Policy & Advocacy
We believe community members should be at the helm of public decision-making, particularly regarding issues that are central to their lives.
To ensure equitable access to democratic processes and catalyze change from the ground up, we train individuals as grassroots leaders and build high-impact coalitions that work toward building a just and thriving Miami. Our inclusive policy and advocacy work also enables us to conduct deep community engagement, as well as develop community-led programs that increase civic participation and resilience. Through this collective approach, we can build the people power that’s needed to achieve constituency-informed policy and system reforms.
Scroll down for more about our work and a list of our programs.
Our community advocacy and organizing initiatives are creating transformative change.
Listening to our communities through organizing and direct service
Connecting residents to opportunities for advocacy and civic engagement
Achieving policy wins in coalition with our communities and partners
Boosting community participation in town halls, associations, committees
Training individuals to become grassroots leaders in their communities and beyond
Building, growing and catalyzing networks for collective action
Issues We Care About
Policy change is needed to ensure everyone's needs are met; distribute resources equitably; amend or enforce existing laws; and respond to new threats. For Catalyst Miami, the policy issues that take priority are those that are critical to the well-being of Miami-Dade’s low-wealth communities, as well as issues that the community emphasizes are important.
Neighborhood-based Resilience
Catalyst Miami’s neighborhood-based resilience initiative focuses on the communities of North Miami and Overtown. The goal of this initiative is to facilitate grassroots-led, neighborhood-level community organizing, so that residents can unite around transformative change.
Network Development and Support
Catalyst Miami supports new and existing networks with the goal of building capacity across sectors, issues, and communities. Examples include the Miami Climate Alliance, the Clean Energy For All coalition, the Consumer State Advocacy Project, the Miami Birth Justice Initiative, and more. By linking the grassroots leaders from our trainings and programs to groups like these, we foster sustained, effective activism. This also provides them with opportunities to be aware of what is going on nationally, statewide, and locally so they can get involved through their community projects and direct advocacy work. Network-backed action plays a critical role in policy wins on the issues we care about.
Leadership Training
Through our leadership development work, Catalyst Miami has helped hundreds of adults and youth find their voices through public policy training and practice. We’ve also created leadership pipelines, connecting community members with opportunities to speak out, whether at commission meetings or by serving on municipal boards.
We are committed to tailoring our civic leadership programming to community-identified priorities. Our goal is to inspire resident-informed, resident-led resilience strategies that include a grassroots, community-driven policy agenda.
Participatory Budgeting
The Covid-19 pandemic unveiled the widespread suffering many in Miami-Dade County continue to face daily due to a lack of stable housing, adequately-paid jobs, and affordable healthcare. On top of this, 2020 put a nationwide spotlight on police brutality, particularly after the brutal murder of George Floyd. Motivated by these realities, hundreds of Miami-Dade County residents bravely shared their vision for less criminalization and more housing, social services, environmental protections, and critical community programs at the 2020-21 Miami-Dade County budget hearings.
Catalyst to the Capital
Every year, we organize and host a three-day trip to Tallahassee, and we bring community members and partners with us. There, we all meet face-to-face with elected officials to advocate for the policies that are of highest priority to our communities. Participants of Catalyst to the Capital (C2C) receive training, meet with legislators, and advocate for their communities.
Disability Rights & The Enable Project
The Enable Project is a Catalyst-led coalition that trains nonprofits about the inclusion of people with disabilities in their organizations and movements. The goals of this collaborative project are three-fold:
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to assist persons with disabilities in securing public benefits to which they are entitled;
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to increase civic engagement among people with disabilities so that their voice is heard in policy decisions that impact their lives; and
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to increase the representation of people with disabilities in social justice movements.