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Darryl Rouson
Darryl Ervin Rouson (born July 20, 1955) is a Democratic member of the Florida Senate who has represented the 16th district (the 19th district until 2022), which includes parts of Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties from downtown St. Petersburg to downtown Tampa, since 2016. He previously served four terms in the Florida House of Representatives from 2008 to 2016.
Rouson was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, as the son of W. Ervin and Vivian. His father was a guidance counselor at Gibbs Junior College and an administrator at St. Petersburg Junior College. He was also vice president of student affairs Palm Beach Junior College in Lake Worth, Florida. He died in 1979. His mother taught French and English at Sixteenth Street Junior High and Lakewood Senior High. She was a pioneer of integration in Pinellas County.[citation needed] She lived for a time in Minnesota where her leadership extended to many arenas: she was the first African American elected to the School Board for the Burnsville-Egan School District (in the Twin Cities metro), she co-founded the Dakota County Society of Black Women, and she served as interim director at Normandale Community College's women's center. She retired to Washington, D.C.
Rouson came to St. Petersburg at age three and lived in Cromwell Heights. He attended a Bishop Barry High School which later became St. Petersburg Catholic High School. He returned to New Orleans to attend college at Xavier University and graduated in 1977. He received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Florida Spessard Holland Law Center in 1979. In 1980, he returned to St. Petersburg with a job at Gulfcoast Legal Services. Shortly afterward, he opened his own practice.
He developed an addiction to cocaine that grew at the expense of his practice, his standing in the community, and his marriage. In 1987, he sold his practice and his home on Pinellas Point. He divorced his wife and left St. Petersburg. After some time, he met Reverend George Clements in Chicago. Reverend Clements was the founder of One Church-One Child, an adoption program. Rouson became the recovery revival coordinator for One Church-One Addict, a program that taught churches how to help recovering addicts. Rouson married a second time in 1991. His second wife developed breast cancer and died in 1997. He then returned to St. Petersburg in 1998.
Shortly after arriving in St. Petersburg Rouson experienced a brief period of homelessness. He went on to become active as a leader in the community. He became chairman of the St. Petersburg Area Black Chamber of Commerce, and he served on St. Petersburg's Charter Review Commission. He supported a substance abuse ministry at Mount Zion Progressive Missionary Baptist Church. He became the president of St. Petersburg branch of the NAACP in 2000. Rouson has said that this experience has helped him to understand the plight of the homeless and to endorse making homelessness a protected category under the Florida hate crime statute. On August 16, 2017 Rouson was named Legislator of the year by the Florida Alliance for Assistive Services and Technology.
Rouson's activism in the community and his law practice often involve his passions for civil rights and against drug addiction.
In January 2000, Rouson was appointed to the St. Petersburg Charter Review Commission. The Council decided at the same session to award a $50,000 grant to the St. Petersburg Area Black Chamber of Commerce. The chamber had experienced financial difficulties since it was established in 1999. Rouson also became the president of the Chamber later in the month. His predecessor had co-mingled personal funds with that of the Chamber's in order to maintain solvency, and Rouson sought to establish the financial integrity of the Chamber. He saw the Chamber as the NAACP's economic arm and as a partner with the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce. He set the chamber's goals at bringing more minority-owned businesses to St. Petersburg and attracting the convention of a national company.
In July 2000, as head of the Chamber, Rouson protested the treatment of African-American teenagers at a local mall. In the late 1990s, several Tampa Bay Area malls, including Tyrone Square mall, developed dress codes to deter what they saw as gang activity. One of the concerns they had was with caps worn turned to one side. In July 2000, Tyrone mall's policy generated controversy after the son of a minister at Bethel Community Baptist Church was ejected. The boy's father felt the mall's actions were discriminatory, whereas the mall said it was simply providing for the safety of its patrons. Rouson went to the mall in an effort to "test the policy." He too was asked to leave.
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Darryl Rouson
Darryl Ervin Rouson (born July 20, 1955) is a Democratic member of the Florida Senate who has represented the 16th district (the 19th district until 2022), which includes parts of Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties from downtown St. Petersburg to downtown Tampa, since 2016. He previously served four terms in the Florida House of Representatives from 2008 to 2016.
Rouson was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, as the son of W. Ervin and Vivian. His father was a guidance counselor at Gibbs Junior College and an administrator at St. Petersburg Junior College. He was also vice president of student affairs Palm Beach Junior College in Lake Worth, Florida. He died in 1979. His mother taught French and English at Sixteenth Street Junior High and Lakewood Senior High. She was a pioneer of integration in Pinellas County.[citation needed] She lived for a time in Minnesota where her leadership extended to many arenas: she was the first African American elected to the School Board for the Burnsville-Egan School District (in the Twin Cities metro), she co-founded the Dakota County Society of Black Women, and she served as interim director at Normandale Community College's women's center. She retired to Washington, D.C.
Rouson came to St. Petersburg at age three and lived in Cromwell Heights. He attended a Bishop Barry High School which later became St. Petersburg Catholic High School. He returned to New Orleans to attend college at Xavier University and graduated in 1977. He received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Florida Spessard Holland Law Center in 1979. In 1980, he returned to St. Petersburg with a job at Gulfcoast Legal Services. Shortly afterward, he opened his own practice.
He developed an addiction to cocaine that grew at the expense of his practice, his standing in the community, and his marriage. In 1987, he sold his practice and his home on Pinellas Point. He divorced his wife and left St. Petersburg. After some time, he met Reverend George Clements in Chicago. Reverend Clements was the founder of One Church-One Child, an adoption program. Rouson became the recovery revival coordinator for One Church-One Addict, a program that taught churches how to help recovering addicts. Rouson married a second time in 1991. His second wife developed breast cancer and died in 1997. He then returned to St. Petersburg in 1998.
Shortly after arriving in St. Petersburg Rouson experienced a brief period of homelessness. He went on to become active as a leader in the community. He became chairman of the St. Petersburg Area Black Chamber of Commerce, and he served on St. Petersburg's Charter Review Commission. He supported a substance abuse ministry at Mount Zion Progressive Missionary Baptist Church. He became the president of St. Petersburg branch of the NAACP in 2000. Rouson has said that this experience has helped him to understand the plight of the homeless and to endorse making homelessness a protected category under the Florida hate crime statute. On August 16, 2017 Rouson was named Legislator of the year by the Florida Alliance for Assistive Services and Technology.
Rouson's activism in the community and his law practice often involve his passions for civil rights and against drug addiction.
In January 2000, Rouson was appointed to the St. Petersburg Charter Review Commission. The Council decided at the same session to award a $50,000 grant to the St. Petersburg Area Black Chamber of Commerce. The chamber had experienced financial difficulties since it was established in 1999. Rouson also became the president of the Chamber later in the month. His predecessor had co-mingled personal funds with that of the Chamber's in order to maintain solvency, and Rouson sought to establish the financial integrity of the Chamber. He saw the Chamber as the NAACP's economic arm and as a partner with the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce. He set the chamber's goals at bringing more minority-owned businesses to St. Petersburg and attracting the convention of a national company.
In July 2000, as head of the Chamber, Rouson protested the treatment of African-American teenagers at a local mall. In the late 1990s, several Tampa Bay Area malls, including Tyrone Square mall, developed dress codes to deter what they saw as gang activity. One of the concerns they had was with caps worn turned to one side. In July 2000, Tyrone mall's policy generated controversy after the son of a minister at Bethel Community Baptist Church was ejected. The boy's father felt the mall's actions were discriminatory, whereas the mall said it was simply providing for the safety of its patrons. Rouson went to the mall in an effort to "test the policy." He too was asked to leave.