John Paul Fiore

By Andrew Meacham

Atfirst, finding himself working for the Department of Children and Families (DCF) could have looked to John Paul Fiore like a pleasant coincidence, the kind people rely on to say a given partnership, job or marriage was meant to be.

And it might have been that, the way Fiore stumbled across an application form for a fellowship program while looking for something else. Fiore was working as a Weiss Legal Fellow then for the First Amendment Foundation, while going through his first year at the University of Florida (UF) law school.

The application was for aspiring Florida Gubernatorial Fellows, a state program that seeks promising students to immerse in key areas of in state government. A storybook sequence of events followed, starting with the Gubernatorial Fellows placing him with DCF. Today, Fioire, 30, is both a lawyer and lobbyist serving as DCF’s Director of Legislative Affairs.

“The best thing I can say about him is his attitude,” said Justin “JD” Davis, the Cabinet Affairs Director for the Department of Environmental Protection, who met Fiore when both men worked at DCF. “Even when things were stressful, you never had any doubt that he was going to get the job done.”

Lindsey Zander also worked alongside Fiore for three years at DCF, and now serves as Executive Director of the Florida Education Foundation. “He is incredibly dedicated, hardworking, professional, intelligent, loyal and extremely dedicated to the mission the Department serves,”

Zander wrote in an email.

In fact, pivotal developments in his own childhood played a larger role in preparing Fiore for his current role than anything that has happened since.

He spent most of the first decade of his life in Connecticut, the only son of a Brazilian mother and a father with New York-Italian roots. The marriage did not last. When Fiore was 10, his mother took him with her to a town in Minas Gerais, a state in southeastern Brazil.

The boy admired the resilient spirit of the Brazilian people but struggled initially to learn Portuguese. He spoke with a slight stutter and feared public speaking. A middle-school “contemporary studies” class changed all that.

Students were assigned to follow news events and come to class ready to discuss an issue in a cleareyed way. Instead of simply talking about rampant government corruption, he said, students were told to provide information that might help explain any causes.

“That really sparked my interest,” he said, “and made me pay attention to the importance of having a seat at the table, and making sure that you are engaged, tuned in and involved.”

The class presentations also improved his confidence; he lost the stutter and no longer feared public speaking.

Mother and son returned to Connecticut when Fiore was 14. Both parents put in extra hours, his mother in her hair removal business and his father as a retail manager, to make sure JP could get through college without student debt.

He studied political science and geography at UF, volunteered for Dance Marathon and joined Florida Blue Key. He joined DCF in 2018 through Florida Gubernatorial Fellows and has only moved up the ranks since, from legislative specialist, Deputy Legislative Affairs Director and now the Department’s Legislative Affairs Director.

DCF deals with a wide range of crises, including child abuse, substance abuse and mental health, homelessness, adult protective services and human trafficking. “The best role of government is in acknowledging the good government can do as a catalyst for moving the needle in the right direction.”

Toward that end, the Department relies on Hope Florida, founded by Florida’s First Lady Casey DeSantis, and other nonprofits.

Away from work, Fiore is a self-described homebody. Last fall he married Gabi Olvera, who was born in Brazil. They have a 6-month-old daughter, Penelope. Being a new husband and father has enlarged his passion for the work he does.

“All we want is to be able to provide a shelter, a home where they’ll be safe and have food every night,” he said. “It’s bare-minimum things we can’t turn a blind eye to.”

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