, recently opted to remove 600 titles from circulation, per the Tampa Bay Times. The titles comprise all books that have been placed on a removal list by any Florida county in the last two years, the Times reports. Catch up quick: Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. in May sent the Hillsborough district a letter accusing it of offering "pornographic and inappropriate" books in its libraries. The district faced similar accusations from Attorney General James Uthmeier, who in a letter demanded the materials be removed and threatened legal action. Zoom in: The books identified by Diaz were "Call Me by Your Name" and "Jack of Hearts (And Other Parts)," both of which are celebrated novels about LGBTQ+ characters. The books have also been criticized by conservative groups and some parents for sexual content they argue is inappropriate for minors. The big picture: Book bans have sparked culture-war controversy nationwide, especially as critics note that stories about people of color and LGBTQ+ characters are frequent targets. Friction point: School board members at a meeting this week said they were blindsided by Ayres' removal of such a large number of library books, per the Times. "You did not engage with parents. You did not engage with our PTA. You did not engage with the union," Member Nadia Combs said. "You did not engage with your supervisors or your lead librarians, and I was not informed at all." Members were also critical of the cost of reviewing the removed books, which Ayres estimated at $345,000. The other side: "I needed to ensure that we don't have inappropriate materials in libraries, and that's my ultimate responsibility," Ayres told the board.
