We have a lot to be grateful for in Sarasota.  Our community is blessed with beauty all around us—sandy shores, the sea, beautiful landscapes, fine weather. The economic challenges of 2008 have eased for many, but we still face challenges. Coming together to find effective ways to assist our homeless citizens is an ongoing concern, and more than half the children in Sarasota County are eligible for free or reduced school lunches. During the holiday season, here’s one thing we can all do our part to improve our local economy and our neighbor’s paycheck: shop local.

Patronizing local merchants brings big benefits to a community. According to research from greenupgrader.com and LocalFirst.com, when you spend $100 at local business, $73  stays in the local economy and $27 leaves the community. When you spend the same $100 at a chain store, only $43 stays in the local community and $57 leaves.  Why such a big difference? Local merchants are far more likely to source their products and services locally.  For instance, a local shopkeeper will hire an account who is here—not so with Walmart.  Local businesses put more money back into community non-profits “Studies show that nonprofits receive 250 percent more support from small businesses than large ones,” explains Sue Lynn Sasser, professor of economics at the University of Central Oklahoma.  

Unique local businesses create a sense of place and character, which enliven a community for residents as well as tourists. While big box stores and chains have their pluses, no one raves about a city because they have a great Target or KFC. We celebrate the local teahouse or cafe with the amazing pastry (think Cafe du Monde beignets in New Orleans) and the chic vintage shop or boutique where we’ll find shoes that no one else will be wearing. Most new jobs are created by local businesses, and service is better where everyone knows your name. Cheap prices at big box stores are often subsidized by tax incentives, and low-wage chain store workers may receive public benefits just to make ends meet.  When you look at the total picture, that bargain at the big box store may cost you the taxpayer more than you realize.  While shopping local doesn’t mean you have to spend more money, it does ensure that the money you do spend will recirculate in our community more, improving our quality of life and economy.  

We needn’t boycott national chains entirely. As Michael Schulman, author of Going Local puts it: "Going local does not mean walling off the outside world. It means nurturing locally owned businesses which use local resources sustainably, employ local workers at decent wages and serve primarily local consumers. It means becoming more self-sufficient and less dependent on imports. Control moves from the boardrooms of distant corporations and back into the community where it belongs." 

So let’s spend a chunk of those holiday dollars at local stores. Our community will be better for it.

Cathy Antunes serves on the boards of the Sarasota County Council of Neighborhood Associations and Sarasota Citizens for Responsible Government. 

On Saturday, November 21, a monumental event happened to position the Sarasota area as the film and new media mecca of the Southeast. This development is part of a comprehensive strategy to diversify the economy of the City of Sarasota and Newtown, Sarasota County and the greater region. What was that event? It was the groundbreaking symbolizing the beginning of construction of a professional/academic soundstage and post-production facility at Ringling College of Art and Design.

Let me start from the beginning. In 2007, right before the start of the Great Recession, Ringling College launched a Digital Filmmaking academic program. To differentiate this program from the other film schools nationally, the College decided to partner with David Shapiro from New York, owner of Semkhor. The idea was to bring professional filmmakers and talent to Ringling College and expose these professionals to Ringling’s exceptional talent, plus the wonderful Sarasota community. Over the past eight years, the College and Semkhor brought some 35 filmmaking professionals—including Forest Whitaker, Werner Herzog, Andy Garcia, Anna Paquin, Paul Schiff, Dylan McDermott, Andie MacDowell, etc.—to Ringling. Many taught master classes. Many fell in love with Sarasota and the College. Many wanted to find ways to engage with the College’s students and bring their media work to Sarasota.

With that goal in mind, a wide-ranging and diverse collaborative effort involving public and private entities, including Sarasota County and its Commissioners, the City of Sarasota and its Commissioners, the Economic Development Corporation and its Film Commission, the Newtown community, State Sen. Nancy Detert, David Shapiro and a group of private developers (BHS LLC), and many others, engaged with Ringling to help develop Sarasota into a film/new media center. The major obstacle to bringing film/media work to Sarasota was a lack of a sufficient physical infrastructure. There was not an adequate facility to do their work. Given Saturday’s event, that is about to change.

The new film complex is to be located on Martin Luther King, Jr. Way between Cocoanut and Central Avenues and MLK and 25^th Street.  It will be about 25,000 square feet with five soundstages (two large ones, one to be solely for academic purposes and three smaller ones) and a 5,000-square-foot state-of-the-art post production studio (where films are edited, mixed, dubbed and made final). Working directly with Ringling students, professionals will produce their commercial films or new media projects while teaching Ringling students “real world” skills. This complex will also be the hub for new media production, such as web series and episodic programming for distribution channels like Amazon, Netflix and other video streaming entities. So get ready, Sarasota, film and new media production is coming in a BIG way—and soon. The facility is expected to open about a year from now.

