Pages tagged "News"
Miami Community Newspapers | Commission approves $500K investment in universal Children’s Savings Accounts
Originally published by Miami Community Newspapers
Miami-Dade County commissioners on Oct. 8 passed a resolution granting $500,000 for the expansion of Future Bound Miami, a universal Children’s Savings Account (CSA) program that will be implemented in phases throughout Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
The funds, which will come from the Community Disparities Subcommittee reserve, will provide CSAs with initial “seed” deposits to more kindergarten students in the district. The 10 commissioners in attendance voted unanimously in support of the item.
Future Bound Miami, launched in fall 2019, establishes a CSA for kindergarten students attending 30 elementary schools that feed into the five high schools within the City of Miami. This new investment from the county expands the program to include an additional 98 schools. The goal is to make CSAs available to all kindergarten students in Miami-Dade County Public Schools by 2023.
“By contributing additional seed funding to the Future Bound Miami program, and leveraging it with contributions from the private sector, we are helping to address economic disparities in our county, helping to make our community stronger and more economically resilient,” said Commissioner Eileen Higgins, who championed this legislation.
“Research has proven that these accounts have a positive impact on early childhood development and academic performance, increase future financial capability, and reduce the racial wealth gap. By investing in our children, we’re investing in the future of Miami-Dade,” she added.
Children’s savings accounts put postsecondary education within reach by allowing students and families to accumulate savings and increase educational expectations. Research shows that children with a college savings account of as little as one dollar are three times more likely to go to college and four times more likely to graduate.
“Today’s vote to invest in the future of our youth is a big step forward in reducing Miami-Dade’s wealth gap,” said Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava. “I am a long-time advocate of CSAs because we know they improve early childhood development and academic performance, raise the college expectations of children and parents, and improve the financial future of our children.”
Gretchen Beesing, CEO of Catalyst Miami, said, “Catalyst Miami has been working on this for over five years with a consortium of dedicated partners. We’re thrilled that the BCC has chosen to make this investment in our county’s children.”
To learn more about the program, visit www.futureboundmiami.org.
U.S. News & World Report | A Miami Nonprofit Promotes Disaster Savings Accounts in Hurricane Season
By Noreen Marcus, U.S. News & World Report Contributor
A man pushes a cart with plywood sheets in Miami in preparation for Hurricane Dorian, in 2019. A Miami nonprofit is aims to help residents prepare for hurricanes and other natural disasters by putting aside savings. EVA MARIE UZCATEGUI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
MIAMI — CHRISTOPHER Vasquez, 19, works in a nursing home during a pandemic and aspires to become a mechanical engineer. The education takes money at a time he's scrambling to pay his bills because his hours were cut.
But this ambitious young man from Homestead, in south Miami-Dade County, has a strategic advantage: He knows how to save.
Vasquez sharpened this skill a year ago through a matching-grant pilot program sponsored by banking giant JPMorgan Chase & Co. The manager is Catalyst Miami, a nonprofit that promotes climate change resiliency and equitable resources for low-income communities.
Its Disaster Preparedness Matched Savings Program is restarting with a $300,000 grant from JPMorgan Chase's corporate responsibility team that also covers the costs of a hurricane preparation project, an ongoing effort involving supplies and training for preparation and recovery.
"This is happening right now because people need it," says Gretchen Beesing, CEO of Catalyst Miami. "We've started putting in the orders for hurricane kits. We've already had near misses and we're approaching the height of hurricane season."
The nonprofit's disaster savings program aims to help residents prepare for hurricanes and other natural disasters by putting aside something to fall back on. Pioneered by Catalyst Miami staffers, the initial concept was simple: Work with a financial coach, open a bank account or use an existing one to hold at least $100 in deposits, and, after two months, you get a $200 match.
For Vasquez, one of 65 who participated in the pilot last year, it worked then and it's working now. The Miami Dade College student is on track to get his associate's degree in May and then pursue a bachelor's degree in engineering at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
During hurricane season last year, the savings plan "gave me a sense that I was able to run out and get gas or buy water or food and not worry about my credit card being declined," Vasquez says. "It gave me a sense of ease, like calmness. Maybe the calm before the storm."
Beesing says the program's financial coaches counteract payday lenders who charge outrageously high interest but offer straightforward loan transactions. "We try to move people away from that and demystify banking so people feel more comfortable saving their money there."
