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Thursday, February 06, 2025

Metro

GFGS volunteers organize fresh produce and food donations in preparation for their weekly distribution at the Civic Media Center Tuesday, May 16, 2023.
METRO

Gainesville community tackles Eastside food insecurity

A 2023 report by Gainesville Free Grocery Store, a mutual aid food pantry and garden, described East Gainesville neighborhoods abounding with poor-quality food as “food swamps." To combat this, a variety of local activists and organizations have launched efforts to feed food-insecure East Gainesville residents. 


Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at a political roundtable, Friday, May 19, 2023, in Bedford, N.H. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
METRO  |  POLITICS

‘Unsettling’: Asian American locals criticize Florida bills targeting China

Han Yi, who immigrated to the U.S. from China, feels betrayed by the state she’s called home for roughly 10 years due to a bill restricting Chinese citizens from purchasing real estate in Florida. Yi, the vice principal of the HuaGen Chinese School in Gainesville, is one among the many frustrated Asian American and Pacific Islander locals speaking out against three bills signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis aimed at limiting the Chinese Communist Party’s influence on the state. 


METRO  |  K-12 EDUCATION

DeSantis signs AAPI history K-12 education bill into law

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 1537 into law May 9, requiring Asian American and Pacific Islander history in K-12 curriculum. The legislation’s enactment marks a milestone in a two-year-long battle to make AAPI history a mandatory part of Florida public school education led by Mimi Chan, director of Make Us Visible Florida, the state’s chapter of a nonprofit dedicated to integrating AAPI history into K-12 classrooms. 


Vivian Filer, executive director of the Cotton Club Museum and Cultural Center, speaks at a reception to begin Gainesville's 43rd-annual 5th Avenue Arts Festival Friday, April 28, 2023.
METRO  |  BUSINESS

Historic Black neighborhood honored in 43rd annual 5th Avenue Arts Festival

The Cultural Arts Coalition hosted the second day of its 43rd-annual 5th Avenue Arts Festival Saturday. From 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., attendees browsed vendors selling cultural items, singing performances and a variety of local-made art. The festival is held each year to celebrate Fifth Avenue, the city’s oldest Black neighborhood, according to Gainesville Neighborhoods United. 



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