Why is this important? First, film/new media is a multi-billion dollar industry and this community is poised to get a share of those dollars. Second, Sarasota County and City plus the Economic Development Corporation’s strategic plans call for diversifying the economy of Sarasota. This project does that. Third, the unique academic benefits of students working hand-in-hand with professionals at Ringling College may well propel our film program’s Hollywood Reporter ranking from 17th in the country to the top 10 or top 5. Fourth, the soundstage/post production facility will bring people to work in Newtown (North Sarasota) and that will create opportunities for businesses in Newtown to be formed to serve those individuals. Fifth, there will soon be a vibrant film/new media facility that will become the new western entrance to Newtown. The list goes on and on.

None of this would have been possible without the initial help of Sarasota County Commissioners—the first visionaries to visualize this and granting $1.75 million to the College to create the post-production complex—and of Sarasota City and especially Mayor Shaw, who foresaw what it could mean to North Sarasota.  

Lights, Camera, Action. Sarasota—get ready to be in the spotlight and at the forefront of where media is going in the future.

Larry Thompson is president of Ringling College of Art and Design. 

As a person of faith and a leader in the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice at the national level, I am writing in support of Planned Parenthood.  I do so because RCRC and its members share a faith-centered commitment to the most marginalized and vulnerable of our society, and because the elimination of any of clinic services provided by the Planned Parenthood affiliates in Florida will fall hardest on those of low-income who are more likely to be young and people of color. Unlike other federally funded health centers in Florida, many of which are located in elementary or middle schools, Planned Parenthood is alone in being able to provide qualified health care services to prevent unintended pregnancies, to support prevention and treatment for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections and to provide cancer detecting breast screenings and pap smears and well-women examinations.

Planned Parenthood also provides safe, skilled and legal access to abortion care—an important part of reproductive health care—in many of its clinics. Defunding clinics that provide all of these reproductive health care services shows a disturbing disregard for women’s health and safety. RCRC recognizes that every faith tradition has a unique understanding of when life begins but this is a matter of faith, not science. The organization I represent also fully understands the moral complexity surrounding issues of reproductive health. However, RCRC’s commitment to religious freedom calls us—because of our faith, rather than in spite of it—to firmly believe that in a just and righteous society women and families should be fully empowered with the tools needed to decide for themselves whether, when and under what circumstances to have children, as well as to have the resources to raise those children in healthy environments. As a member of the board of RCRC, an organization formed in 1973 by faith leaders who believed that decisions about reproductive health care and parenthood are among the most sacred we can make, I share in the believe that each woman, in accordance with her conscience or faith beliefs, should be allowed to make her own decisions on these matters rather than trying to impose one belief on all.  

Kate Lannaman, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, responding to the letter "No Need to Back Planned Parenthood" in the Nov. 14 edition of SRQ Daily.

The Education Foundation of Sarasota County in collaboration with the Florida Occupational Therapy Association (FOTA) hosted Miracle at Suncoast last Thursday at Suncoast Porsche, Audi & VW to raise funds to provide a valuable and much needed sensory aid for students with special needs in Sarasota County schools. The event was a huge success with over 150 people in attendance at Suncoast Motorsports. Guests enjoyed an open bar from Clasico Café & Bar, classical music from Booker VPA’s guitar ensemble, along with a seamless fashion show coordinated by Luxe Fashion Group. The goal of Miracle at Suncoast was to raise funds to help all 6200 special needs children in the Sarasota County School system. The total amount raised will be released November 30. To learn more visit the organization's Facebook page by clicking the link below.  

Miracle At Suncoast

 Goodwill Manasota’s director of the Veterans Services Program, C.J. Bannister, was named the John H. McLain 2015 Woman Veteran of the Year by the Sarasota County Veterans Commission. Bannister, who is a veteran of the Unites States Air Force, was hired in September of 2014 by Goodwill to lead its efforts on behalf of area veterans. Since beginning her tenure at Goodwill, Bannister has overseen the organization's efforts to provide services to returning veterans, who face heightened risks of unemployment, personal problems and homelessness. The Veterans Services Program helps eliminate barriers to employment and provides opportunities for higher-paying positions for veterans and their families, as well as connects veterans with crucial social services and support to help them re-integrate into their families, communities and jobs. 

Goodwill Manasota

Michal's On East

Recently, Forty Carrots Family Center embarked on a new partnership with The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art.  One Saturday a month, families attending Forty Carrots’ weekly Partners In Play classes will be invited to The Ringling for a free morning of art-themed play and exploration.  In addition, through the pilot project, a Ringling art educator will visit Forty Carrots’ weekly Partners In Play classes held at the Palmetto Library in Manatee County and Jacaranda Library in Sarasota County to lead children and their families through an age-appropriate art experience.  

Forty Carrots Family Center

Child Protection Center