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Welcome to the Lealman Voice, your ultimate guide to everything happening in our vibrant neighborhood! We're dedicated to highlighting the heartbeat of our community by sharing upcoming events, the latest news, and stories that matter most to you. Whether it's a local gathering, community initiative, or notable achievement, we want to hear from you. Let's celebrate the spirit of Lealman together and keep our neighborhood thriving. Share your news with us, and let's continue to make your voices heard!

Lealman Family Center gives support to growing Vietnamese American population

Via Bay News 9

Surrounded by homes in the Lealman neighborhood in Pinellas County, sits a small family center. 

It is called the Lealman and Asian Neighborhood Family Center. The word “Asian” is in the title because so many of the students and families it serves are of Asian decent.  

Thuat Truong has worked at the center for 19 years. The kids call her Mrs. T. 

“We have lot of Vietnamese students, they came from Vietnam. And I help them to learn English here," said Thuat Truong, the program coordinator.

Many of the students and their parents do not know English when they first move to the U.S. or arrive at the center. So getting homework done with the students is a big stress reliever for parents. 

But it is not just kids Mrs. T helps. She assists the parents too. Trang Truong is a friend and a person Thuat Truong helped several years ago. They are not related.

Trang Truong immigrated to the U.S. in the 1990s and remembers the fear that came with that enormous life change.

“A lot of struggle," said Trang. "The first few months we feel like a fish out of water." 

The center helped Trang and her husband with English classes. 

They both then were able to graduate from college in the Bay area, and their children have now graduated from college too. All of them are now successfully in the workforce. 

“My son Kevin is the manager of my alteration shop at St. Pete Beach," said Trang Truong with a proud smile.

Trang Truong's story is just one of many who have found community, friendship, and growth at the family center. 

“We have a growing Vietnamese community," said Caterina Tassara Runyon, the head of Communications & Development at the Lealman & Asian Neighborhood Family Center. "We have a Laotian community that speaks Laotion from Laos. We have a Hmong community, we have a Chinese community.”

This part of Pinellas County has become a landing spot for many Asian American families. 

“Our demographics nationwide are at about six percent. So, the fact that a small city in Pinellas County has 12% population of Asian descent, that's a huge number," said Runyon.

The staff at the center speak as many languages as the families they serve. But it is more than language, it is about culture and heritage. 

“English is not my first language," said Runyon. "And as an immigrant myself to the United States, I so can relate to, you know, the challenges of, you know, maybe being a child and having English not be your first language and being afraid.”

The recognition of keeping one's heritage but also assimilating into their new nationality, that is the balance many families find important at the center. 

To Trang Truong, being American is very important. But she does not want to forget where she came from either. 

“I still want to keep my culture," said Trang Truong. "Keep my culture, my language and some parts of Vietnam, we still want to keep them.”

Much of the funding for the Lealman and Asian Neighborhood Family Center comes from the Pinellas County Juvenile Welfare Board. 

They help people with finding many resources in the community including childcare, health insurance, jobs, and access to unemployment. 

Hello, hurricane season: Is Pinellas County ready?

Part 1 of 2. Via St. Pete Catalyst

On Thursday, May 23, 2024, clouds formed over eastern Cuba.

These unremarkable clouds, accompanied by a smattering of rain, represented something much greater: The first activity of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, which may be the most active – and the most damaging – ever.

The climate science team at the University of Missouri expects 26 named storms this year. Hurricane expert Dr. Phil Klotzbach at Colorado State says 23. The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – the country’s foremost hurricane authority and the operator of the famed ‘Hurricane Hunters’ expects 24, while scientists at the University of Pennsylvania went so far as to call for 33 storms – blowing past the record of 30 set in 2005 and 2020.

On the official opening day of the 2024 hurricane season, whether those projections will become reality is unknown – as is whether they will disrupt the charmed, storm-free existence Tampa Bay has enjoyed for more than a century. Over the past two weeks the Catalyst spoke to meteorologists, local officials and others to find out what we can expect, how communities are preparing – and whether it will be enough when (not if) The Big One comes.

Hurricane Amnesia

Florida history is defined by hurricanes. They are to this state what tornadoes were to Dorothy’s Kansas.

A storm at Fort Caroline in 1565 destroyed a French fleet and with it their efforts to colonize the state. The 1928 Okeechobee hurricane killed thousands of migrant laborers, inspiring the first major flood control efforts in South Florida – and Zora Neale Hurston’s great Florida novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Hurricane Andrew in 1992 destroyed whole communities but resulted in almost no loss of life – a crucial passed test for a rapidly growing state.

For Tampa Bay, what is unique is not how much these storms have defined us, but how little. In 103 years no major hurricane has directly hit the region, and it still requires a trip into the hazy past to see the last time any hurricane made landfall. Both of these storms occurred before the invention of air conditioning – and Florida’s rapid all-year population growth. Tampa Bay has 11 residents today for every person who lived here in 1950.

Denis Phillips, ABC Action News’s longtime chief meteorologist, calls it “hurricane amnesia.”

“‘It missed us before, it will miss us again,’” he said, echoing the sentiments of many long-time residents. “So far, that’s worked out … but it won’t always be that way.

