Community & Philanthropy

While campaigning for a spot on the Coconut Creek city commission in 2008, Mikkie Belvedere got a taste of the city’s diversity but was disheartened to hear some residents lacked local connections. “When I would say to a resident, ‘Could you introduce me to your neighbor?’ [they would say] ‘Well, I don’t know my neighbor.

In the nearly six months since 17 people were killed in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, consensus has been hard to find. Gun-reform issues have sent people to their respective corners. The work of student advocates has been equally polarizing. And lawmakers at the national level have been unable to advance game-changing

After her husband, Paul, was killed in an auto accident in Texas that also left her and her son, Dustin, hospitalized, Abby Mosher was confident that she and Dustin would return home to Broward County to resources to help them process their grief. Mosher, who was then working with the Coconut Creek Elementary PTA, was

In the weeks following the Feb. 14 shooting in Parkland, the words and actions of students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas resonated from coast to coast, prompting a nationwide discussion and, at the state level, legislative change to Florida’s gun laws. But it’s the future of students at Stoneman Douglas that prompted action by a Boca

Before Glenn Sime started working for Coconut Creek 17 years ago, he worked for six other municipalities—some bigger and some smaller. But the code compliance supervisor agrees that, of all the cities for which he’s worked, Creek’s government tries to do everything it can to make the city a good place for residents. One way

Compelled to put brush to canvas following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, South Florida artist Maria Arango struggled to come up with a concept that would reflect the loss and sadness surrounding the tragedy. Nothing clicked—that is, until she saw so many high school students standing strong, challenging the political establishment and creating a

From the moment he first addressed reporters at Marjory Stoneman Douglas on Feb. 14, Scott Israel has been an integral and often-compelling figure in the continuing storyline connected to the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history. At a CNN-organized town hall meeting a week after the shooting, the Broward County sheriff drew several standing

In the weeks following the deadliest high school shooting in United States history, editors and reporters for Lifestyle reached out to dozens of people whose lives were forever altered by what happened inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14. We interviewed the officer who made the arrest and the sheriff who’s under fire.

Less than 24 hours after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, Coconut Creek police officer Michael Leonard became the face of Broward County’s first responders when he stood in front of the nation’s news cameras and recounted how he apprehended the person responsible for one of the deadliest school shootings in American history. Since

In the weeks following the deadliest high school shooting in United States history, editors and reporters for Lifestyle reached out to dozens of people whose lives were forever altered by what happened inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14. We interviewed the officer who made the arrest and the sheriff who’s under fire.

Like so many others around the country, Howard Dvorkin (pictured) watched the events of Feb. 14 unfold with equal parts shock, anger and despair. It wasn’t just that he and wife Gwen had deep roots in Parkland, ones that, for Dvorkin, stretched over some three decades. Or that several equestrians from Marjory Stoneman Douglas rode

In the weeks following the deadliest high school shooting in United States history, editors and reporters for Lifestyle reached out to dozens of people whose lives were forever altered by what happened inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14. We interviewed the officer who made the arrest and the sheriff who’s under fire.