Chronology

1998: The ECHO* initiative began as grass roots effort where individuals, organizations, and local governments came together to discuss developing ecotourism opportunities in Volusia County. The County Council had set goals that included maintaining the County’s green space and protecting the County’s water supply. An existing general obligation bond on endangered land would sunset by the year 2002 and the County would not have the funding in place to continue purchasing endangered lands. A local University generated an inventory of existing ECHO assets through surveys, public workshops, and listening sessions held throughout the County and then reported their findings during four public summits.

March 2000: An ECHO Steering Committee was formed with the inaugural meeting held March 20, 2000. The Committee’s purpose was to gather citizen input on the ECHO initiatives (referendums), funding options and development, and then forward that report to the County Council for consideration. The Committee determined that they wanted the referendums to be part of the upcoming October primary election. This meant they would have to have their recommendations to the County Council by July 2000. A guest speaker at this meeting was Chris Pederson of the Florida Conflict Resolution Consortium whose organization (established by the Florida State Legislature and housed in the University of Central Florida) provides free assistance on controversial public issues. The process he used included five public forums during a 6-week period in each area of the County. All stakeholders, including the general public, not-for-profit organizations, municipal governments, learning centers, County government and more were invited to attend and participate.

March - August 2000: Two task teams were formed out of the ECHO Steering Committee. An ECHO External Task Team was put together that included all interested stakeholders. The ECHO External (non-County staff) Team worked on the public input to the ECHO Referendum initiative. An ECHO Internal Task Team was put together that consisted of County staff. The roll of the Internal Team was to develop promotions and learning elements for the existing ECHO opportunities in Volusia including those run by not for profit organizations and municipalities. The County also developed marketing components for the ECHO/ Forever initiatives including brochures, newspaper and billboard promotions.

August 17, 2000: The County Council approved Resolution 2000-156 that provided for the holding of a referendum to create the ECHO Grants-In-Aid Program. The Program requires a 1:1 match for construction, renovation or restoration of Environmental Learning, Cultural, Historical/Heritage, and Outdoor Recreation facilities. Applicants include not-for-profit 501 (c)(3) organizations incorporated in the State of Florida with their principal place of business located in Volusia County, municipalities located within Volusia County and budgeted departments within the County of Volusia. Resolution 2000-156 states additional goals of distributing the funds appropriately throughout all geographic areas of the County and the E-C-H-O categories. It does not however, require that the ECHO funds be split equally in these areas.

November 7, 2000: The citizens of Volusia County approved the referendum to tax themselves (.20 mill) for both the ECHO and Forever initiatives (approximately $10 per $100,000 taxable value of a home). The program’s timeframe is for twenty years (2002-2022) and over $124 million in revenues (projected as of June 2004) will be raised over the 20-year period.

April 5, 2001: The County Council approved Resolution 2001-70 that established the ECHO Advisory Committee. The duties of the Committee are to develop fair application processes, rank applications and make recommendations to the County Council for final approval each year. The Committee reviews the ECHO program’s policies and procedures annually during the summer months.

May 2001: The ECHO Advisory Committee held their first meeting and developed the process for application and distribution of grant funds.

May 2, 2002: The County Council awards $2,126,378 in grants to seven projects across the County.

March 27, 2003: The County Council awards $3,900,200 to ten projects across the County.

October 16, 2003: The County Council establishes an exceptional grant category and awards an additional $100,000 to the Lively Arts Center, Inc. organization for the 2003 grant cycle with another $600,000 award for the next three consecutive grant cycles, making it the first exceptional project of the program.

March 18, 2004: The County Council awards $4,012,716 in grants to sixteen projects across the County including $600,000 to Lively Arts, Inc., which was awarded an exceptional 4-year grant in 2003 for their News Journal Center project for a performing arts center in Daytona Beach.

June 2004:
On June 3, 2004, the County Council voted to annually allocate $1,000,000 in ECHO program funds for the construction of trails of the County’s Trails Master Plan.

March 2005:
On March 10, 2005, the County Council awarded grants to 13 new projects across the County and to the Lively Arts Center, Inc., which had received an exceptional 4-year grant in 2003 for their News Journal Center project ($600,000 annually) for a total of $3,840,883.