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December 19, 2023 – ORLANDO, FL – This update is meant to further transparency around the City of Orlando’s development of a permanent memorial on the Pulse site and continue to keep the community updated on those efforts.
This update corresponds with an update that the OnePulse Foundation sent to its email database this morning on behalf of the City of Orlando.
Since the city’s acquisition of the Pulse site in October, several actions have occurred to move this process forward, including:
History of Work Done to Date
Part of the city’s process to move the memorial forward involves understanding the history of the effort to create a memorial up until this point. To that end, on November 27, Mayor Dyer convened a meeting with the OnePulse Foundation Board to gain insight and information on work they’ve done to date towards the creation of a memorial. During that meeting, the board agreed to share memorial design work with the city.
Annual Remembrance Ceremony and the CommUNITY 5k Run
Another goal of the meeting with OnePulse Foundation Board was to understand the impacts of their organization’s dissolution. In addition to leading the memorial process, the city has committed to ensuring the Annual Remembrance Ceremony and the CommUNITY Rainbow Run, in partnership with UCF DeVos Sport Business Management Program, both formerly organized by OnePulse, continue in 2024. These events allow the community to come together to honor the 49 angels every year. Additional information and details about partnerships for the planning of the Remembrance Ceremony and the CommUNITY 5k Run are still being finalized.
Establishing the Orlando United Pulse Memorial Fund
Mayor Dyer believes the best approach to creating a memorial at the Pulse site is for the City of Orlando to lead the process. To do this, the city will utilize its existing 501c3 and establish the Orlando United Pulse Memorial Fund. This will allow for interested businesses, community organizations and individuals to contribute financially towards the creation of the memorial.
Community and Stakeholder Engagement
Critical to the creation of a permanent memorial at the Pulse site that honors the victims, those impacted by the tragedy and pays tribute to the resiliency of Orlando is working with the victims’ families and survivors. To further that effort, the city is finalizing a process for engaging and communicating with the victims’ families, the survivors and first responders for the memorial process. To start, the city has established a dedicated webpage to collect contact information that can be reached at orlando.gov/pulsememorial.
Continued Commitment
The city remains committed to the development of the permanent memorial at the Pulse site and doing it in a thoughtful, planned, transparent and timely manner. The city will continue to update the community as this work advances and there are more details to share.
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