{"id":23419,"date":"2025-12-31T07:45:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T12:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.ocfl.net\/?p=23419"},"modified":"2025-12-31T07:45:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T12:45:10","slug":"the-demings-digest-january-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsroom.ocfl.net\/2025\/12\/the-demings-digest-january-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"The Demings Digest | January 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Happy New Year!<\/p>\n<p>I hope you enjoyed time with family and friends over the holiday season. As we look ahead to 2026, now is the perfect moment to embrace the opportunities that a new year brings. I am deeply grateful for the privilege of serving as your Mayor for the past seven years and remain dedicated to making Orange County the experimental prototype community of tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p>First, I want to thank everyone for making this year\u2019s Holiday Toy Drive a record-breaking success. With your help, we collected and distributed more than 13,000 toys to local families in need. I also want to recognize our outstanding County employees, who collectively pledged more than $1.4 million to support the annual Heart of Florida United Way Giving Campaign to help our community.<\/p>\n<p>January also brings several meaningful events, including celebrations honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a champion of equality and justice. I encourage you to join us at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eventbrite.com\/e\/community-volunteers-mlk-day-of-service-tickets-1849079138479?aff=erelexpmlt\"><strong>Day of Service event<\/strong><\/a> at the Orange County Convention Center, where we will work side by side to pack one million nutritious meals for families in need.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, I invite you to learn more about your local government at our annual <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ocfl.net\/openhouse\"><strong>Orange County Mayor\u2019s Open House and Job Fair<\/strong>.<\/a> This free community event offers a chance to connect with your elected officials, explore programs and services, and discover the many ways Orange County is working to make a difference.<\/p>\n<p>Wishing you and your loved ones a joyful, safe and prosperous New Year.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Sincerely,<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ocfl.net\/Digest\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-20071\" title=\"Subscribe to the Demings\u2019 Digest Newsletter - opens in a new tab\" src=\"https:\/\/newsroom.ocfl.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Mayor_Demings_Digest_Footer_2022-1024x286.png\" alt=\"Orange County Mayor Jerry L. Demings\" width=\"500\" height=\"140\" srcset=\"https:\/\/newsroom.ocfl.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Mayor_Demings_Digest_Footer_2022-1024x286.png 1024w, https:\/\/newsroom.ocfl.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Mayor_Demings_Digest_Footer_2022-300x84.png 300w, https:\/\/newsroom.ocfl.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Mayor_Demings_Digest_Footer_2022-768x215.png 768w, https:\/\/newsroom.ocfl.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Mayor_Demings_Digest_Footer_2022-1536x429.png 1536w, https:\/\/newsroom.ocfl.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Mayor_Demings_Digest_Footer_2022-600x168.png 600w, https:\/\/newsroom.ocfl.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Mayor_Demings_Digest_Footer_2022-785x219.png 785w, https:\/\/newsroom.ocfl.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Mayor_Demings_Digest_Footer_2022.png 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ocfl.net\/Digest\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" aria-label=\"Link opens in a new tab\">Subscribe to the Demings\u2019 Digest Newsletter<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Happy New Year! I hope you enjoyed time with family and friends over the holiday season. As we look ahead to 2026, now is the perfect moment to embrace the opportunities that a new year brings. I am deeply grateful for the privilege of serving as your Mayor for the past seven years and remain [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":23402,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[695],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mayor-letter"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Demings Digest | January 2026<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.ocfl.net\/2025\/12\/the-demings-digest-january-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Demings Digest | January 2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Happy New Year! I hope you enjoyed time with family and friends over the holiday season. As we look ahead to 2026, now is the perfect moment to embrace the opportunities that a new year brings. I am deeply grateful for the privilege of serving as your Mayor for the past seven years and remain [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/newsroom.ocfl.net\/2025\/12\/the-demings-digest-january-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OCFL Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OrangeCountyFlorida\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-31T12:45:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/newsroom.ocfl.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/OCFL2025-290-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1704\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Romero\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@OrangeCoFL\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" 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2026\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-31T12:45:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newsroom.ocfl.net\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/the-demings-digest-january-2026\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":260,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newsroom.ocfl.net\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newsroom.ocfl.net\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/the-demings-digest-january-2026\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newsroom.ocfl.net\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/OCFL2025-290-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Mayor\u2019s Letter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newsroom.ocfl.net\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/the-demings-digest-january-2026\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newsroom.ocfl.net\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/the-demings-digest-january-2026\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Demings Digest | January 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