“Models are changing for the better,” he elaborates. “The short-term forecast track really is superior to what it was two decades ago. Unfortunately, the apathy many Floridians have hasn’t changed … and it probably won’t until someone actually faces the threat of a major hurricane. Once they face that, usually the apathy goes away forever.”

Stormchaser Mike Boylan, host of Mike’s Weather Page, whose daily hurricane season updates are viewed by thousands, remembers how his attitude towards storms changed once he began driving into them.

“Seeing the effects of storms right after [they hit] woke me up to how awful the conditions can be in so many different ways. I could never fathom before I saw it.”

For long-time residents like him, “We’ve evacuated so many times … my biggest fear is that the [next] time around, people aren’t going to evacuate. But there’s gonna be one time where it doesn’t turn.”

To elected officials responsible for planning for just that eventuality, this apathy is a source of frustration – and danger.

“We’ve been complacent for many years and [people] believe the Tocabaga are protecting us,” said Pinellas County Commissioner Kathleen Peters, referencing a popular myth relating to the presence of Indian burial grounds repelling hurricanes in the region.

“John’s Pass was created [by the hurricane] in 1848. We’re past due.”

Full Article

Road Safety & Construction

Construction is underway for road, drainage, and sidewalk improvements along 46th Ave N, west of 49th Street. The project is scheduled for completion in early fall 2024. To minimize traffic disruptions and backups during this period, there have been slight modifications to the trash pickup schedule.

Residents along 46th Ave N, between 55th and 49th Streets N, will notice changes in their trash collection times. Trash will now be collected later than usual on Wednesdays, around 2:00 p.m., and earlier on Saturdays, around 6:30 a.m. These adjustments aim to alleviate traffic issues caused by the ongoing construction.

Please be assured that trash pickup is still occurring, just at different times of the day. This temporary schedule will remain in place until the project's completion in early fall 2024.

USF Mo Bull Nurse Unit to Offer Free Healthcare Services at Lealman Exchange

The University of South Florida's (USF) Mo Bull Nurse Unit began providing services this month!  The mobile healthcare unit will be available on the first Tuesday of each month, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Residents can access a variety of healthcare services without insurance or identification. The Mo Bull Nurse Unit aims to make healthcare accessible to everyone, offering services free of charge.

This initiative is part of USF's ongoing commitment to community health and wellness, ensuring that all residents have access to essential healthcare services.

For more information, visit the Lealman Exchange.

CodeBoxx Academy, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay, and Modiphy Partner to Host Web Class for Young Adults

Tampa Bay, FL – June 1, 2024 – CodeBoxx Academy, a leading technology boot camp dedicated to transforming lives through coding education, is thrilled to announce a partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay and Modiphy, a premier digital marketing agency to host Next Gen Skills Development: Website 101. This exciting educational event is designed to teach students aged 18-26 the fundamentals of web development and will be held at the Lealman Exchange on June 22nd.

The Web Development 101 class aims to provide young adults with essential web development skills, empowering them with the knowledge and confidence to pursue further education or careers in technology. This initiative aligns with CodeBoxx Academy's mission to make technology education accessible to all and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay's commitment to helping young people realize their full potential.

Collaborating with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay and Modiphy enables us to broaden our influence and positively affect more lives within the Tampa Bay community," stated Brian Peret, Director of CodeBoxx Academy. "We are thrilled to offer this opportunity to young adults eager to learn and advance in the tech industry."

"This partnership exemplifies how we can unite to create significant opportunities for our youth. Learning web development unlocks numerous possibilities, and we are proud to support local youth as they explore their interests and develop valuable skills."

Participants in the Next Gen Skills Development: Website 101 class will be introduced to key concepts such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, the foundational technologies for building websites. The hands-on workshop will be led by experienced instructors from CodeBoxx Academy and Modiphy, ensuring a supportive and engaging learning environment. By the end of the class, students will have created their own basic web pages and gained a solid understanding of web development principles.

Summer Water Safety Awareness 

Drowning has become the leading cause of death for children under six years old in the Tampa Bay area. Between 2013 and 2018, 63 local children—enough to fill a school bus—died from accidental drowning.

Water Safety Tips for Parents and Caregivers

• Stay Alert -Children drown silently without splashing or calling for help, making it easy for a drowning child to go unnoticed. Always stay vigilant.
• Designate a "Water Watcher": Assign an adult to constantly monitor children near water and avoid distractions like phone calls, texting, reading, or using electronic devices.
• Be Within Arm's Reach: When infants and toddlers are near water, an adult should stay within arm's reach, ready to rescue if needed.
• Never Rely on Flotation Devices: Use flotation devices such as water wings, inner tubes, or life vests only alongside close adult supervision.
• Limit Kids’ Access to Pools and Hot Tubs: Install barriers and locks on your pool, ensuring any pool your child visits has similar safeguards. All pools should have fences with self-closing, self-latching locks out of children's reach. Homes with pools should also have alarms on all doors and windows to alert if a child goes outside.
• Lock Your Doors: Ensure exterior doors are locked to prevent children from accessing pools, lakes, canals, and ponds.
• Teach Your Child to Swim: Many local organizations offer swim lessons for children.
• Be Aware of Hidden Hazards: Empty bathtubs, buckets, and inflatable pools when not in use. Keep pet bowls out of children's reach and bathroom doors closed.

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