Ferrell Brown of Street Grace Florida at September Lunch

Street Grace is a non-profit organization dedicated to ending the sexual exploitation and trafficking of children by leveraging the power of partnerships across government, business, and Faith communities. Ferrell’s organization combats demand and empowers youth through education, technology and community engagement. Their innovative initiatives includes awareness campaigns, survivor support, legislative advocacy, and cutting edge tools like artificial intelligence to disrupt trafficking networks.

During the presentation, Executive Director Ferrell Brown stated that Street Grace leads in the fight to eradicate the commercial sexual exploitation of children, taking a holistic, evidence-based approach that focuses on the four Ps:

• Prevention – preventing sexual exploitation by training parents youth and caring adults. 5th to 8th grader Youth Leadership Academy provides courses dedicated to help students thrive physically, emotionally, mentally, academically and socially. Leaders in communities have provided ~20,000 services to survivors of exploitation and their families survivors/families
• Protection – caring for at-risk children and survivors of sexual exploitation
• Policy – shaping legislation to reduce impunity for predators and better care for survivors
• Pursuit – leveraging the power of AI to deter sexual predators online

Sexual trafficking is basically a supply and demand issue. The supply are children / women mostly on the internet and the demand is many men on the internet purchasing children / women. It was noted that South Florida (Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties) leads sex trafficking in Florida. Just in the last couple of years the need has increased significantly:

• The number of individuals sex trafficked in the United States has increased 92% from 2015 to 2019
• 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 13 boys will be sexually exploited by the age of 18
• The number of children / women recruited on Facebook and Instagram increased by 120% from 2019 to 2020
• The commercial sex economy per year in major US cities ranges from $40 million to $290 million

To help eradicate sexual trafficking Street Grace is pioneering solutions to disrupt and prevent the sexual exploitation of children:

• Transaction Intercept – created in collaboration with BBDO, a team of 175 technology developer volunteers, and law enforcement agencies; Transaction Intercept works to find the buyers of minor sex, remove the cloak of anonymity, and disrupt potential transactions
• Justice Protection – Street Grace trains attorneys on how to use current laws to represent survivors who need their records expunged and connect them with survivors in need

If you’re interested in more information about Street Grace and their vision to see a world where all children are free from sexual exploitation, below is their contact information:

Pat Rooney at the May 24th Lunch

The May 24th meeting of the Republican Club of the Palm Beaches featured Pat Rooney, Jr. as our guest speaker. Pat is the President of the Palm Beach Kennel Club (PBKC) and has served our community in many ways including a six year stint as a State Representative in the Florida House from 2010 to 2016.

Pat’s topic was “Business and Government: Not Always on the Same Page.” Mr. Rooney began his presentation with an overview of the history of PBKC. The Club opened in 1932 and Pat’s grandfather Art Rooney bought the track in 1970. Dog Racing was one of the most popular sports in Florida from 1970 until the late 1980’s. Dog racing ceased in 2020.

Mr. Rooney discussed the factors contributing to the demise of dog racing including the states introduction of the lottery in 1986 and Indian Reservation gaming being legalized in 1987. Most recently the state convened its once in every 20 years Constitutional Revision Commission, a unique to Florida entity comprised of 37 selected individuals who propose amendments to the Florida Constitution. One amendment (Amendment 13) was placed on the ballot specifically eliminating dog racing at the end of 2020. It passed with over 70% of the statewide vote. Mr. Rooney questioned the legality of putting a specific taxed and regulated business on the ballot.

The Florida Legislature, at the direction of Governor DeSantis, recently negotiated a new compact with the Seminole Indians. This compact primarily would allow sports betting to take place throughout the state. However a district court judge found the compact in violation of another amendment which passed in 2018 (Amendment 3) which stated that only the states citizens through a referendum could expand gambling in the state. Mr. Rooney argued that since the bets would be taken on a Hard Rock App (property of the Seminoles) and since the servers for the app were on tribal lands, no citizen vote would be needed to ratify sports betting. However the district court disagreed and now the compact is on appeal and sports betting is in legal limbo.

Mr. Rooney further discussed the current viable parts of PBKC’s business: simulcast betting (authorized in 1991) where bets could be placed at PBKC on tracks across the country and poker (authorized in 1996). PBKC has the largest poker room in Florida at 64 tables. These two revenue streams have kept PBKC operational since the end of Dog Racing in 2020.

Business continually struggle with local, state, and federal regulations. Many regulations need to be reviewed to be business-friendly. For example, The Palm Beach Kennel Club can only have 3 outside events a year, and there doesn’t appear to be any Rhyme or Reason for this limitation.

For more than three decades, Pat Rooney, Jr. has been a successful businessman and respected community leader in Palm Beach County. Pat Rooney’s presentation was very informative and we appreciate his continued support. Pat has been a gracious host of the Paddock Restaurant for the Republican Club of the Palm Beaches.

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Note: We won’t be having a June lunch in favor of the President’s Council BBQ at the South County Civic Center on June 25th.

Congressman Brian Mast at Veterans Lunch

Fran Hancock, President of the Republican Club of the Palm Beaches, on November 6th honored the Veterans in attendance and celebrated them by providing a free luncheon. Keynote speaker was Congressman Brian Mast, who is currently serving in his second term for District 18. Brian is currently a member of two committees:
– The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and
– United States Foreign Affairs Committee.
He lives in Palm City, FL with his wife, Brianna and four children.

Brian opened up his presentation by honoring the Veterans and recalling the time he spent in the military. He mentioned by name his close friends that served with him and some of which gave their lives for our country. He expressed how proud he was of the men and woman who put on the uniform and served in the military.

Brian went on and discussed how the impeachment process was a sham and nothing else will likely get accomplished in the House of Representatives in the foreseeable future. The following is an excerpt from Brian’s presentations:

I’ll be blunt – this impeachment investigation has become an embarrassing circus, completely disconnected from real America, with Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Schiff as ringmasters.

After weeks of closed-door meetings and cherry-picked testimonies, the House passed a resolution to formally launch an impeachment investigation into President Donald Trump. This resolution gives Chairman Schiff complete control over this investigation including the schedule, witnesses and hearings, including whether they are open or closed to the public.

This publicity stunt vote is a brazen attempt to stack the deck even more in favor of the narrative Democrats want to be true, instead of trying to find the actual truth — it gives Chairman Schiff unilateral power to decide what facts to tell the American people and which ones to hide from them.

The bottom line is that House Democrats have made it clear time and time again that they’re more interested in putting politics and hatred for the President ahead of our country’s best interest. It’s time to end this sham.

Congressman Brian Mast concluded his presentation by taking questions from the floor. He mentioned one of his areas of focus and passion is clean water for the residents of Florida.
and thanked the Republican Party of Palm Beach for all of their continued support.