As 2010 has come to a close and we gathered with loved ones, family and friends to ring in the New Year, let us reflect on The Lehigh Acres Community Initiative’s amazing accomplishments in 2010. We are truly grateful for the support of our members, residents and extended networking associates, and their sincere dedication for change in this community.

We look forward to the opportunity to celebrate and support outstanding community-wide efforts to improve the well-being of our community and to make it a safer place to live and work. We will continue to remain united to improve Lehigh Acres in 2011.

Our Youth Subcommittee took a slower pace in 2010 but made some great accomplishments.

Just last month Lehigh Acres became one of the communities that will partner with the Fort

Myers Youth Coalition on a Ready by 21 Quality Improvement & Asset Building Challenge. With this partnership Veteran’s Park Recreation Center will work to inventory, assess and improve after school programs. Be on the lookout for the After school Services Assessment Report with local youth participant data in early March 2011.

The Sheriff’s Youth Activities League, in partnership with the Initiative, Lee County Parks and Recreation and the Missionary Church of God, provided Teen nights once a month for youth between the ages of 12-17 to help bridge the gap between local youth and law enforcement. Youth attended these events free of charge with food, music and fun. Approximately 1,175 youth were in attendance throughout 2010 with hopes of an even greater outreach success in 2011.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Bravo District opened a new community room available to the Initiative’s working groups as well as other community organizations that need meeting space. This in returned kicked off a food drive to benefit Lehigh Community Services. If you need a meeting place, contact Andrea Adams at 477-1485 to schedule a date. All that is requested is

if you use the room you donate a canned goods in hopes of keeping the Lehigh Community Services pantry full so residents in need will not go hungry.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office Bravo District, led by Capt. Ed Tamayo and assisted by Lt. Loethen, have made great strides in reducing crime.

Residential burglaries in the Initiative site fell from 699 in 2008 to 462 as of November 2010. Drug-related arrests dropped from 190 in 2008 to 156 as of November 2010. Bravo District’s dedication is impeccable.

The Community Policing/ Community Watch Coordinators Subcommittee Group joined

together to provide support and sustainment for existing and newly created Neighborhood Watch

groups. The CWC group held many successful events, such as the inaugural CWC/Neighborhood

Watch Chili Cook Off and block party, Celebrate Safe Communities potluck dinner and a march

down Homestead Road to re-energize group participation.

They promoted crime prevention and had “Coffee with Ray,” a program created by

Deputy Dimm and Lee County Sheriff’s Office that allows residents to schedule time to with a

certified deputy to discuss community concerns.

The Prevention Intervention and Treatment Subcommittee group/TEAM Rescue met throughout

the year to assess existing and new community services. This past fall marked another successful back-to-school drive at Lehigh Community Services.

Many local children were able to start the school year well prepared. Lehigh Community Services has helped more than 12,000 residents obtain services, such as but not limited to, rental and utility assistance, food stamp applications, food, clothes and the purchase of furniture and appliances.

Lehigh Community Services received a $400,000 grant to purchase a new multipurpose

facility. This will allow additional services to be available to families in need. The official move to the new facility on Plaza Drive, is located behind the Lehigh Acres Senior Center, was in January.

In December they organized a successful Holiday Toy Drive. Many organizations such as Theresa Goodlad State Farm Insurance, Lee County Sheriff’s Office Bravo District, Westminster Country Club and many others participated as collections sites.

A huge thank you goes out to all the residents who participated in making this a successful event.

We worked hand in hand with Keep Lehigh Acres Beautiful, local businesses and residents to clean up Lehigh Acres’ neighborhoods. We completed 10 beautification projects in the Southwest Lehigh Acres, in which 21.34 tons of litter and debris were removed. This success is attributed to the 776 volunteers and 14 different partnering agencies that participated.

The Neighborhood Restoration group also was an integral piece to area code enforcement. This group along with Lee County Code Enforcement identified 2,825 violations within the Initiatives boundaries (11.72 square miles).

Code Enforcement closed out 1,469 of those cases as of November 2010. This partnership has proved to be very effective for both groups. We look forward to more of an educational component with future code enforcement.

Adams is the community coordinator for The Lehigh Acres Community Initiative.- Ed.