The coaches recommend safe financial products with reasonable minimum balances and fees.
"We match people to the tools that are going to meet their needs," she says. "If they need a food bank, we're not gonna talk their heads off about saving money. It's not the right time."
Listening with empathy means the program is changing so that clients won't be required to set aside money they have no way of getting. "Folks are in such dire straits this time around, we felt like it would be tone deaf when so many are unemployed or underemployed," Beesing says.
Instead of saving their own money to qualify for the $200 match, they'll earn it by working with a financial coach, she says.
A year ago, just as the pilot ended, Hurricane Dorian veered away from the Florida coastline. After devastating the Abaco Islands in the Bahamas, the Category 5 storm had come perilously close to striking densely populated South Florida. Cue a collective sigh of relief.
Now a once-in-a-100-years pandemic highlights the need to constantly prepare for a less foreseeable disaster. Florida health officials reported 665,730 COVID-19 cases as of Monday; Miami-Dade County alone has suffered 2,894 deaths.
"The pandemic taught all of us that anything can happen. Nobody was prepared for this," Beesing says. "Nobody's prepared for Miami to be leveled by a hurricane, either, but we need to think about what could happen and do everything within reach to protect our families."
For Maribel Corona, 22, another graduate of the disaster savings program, it's always about family. A coordinator for the nonprofit Mexican American Council, she lives with her parents and two younger siblings in Florida City, just north of the Keys.
Corona serves as household translator for her Mexico-born parents and role model for her younger sister. When she opened a bank account, she had to navigate the confusing process on her own, but her mother stood by to sign permission papers.
A coach taught Vasquez to jot down every expenditure – every order of french fries, every cool T-shirt – "and by the end of the week the total I'd spent was incredible," he says. "We played with numbers to maximize our money." These days, even with work, school and a lot on his mind, he never skips noting a purchase on his phone.
Throughout the savings program, Corona was both student and instructor. "Whatever I learn, I come back home and teach my family," she says. "I've been able to educate my parents, like saying, 'do this and please don't do that,' because it messes up your credit score."
The money she saved came in handy recently when her father's plant nursery employer laid him off because of the pandemic. He was jobless for three weeks until he started working construction jobs.
"I was able to help him out with that account, so it's been very beneficial," Corona says. "It's not just for disaster preparation, it's for personal emergencies. I know I'll be OK for a certain amount of time, so that really does help mentally."
Corona enthusiastically describes another benefit of taking part in the 2019 pilot, the hurricane kit she received as a parting gift: portable radio; reusable water jug; solar-powered lantern; waterproof, zippered document bag; and first-aid kit.
Miami Herald | Miami-Dade County has a democracy problem
This op-ed was originally published in the Miami Herald on Sunday, September 6, 2020. Click here to read the September 6, 2020 e-edition.
By Zelalem Adefris, Catalyst Miami;
Meena Jagannath and Alana Greer, Community Justice Project
The Sept. 3 Miami-Dade County Commission’s budget hearing should have every resident, regardless of political views, deeply concerned about the state of democracy in our county. The meeting defied all conventional assumptions about civic engagement. The message was: If you turn out in numbers and organize around a collective vision, you are more likely to be belittled and ignored.
More than 200 people, including many youth, delivered three and half hours of public comments, imploring the commission to invest more in housing, health and environmental sustainability in these extraordinary times. Yet, their message and personal stories were summarily dismissed by Mayor Carlos Gimenez as “scripted,” unworthy of careful consideration by those on the dais who purport to know what’s best for us.
The mayor would have us believe that periodic voting by an unacceptably small percentage of the electorate is plenty democracy for us. A healthy democracy requires active engagement and accountability once leaders take office. The residents who take time off work to attend commission meetings, educate themselves on complex agendas and spend their evening waiting to speak, many for the first time, understand that. Our leaders must, too.
We often wonder why Miami-Dade is disengaged with what goes on in governmental halls. The answer lies in the consistent attempt to make those who speak out feel small and foolish. People shouldn’t have to subject themselves to censure to participate in democracy. People are exasperated by the state of governance in Miami-Dade, but speak we must. The future of Greater Miami’s democracy depends on it.
