KidsBay: Being A Kid, Raising Kids In Tampa Bay

"If our American way of life fails the child, it fails us all.''  -- Pearl S. Buck, American writer, 1892–1973

The economy of a community can be measured in many ways, though perhaps none more important for the future than the health and well-being of children and families.

That's why 83 Degrees today is launching KidsBay, a new Focus Area dedicated to reporting on the economic successes of the Tampa Bay region when it comes to being a kid and to raising kids.

You'll find stories in KidsBay about talented people, innovative ideas and investments, global diversity and sense of place. We'll focus on arts, education, entrepreneurship, environment, health, housing, technology, transportation and other issues affecting the lives of nearly 1 million children who call the Tampa Bay region home.

Our goal is to help explain challenges and to feature successes as models for others in expectation of generating even more solutions and enhancing Tampa Bay's quality of life.

Let us know what you think. Send story ideas to 83 Degrees tips.

Contact Diane Egner for information about how to become an underwriting partner.

Diane Egner is publisher and managing editor of 83 Degrees. Comments? Contact 83 Degrees.
Enjoy this story? Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.

Read more articles by Diane Egner.

Diane Egner is a community leader and award-winning journalist with more than four decades of experience reporting and writing about the Tampa Bay Area of Florida. She serves on the boards of the University of South Florida Zimmerman School of Advertising & Mass Communications Advisory Council, The Institute for Research in Art (Graphicstudio, the Contemporary Art Museum, and USF’s Public Art Program) Community Advisory Council, Sing Out and Read, and StageWorks Theatre Advisory Council. She also is a member of Leadership Florida and the Athena Society. A graduate of the University of Minnesota with a BA in journalism, she won the top statewide award for editorial writing from the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors while at The Tampa Tribune and received special recognition by the Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalists for creative work as Content Director at WUSF Public Media. Past accomplishments and community service include leadership positions with Tampa Tiger Bay Club, USF Women in Leadership & Philanthropy (WLP), Alpha House of Tampa Bay, Awesome Tampa Bay, Florida Kinship Center, AIA Tampa Bay, Powerstories, Arts Council of Hillsborough County, and the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce. Diane and her husband, Sandy Rief, live in Tampa.