I work at Our Village Okeechobee because I believe in this community. I believe in our children, our families, and the people who need someone to stand beside them when life becomes difficult.  Every day, people come through our doors looking for help. Sometimes they need food. Sometimes they need assistance navigating health- care resources. Sometimes they need someone to listen to during a crisis. Sometimes their children need peer support, a referral, or simply a place to start. 

These services exist because our community has made investments in them.

This is why Florida's Amendment 3 concerns me. 

Amendment 3 will make significant changes to Florida's property tax system. According to analysis from the Florida's Policy Institute, those changes could reduce funding available to Children's Services Councils across Florida, including the Children's Services Council of Okeechobee County.

For Okeechobee, that matters, because when local funding is reduced, the consequences don't stay on a spreadsheet. They reach the people.

What does that mean for Our Village? 

At Our Village, we don't deal with abstract numbers. We deal with people. Our work includes peer support, connections to health care and community resources, crisis assistance, food assistance, and programs designed to help families before their problems become emergencies. When funding becomes more limited, those services become harder to sustain.  For our organization, that could mean difficult decisions about continuing food assistance, peer support, crisis support, health care navigation, and referrals. It could also mean fewer opportunities for young people and families who rely on prevention programs.

Those aren't just budget decisions. They affect people, right here in Okeechobee County, who are already struggling to make ends meet, find care, or get through a difficult period in their lives.

The Children's Service Council of Okeechobee County was created by the legislature to provide resources for children and families. Its priorities include children's health and well-being, substance use prevention, abuse and neglect prevention, bullying prevention, crisis intervention, and educational enrichment. Our Village has been part of that local network, with Children's Services Council funding support programs including peer support and youth programing. Those resources become real services delivered here in Okeechobee. If that funding is reduced, organizations must make difficult choices about what they can continue, reduce, or potentially stop.

Our Village focuses heavily on prevention because waiting until someone reaches a crisis is often too late.  Prevention can be a meal, a conversation, help funding health care resources, a peer-support specialist sitting with someone who needs help or a safe place for a young person to spend an afternoon. Together, these services create a safety net for our community. When pieces of that safety net disappear, families feel the difference.

No one can say today exactly which services would be reduced if Amendment 3 passes. The ultimate impact would depend on actual revenue change, future budgets, and funding decisions. However, nonprofits cannot simply create money to replace lost public funding. We can apply for grants, seek donations, and hold fundraisers; but ultimately, we would end up having to stop services, terminate jobs, and eventually close doors, creating a gap in assistance for all of Okeechobee County residents. We fully support a vote of NO on Amendment 3. It's not good for Florida, and most definitely not good for over 17,000 Okeechobee residents who have used Our Village in the past year.