Cocoa nonprofit coalition seeks city help on crosswalk, adds asset map to referral work

Family Promise of Brevard told the Cocoa City Council that an informal coalition of local service providers has started monthly meetings and created an interactive asset map, and asked the city for help getting a crosswalk at Dixon and Pineda and for a designated city contact to the group.

"We actually have 33 organizations...we average about 15 to 20 organizations each meeting," said Tara Pagliarini, executive director of Family Promise of Brevard, describing the group she and partners launched to improve cross‑referrals among service providers in Cocoa. She described a Simpara geo‑mapping tool the group is using to pin services by ZIP code and keep provider information updated in real time.

The coalition, which Pagliarini said named itself the "9 22 crew," has used monthly meetings and rotating locations — including a site visit to a new housing development and to the Cocoa Police Department — to help agencies make specific, accurate referrals, she said. Pagliarini asked the council for two forms of help: assistance getting a pedestrian crosswalk at Dixon and Pineda to allow Endeavor children to walk safely to the Boys & Girls Club, and a city staff member who can serve as a designated contact for the provider network when issues arise.

Chris McPherson, Community Partnership School director with Children’s Home Society at Endeavor, told the council that the lack of a safe crossing has kept children from attending the after‑school program. "For the last two years, we've had zero kids from Endeavor going to Boys and Girls Club," McPherson said, and he described recent efforts to walk children under staff supervision while the group seeks a permanent solution.

City Manager Jack Walsh said the Dixon Boulevard crosswalk has been through design steps and the city is sharing cost, but noted Dixon is a county road. "Dixon Boulevard is a county road, and so we have to participate with the county in terms of the design of that," Walsh said, and he said staff would double‑check the project status and send an update to Pagliarini.

Pagliarini said the asset map is not intended to replace larger databases but to provide a geographically precise, live‑updated view of local providers for referrals; she said Space Coast Health Foundation funded customization of the Simpara tool. Several council members praised the consortium's ability to reduce misdirected referrals and to coordinate services. Pagliarini invited council members to the group's next meeting (listed by the coalition as typically the last Friday of each month) and asked the city to consider naming a liaison who could bring urgent operational issues to council if needed.

The council later approved, as part of consent business, a road‑closure request to accommodate Family Promise’s Brunch event on Saturday, Feb. 22. The council vote on that agenda item was recorded as unanimous.

The presentation also noted related county and regional engagement: Pagliarini said the model has been discussed with the Brevard Homeless Coalition and leaders in other cities, and that Titusville has adopted a similar geographic work‑group approach. She asked that the city receive periodic summary data from the coalition about numbers served so the city can better coordinate across jurisdictions.

Pagliarini and McPherson provided contact details and said they would follow up with Walsh on the crosswalk status and next steps.