Florida
State Government
Governor
Ron DeSantis (R)
State Senate
12
Democrats,
28
Republicans
State House
36
Democrats,
84
Republicans
Economic well-being - Florida
Extreme poverty rate
0.1
Food insecurity
0.1
Minimum wage
13.0
Percent of working families under 200% of the poverty line
0.3
Poverty rate
12.0%
Unemployment rate
3.8
Number of Black or African American children living in families where no parent has full-time, year-round employment
Number of Hispanic or Latino children living in families where no parent has full-time, year-round employment
Percent of individuals who are uninsured
10.9
Poverty by demographic - Florida
Child poverty rate
0.2
Number of Asian and Pacific Islander children below 200% poverty
31000
Number of Black or African American children below 200% poverty
445000
Number of Hispanic or Latino children below 200% poverty
628000
Senior poverty rate
12.1 %
Women in poverty
11,688,390
Sarasota Herald-Tribune, June 1, 2015: Visible Men Academy focuses on low-income boys
"A charter school that teaches boys from lower-income neighborhoods from Palmetto to Newtown not just academics but core values is anxious to expand and reach four times as many students."
Tampa Bay Times, December 12, 2014: (Editorial) Increase aid for low-income students
"A long-running complaint that requirements for Florida's Bright Futures scholarships discriminated against minority high school graduates was closed by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights last week, which says it found "no evidence of intentional discrimination." What it did find "statistically significant disparities, by race, even among otherwise qualified applicants" should still get lawmakers' attention in a state with a rapidly expanding Hispanic population and where African-American students have been less likely in recent years to enroll in state universities."
The Florida Times-Union, December 3, 2014: Year Up partners with FSCJ to get low-income students into the corporate workplace
"When college students come from a lower-income background, the deck is often stacked against them in graduating to the corporate world. Many simply don't understand the culture, let alone what to wear in job interviews or in the workplace. A nonprofit program is teaming up with Florida State College at Jacksonville to help create a pipeline for some of those students to corporate America. Year Up, based in Boston and operating in about a dozen cities, will begin the program Jan. 8 with an office at FSCJ's downtown campus. But efforts are well underway to recruit more businesses to participate in the program."
USA Today, November 30, 2014: Virtual library helps low-income schools teach reading
"Thanks to a digital library program being rolled out in local schools, similar electronic books will soon be a click away for tens of thousands of students. Within the next few weeks, the program will be available at about 30 low-income elementary schools and four specialty programs in Brevard."
The Orlando Sentinel, July 06, 2014: Districts differ on offering free meals to all at low-income schools
"Many impoverished Central Florida kids eat their most nutritious school meals at no charge, but qualifying for the free and reduced-price meals can sometimes be a headache for families and schools."
The Orlando Sentinel, June 03, 2013: Osceola puts summer books in all its young students' hands
"The hope is that with books of their own to take home, Osceola students more than 70 percent of whom live in low-income families will have no barriers to reading once school is out."