Project Hometown Citizens Committee (PHCC)
Situation – PHCC was formed to advocate for, and educate various entities and the general public on, the 2006 one-penny increase of the tourist development tax for Orange County, Florida - specifically, issues relating to the increase including the promotion of tourism; the development, design, location and financing of a new performing arts center, a new sports and entertainment arena, and renovations to the Citrus Bowl.
Challenges – This effort involved intricate negotiations between the City of Orlando and Orange County to fund the $1.1 billion project with several votes before each Board over a prolonged period. The challenge was to encourage and promote the benefits of these Community Venues to the City Council and the County Commission, including economic development, job creation, educational, arts and entertainment opportunities, and a revitalized downtown area.
Strategies – To achieve its goals PHCC developed educational materials for outreach purposes and provided those materials to elected officials, opinion leaders, citizens, media, businesses and key stakeholders in the Central Florida region. The organization engaged in direct mail, phone calls, television advertising, radio advertising and an interactive Web site, and developed and printed electronic brochures and newsletters for use in efforts to support the Community Venues. All materials were also produced in Spanish. PHCC spearheaded the advocacy grassroots campaign through rallies, town hall meetings, generating personal e-mails, phone calls and meetings into the Orlando City Council and Orange County Board of Commissioners, opinion editorials, letters to the editor and talk radio.
Results – After hearing the intense and broad support from the community, both the City Council and County Commission voted in July 2007 to approve the historic partnership between the City, County, State, public and private entities which allows the building and renovation of the events center, the Citrus Bowl and the performing arts center to be completed in 2010, 2011 and 2012 respectively.