KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Long before the COVID-19 pandemic, Central Florida was already facing yet another crisis: the plight of low-wage workers. 

Countless families call any number of hotels and motels along U.S. Highway 192 in Kissimmee “home.”

Bryant Coleman, a recently laid-off Walt Disney World cast member (employee), said he has been moving from one motel room or location to another since moving to Florida in 2005. 

“Ain’t none of this easy,” Coleman said “This is harder than a math book, a lot of problems.”

Coleman pays $1,400 a month. 

He is no longer making magic at Disney, being among tens of thousands recently laid off, and he is barely making ends meet -- for now. 

Coleman spends his time applying for jobs, which are few and far between, as many of his laid-off former colleagues are also finding out. 

The sentiment among those like Coleman is that politicians have long overlooked their plight and fight to survive. 

“I feel like we don’t have a lot of them who are paying attention,” Coleman said. 

Coleman now spends his time knocking on doors for the Unite Here union, which, for the first time ever locally, is in engaged in political activism.

This year, Unite Here is supporting Joe Biden. It is also pushing support to pass an amendment to raise Florida’s minimum wage to $15 an hour, which if passed, would happen over several years on a rolling basis.

Osceola Consistently Ranks Near Top Counties for Jobless Claims

Since March, more than 4 million Floridians have filed for unemployment benefits. 

Osceola County consistently ranks at the top of the list, leading the unemployment rate statewide, and layoffs and furloughs continue to grow. 

“I think the 192 corridor will be one of the last places in the state of Florida that will recover,” Reverend Mary Downey, chief executive officer of The Community Hope Center in Kissimmee, said. 

The problem amid the pandemic and downturn of the economy is that it has made a preexisting crisis worse, Downey said. 

“You’ve got this double-edged sword, of families who have been relying on hotels as workforce housing for far too long in our community, and now we have hotels who are not going to be able to sustain long term,” Downey said. 

Pandemic Has Increased Need for Food Assistance

Her group has seen a growing number of families turning to nonprofits for help, including food assistance. 

Downey uses the request for food assistance as a primary marker on the impacts and stresses on families because of the economy and the pandemic. 

CARES Act assistance is running out, and Congress has yet to strike a deal on extending family assistance and unemployment benefits. 

“I’m absolutely terrified what it looks like if we do not have an extension of funds released in CARES Act, if we don’t have more opportunity to stimulate our economy, don’t have more support around our unemployment system,” Downey said. 

Small Business Owners Say They Need Help to Get Through COVID Crisis

Many polls show that voters care most about the pandemic and the economy. 

“We all want to get back to work, we all want a vibrant economy, but because of the extent of COVID-19, and that’s undeniable, it’s important for us to move forward thoughtfully,” according to Jeremy Lanier, whose family has owned Lanier’s Historic Downtown Marketplace in downtown Kissimmee for more than 25 years.

Like many Main Street businesses across America, their shop has been hit hard.

“What we’ve seen is the absence of tourism, and tourism is typically north of 40 percent to 50 percent of our business,” Lanier said. “We’ve had to mobilize and think in creative ways to market the shop. We’ve been fortunate because we have a strong local response and that’s helped tremendously.”

In addition to helping to run his family store, Lanier also works with Kissimmee Main Street, Downtown Business Association of Kissimmee, and on the COVID-19 response team with Florida Department of Health in Osceola County. 

The Osceola County native said he believes rebuilding the financial health of his community begins with government leaders addressing the coronavirus crisis. 

“I’d like to see a leader who approaches COVID-19 from a science-based perspective, somebody who engages the opinion of our scientific leaders and in our community,” Lanier said. “…Also, I want candidates who truly appreciate small business,, the importance of small business in the local economy and national economy. There’s a ton of folks in this community who put all of their money and effort into their small business, and they’re taxpayers and home owners, and I want a leader who can approach the economy from that perspective.”