50th Earth Day: Inspiring FL Voices Rising to the Challenges
May 11, 2020
By: Sierra Club Florida News
Voices serving frontline communities both disproportionately impacted by the coronavirus crisis and vulnerable to the impacts of the climate crisis came together from across Florida on the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day. Stories of struggle and hope, from activists rising to overcome these challenges and the environmental and social injustices they expose, made clear how these issues are interconnected, how the pandemic has laid bare our vulnerabilities, and what system changes are needed to secure a just and livable planet Earth for all.
Panelists:
- Farmworker Association of Florida: Jeannie Economos (Coordinator, Pesticide Safety and Environmental Health Project)
- Coalition of Immokalee Workers: Oscar Otzoy (translator: Natalia Naranjo)
- The Smile Trust: Valencia Gunder (Co-Director)
- Catalyst Miami: Mayra Cruz (Climate Resilience Program Manager)
- Sister Robin Haines Merrill: Upper Room Art Gallery
- Dr. Jennifer Taylor (Coordinator of FAMU's Small Farm Programs, Florida's 2019 Woman of the Year in Agriculture)
Moderator: Diana Umpierre, Sierra Club
To watch the full livestream, click here. To watch coverage by Go! Latinos Magazine, click here.
To support the work of these frontline community leaders, navigate to this bookmark.
Summary of what we heard
A reflection on the 50th Earth Day would be amiss without noting that while air and water are cleaner in some respects in many parts of the country (though not all) we are now dealing with other threats, some which are more harmful than we imagined 50 years ago, including human-caused climate change. The 50th anniversary of Earth Day should be a turning point, when we stop business as usual and together rebuild an economy that protects people, wildlife and the planet, from pandemics and the climate emergency.
How do we do that? Sierra Club Florida invited a number of strong frontline leaders to share what this moment is teaching us:
Jeannie Economos with Farmworker Association of Florida pointed out how the current pandemic and the climate crisis disproportionately affects farmworkers: “One of the things that this pandemic has pointed out is how crucial and important our food supply is…that for decades and decades farmworkers, the people that harvest the food that gets to our table, have been called the invisible workers and all of the sudden now they are the essential workers... They've been the essential workers all along… They are the first line on the food chain that gets the food to our grocery stores.” She also pointed out that (1) many farmworkers in Florida are undocumented and as a result they are unqualified for assistance like coronavirus-related stimulus programs, (2) farmworkers “have some of the worst housing conditions, the worst pay, the worst working conditions,” (3) they are exposed to toxic pesticides and fertilizers, (4) and sometimes they are left without hand-washing water or drinking water in the fields. Jeannie said “with climate change, we're finding that heat stress is an increasing problem”. She reminded us that “the first farmworkers in the US were enslaved people from Africa and [that]… there is a direct line from the horrors of slavery… to farmworkers today.. many... live in a kind of indentured servitude or kind of a modern-day slavery... This moment is showing us what we've been trying to say for years, that there's something fundamentally, institutionally, systematically wrong.. because our entire agricultural system is based on exploitation of labor and exploitation of our planet.”
Oscar Otzoy with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), assisted by translator Natalia Naranjo, recounted how the coalition has been helping farmworkers in southwest Florida to improve their wages, benefits, and working conditions. CIW educates and empowers farmworkers to defend their own rights while working in the fields. They provide educational materials in at least three languages devoted to preventing problems that commonly afflict farmworkers. Oscar shared that they have been distributing facial masks and doing outreach via local radio and flyers so workers understand the risks and how to protect themselves during the coronavirus pandemic. Other important CIW initiatives include worker to worker education, public education to consumers and the Fair Food Program that is motivating retailers to buy from farms that respect the human rights of farmworkers. Without farmworkers, agricultural producers cannot feed the nation.
Valencia Gunder shared how The Smile Trust has been helping vulnerable populations in urban Miami, including unsheltered homeless and others experiencing food insecurity, many of whom are black and brown. She pointed out that climate change, pandemics and natural and man-made disasters multiply the threats to communities already experiencing social hardships. With the assistance of a local physician, unsheltered folks are being tested for COVID-19 and provided tents. They also have a mutual aid fund that is providing food stipends to people in need, including the undocumented. With the help of volunteers that speak different languages they are also phone banking vulnerable senior citizens to make sure they are okay and to identify unmet needs. The Smile Trust does not get any funding from the government. Valencia looks at their work as “solidarity not charity.” She pointed out how America is a first world country that creates second class citizens who have to live in third world situations.
