Blog Northwest Florida

What a FABULOUS weekend in Pensacola - Northwest Florida. The sun was out, the tourists were out, I was out! It doesn't get much better than this. According to our Chamber of Commerce we should be in for a record tourism season.

Chaser was abandoned at the dog park. The ladies at the Garden Gate in Gulf Breeze took him in and now he lives  in a paradise of petunas and puppy pats.                                                                                                                                                               

                                            The view out across the Bay

The Perdido Key Kid's Park was a busy place.

Emerald Dolphin Balcony View - Pensacola Beach

Just like Oprah, women in the Greater Pensacola Bay Area (Florida) have found a way to GIVE BIG. How do you turn $1,000 into $563,000 in just four years? Read on . . .

In 2004, a group of concerned women came together with the goal of each contributing $1,000 and recruiting a total of 100 women willing to donate $1,000 a year in order to make a difference. Pensacola's IMPACT 100 was born, one of several IMPACT organizations around the country. Pensacola's group exceeded their first year goal, recruiting 233 women and putting $233,000 into the hands of local non-profit organizations.

Fast forward to 2008, and you will find this dynamic group of ladies going strong. Their ranks have grown to an incredible 563, meaning local non-profits will receive an infusion of $563,000 in funds this year!

IMPACT is a women-only, all volunteer group focusing its efforts on five community service sectors: arts and culture, education, environment, recreation and preservation, family, and health and wellness. Contributions this year will fund five grants of $112,600 each. In addition to giving women who care about their community an avenue to make a difference, the organization provides IMPACT members a broad education on local non-profits and their needs which has led to greater philanthropy overall.

One of the first projects funded by IMPACT 100 was remodeling and furnishing a clinic building and stocking medical supplies and medications for the Good Samaritan Clinic. The Clinic provides free quality health care and free medications to working, medically uninsured residents.  As a result of the 2004 grant, doctors and nurses donated over 1900 hours in 2005, lay volunteers provided over 4200 hours, more than 1500 patients were treated (over 70% women) and 75 patients were referred to and accepted by local health professionals for care that was not available at the clinic.

To bring help of this type to a community provides benefits that are hard for those of us with insurance and access to good health care to imagine, and there can be no price placed on witnessing the good works first hand and knowing you played a part. One young man who came to the clinic with problems with his eyesight was diagnosed with a pituitary tumor for which he was referred for surgery. Without access to the clinic he may not have sought help until it was too late to save his vision.

Bravo to the women of Pensacola's IMPACT 100. Just one example of the many reasons we love to call Pensacola home!

Alright, alright, I'm tired of hearing that Florida has a big X across it as far as investors are concerned. Even though our second home buyers have become more scarce and our home prices have slipped from their '05/'06 highs, Northwest Florida has some pretty exciting things going on. Small and high-tech businesses take note!

Pensacola is sandwiched between Mobile, AL, to our west and Eglin, AFB, to our east (Fort Walton Beach, FL, Crestview, FL). In between are miles of pristine white sand beaches, comparatively affordable housing and LOTS of opportunity for growing businesses. Let me explain.

Mobile, AL, a short 50 minute drive from Pensacola, has just been announced as home to the joint venture between Northop Grumman and European Air Defense to build 179 air tankers at an estimated cost of $30 to $40 billion over the next 10 to 15 years. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,000 jobs will be created. This announcement came on the heels of German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp decision to build a plant in the area which will employ approximately 2,700.

Eglin Air Force Base and Hurlburt Air Force Base are just to the east of Pensacola. A 2005 study by the University of West Florida's Haas Center for Business Research and Economic Development estimated that the military spending for the previous year from the two bases amounted to $2.2 billion for a total economic impact to the region of $6.6 billion.

In part because of military spending, the area has seen the development of a growing cluster of high tech businesses (App River, Epoch Software Systems, AeroVironmental, SimWright, Separation Systems and more). The Pensacola Chamber of Commerce is spearheading an economic development effort, dubbed  iTen Wired, to promote synergy between the burgeoning high tech industry that is growing on Interstate 10 between Mobile, AL, and Crestview, FL. 

In addition to iTen Wired, here are a few of the initiatives being undertaken in Pensacola: 

iTen Wired just held a well attended networking summit for high tech businesses in Mobile.

The City of Pensacola will be building a small business incubator in downtown Pensacola.

The University of West Florida's Institute for Human and Machine Cognition plans an expanded campus including offices, classrooms, labs and even a residential component in downtown Pensacola. The Institute, along with the recently opened Andrews Orthopedic Institute, have found a niche focusing on improving human performance and technology transfer.  

A Maritime Park, including a multi-use stadium, a museum, laboratory (Univ. of West FL), retail space and open park space is scheduled to break ground this summer on the Pensacola waterfront. An estimated 1500 jobs will result from this major downtown project.

Want to know more? I'll be happy to share!