These oral histories were conducted by FIU students in collaboration with Catalyst Miami and include interviews documenting the experiences of Miami-Dade residents facing the county’s persistent economic inequality. Participants include community advocates, members of Catalyst Miami programs, and a local public official. The narrators describe the interconnection between the wealth gap and issues of housing, business ownership, and the digital divide.

The project includes a series of interviews with 12 community members in which they tell their stories of how they’ve been personally affected by one of the three focus areas. We work alongside these frontline community members to collectively shape our shared vision of Miami. Their stories showcase the current realities of our broken systems and offer community-based solutions.

Click here to listen to the full set of interviews from the Oral History Collection.

Below are some of the resources and additional media developed by the students during this project.

• Housing Resources
• Business Ownership in Miami
• Connecting Housing to the Wealth Gap
• The Digital Divide

Across the country, communities and workers are shifting decision-making power to neighborhood residents, students and teachers, workers and working class communities. They are demanding accountability to ensure governing institutions uphold everyones’ fundamental human rights.

Collaborative governance, also known as co-governance, is a collection of participatory models and practices in which government and communities work together (through formal and informal structures) to make collective policy decisions, co-create programs to meet community needs, and ensure those policies and programs are implemented effectively.

Race Forward and Partners for Dignity & Rights are excited to announce the release of a new report, Co-Governing Toward Multiracial Democracy, featuring powerful models of collaborative governance led by communities of color across the country.

The report illustrates it is possible to build power and give community members a say over their life decisions.This happens when organizations engage with government entities to change policy, establish a culture of justice, and center community participation.

Click here to view the complete report.

With contributions from Gretchen Beesing and Ahmed Mori, Catalyst Miami.

A study on savings funded by JPMorgan Chase that was conducted throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. This exploratory study aims to help explain the causes of low-income individuals’ real-life savings behavior. Personality traits like someone's attitude towards risk, their ability to persevere, and their anxiety levels were found to affect how much risk low-income individuals were willing to take, which in turn impacted their ability to save and improve their financial standings.

Read the full report here.

In late 2020 / early 2021, Catalyst Miami surveyed small and microbusinesses across North Miami to find out what types of support they needed. We received responses from 102 business owners and aggregated the findings in this report. 

While the respondents expressed hope and optimism for the future, the survey results made clear that nonprofit and public providers of technical assistance need to do a better job of reaching small businesses. Businesses don't just want and need money—they also desire technical help with finances, marketing, networking, and other areas that contribute to business growth.

Read the report here. 

Know a small or microbusiness that could use support? Click here to learn about our free services and sign up for an appointment.

Catalyst Miami experimented with using financial apps to see if they help our clients save more money and create better financial habits. This report was prepared by the University of Miami.

Read the document here.

A report by Urban Land Institute (ULI) Tampa Bay for the City of St. Petersburg with a particular focus on economic development and social equity strategies. Addressing a changing environment in an equitable way is a challenge that all Tampa Bay communities must grapple with. This report is intended to be a helpful guide region-wide. Catalyst Miami was a contributor.

Read the document here.

A vision for equitable housing policy in south Florida communities and advocates fighting for dignified and sustainable housing for all.

Read the document here.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
In July 2019, over 75 Miami-Dade County residents represented their neighborhoods at the Miami Housing & Energy Justice Congress, where over 40 demands related to neighborhood development and energy justice were voiced. This kicked off a seven month revision process collecting public feedback through community meetings. As a result, the Housing Justice in the Face of Climate Change Report was collaboratively developed by over 200 Miami-Dade County residents and stakeholders.

At its core, the Miami Climate Alliance is a coalition of organizations and individuals working to prioritize climate justice in South Florida. The Miami Climate Alliance seeks to achieve equity in resilience by building urgency around community well-being, strengthening networks of community members and organizations, raising awareness of climate change and sea level rise as threats to all forms of justice, and directly supporting those working to implement solutions in frontline neighborhoods now.

In this report, JPMorgan Chase & Co. Institute studies racial gaps in liquid assets, take-home income, and families' consumption response to income volatility.

Read the document here.

This study investigated the relationship between personality metrics and savings behaviors amongst low-wealth individuals in Miami. A number of Catalyst Miami clients participated in the study, which included brain scans conducted by FIU Center for Imagine Science. This study was funded by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Read the document here.

In November 2019, Future Bound Miami was launched as Florida's first universal children's savings account program. This report captures our research and planning process in bringing the program from concept to implementation.

Read the document here.