Transcript
What inspires you from WFSU Public Media? Here's this week's Voices That Inspire. I'm Steve Ufelder. I'm a practice law in Tallahassee. Been involved in public affairs and work for the government. Various positions. Had some international experiences, chair of the Fulbright board. So I've been involved both locally, statewide, nationally and internationally. I've been a lifelong Democrat and been involved in a legislative process. And I got to know both Democrats and Republicans and work with both of them and gave me an understanding of views that people had. They may be different than my own. The importance of being able to converse with people that disagreed with you, but still be civil. The thing I have the greatest interest in is young children and students, minority children, and people that don't have the same advantages of my children, grandchildren and half. I was a mentor in the South Side Schools for about 30 years. And during that time period, I saw how important it was for particularly young African American boys to have a role model. Ideally, it would not be a white role, but an African American role. But I felt like I could do some good. So I spent a lot of time down in the South Side Schools. And I learned a great deal from those young people and particularly the ones that came from very tough backgrounds. It's just hard to see young people not have opportunities. I was raised to believe in community service. I served my community. I hopefully served my state well and my nation well. And did it to make sure that people that didn't have enough had more, that didn't understand, understood better. And we're able to work with others, both parties, to achieve common goals, whether it be an education, social services, criminal justice reform, in order to make Florida our community a better place to live. Steve, you felt a community servant and proud grandfather. You're listening to voices that inspire.