Mayra Cruz with Catalyst Miami shared how they aimed to build the health and wealth of low and middle income individuals and families in Miami. Catalyst Miami provides financial literacy training and leadership and advocacy training, including on issues related to climate and affordable housing. They have shifted how they deliver these services due to the coronavirus pandemic, including a hotline that provides advice with housing issues and navigating the unemployment benefits website. With the hurricane season nearing, they are also looking into how people can safely shelter in place while social distancing and have safe access to food supplies. They have organized demand letters and petitions to the Governor and Florida Power & Light (FPL) to call for a moratorium on utility shut offs. Mayra said “we already knew that a lot of these systems that are in place have been failing our most vulnerable… [and] it's really important… to connect the dots for people: climate change and coronavirus have a lot of similarities. People that are feeling the most impacts are the same ones that have been feeling the impacts of climate change already.” She also warned to not be fooled by the fact that as soon as these economies open up again the assistance people are getting will go away: “We should be asking... local officials.. how do we come back in a way that's stronger, more resilient?”
Robin Haines Merrill from Fort Lauderdale shared how she was inspired to start a street market initiative to help local farmers and folks in the food and entertainment service industry affected by the pandemic. She said: “I'm basically a recycler…when I saw on social media these huge mounds of green & yellow squash being dumped... I just decided .. I'm gonna go down and just fill up my car and give it away. So that's how it started." Robin is now using donated funds “to buy from the farmers... because they've lost their orders of cruise ships, theme parks, school boards and the restaurants that are closed.” She's been loading up her SUV, going up to a local farm about three times a week and then hosting a “street market” where she gives away the produce for free to those in need. She’s particularly focused on helping those who have lost their jobs in the hospitality and entertainment industries, including restaurant workers, housekeepers, and janitors. She has also been giving produce to “Food Not Bombs” in Fort Lauderdale, who cook it and give it out to the homeless in the area.
Dr. Jennifer Taylor is a university professor at Florida A&M University (FAMU) and an organic farmer who grows vegetables and fruits and models the type of organic systems she teaches about. She coordinates FAMU’s Statewide Small Farm Program which among others provides hands-on training opportunities to farmers on regenerative organic farming practices and alternative market development via participatory capacity building that helps identify needs and develop solutions. They work to equip underserved farming populations, including indigenous, minority and small-scale farmers. Farmers learn about food sovereignty and organic sustainable living and how to be good stewards of their own farms, their community and the ecosystem. During the current pandemic, they provide guidance so farmers can offer healthy organically-grown produce using social distancing, gloves and masks. Farmers have been experiencing a resurgence of interest from many customers who have found empty shelves at the grocery store. "It's really important for us to reexamine our food system... building in agroecology… providing healthy environments for our farmworkers...and the local community at large…[It’s] a time of reflection.. at seeing how we can do things differently."
Panelists were asked to reflect on how some say to stay in our lane, to focus on just environmental issues, and that social justice has little to do with environmental advocacy.
Valencia responded by quoting Audre Lorde: "There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives." She reminded us how the environmental justice movement started because black communities were getting waste dumped in their neighborhoods and how environmental injustices started with slavery. She said: "I don't even understand the ideology of the separation... Environmental advocacy has to align with social justice because who are you advocating for? What are you pushing if you're not responding to people, to human beings?.. There's no environmental advocacy without it being tied to social justice. It must be, and it always should be... It ain't no lane to stay on when it's only one."
Oscar replied that he finds it very interesting when people not directly affected are talking about climate change. Farmworkers are directly living the consequences of corporate decisions, which is why it’s important for farmworkers to share how they are directly impacted by climate change.
Mayra reflected that "the people that might think that social justice and environmental justice aren't linked don't recognize their privilege...They might be blind to the fact that climate change impacts certain populations disproportionately...You have to humanize these issues.”
Ways to support these frontline groups and community leaders
Farmworker Association of Florida
- Sign these 3 petitions: Tell House Speaker: Stop the Trump admin from lowering farm worker wages during COVID-19, Tell Congress: #ProtectAllWorkers (Food Workers are Not Disposable) and Tell Congress: Future COVID-19 ag legislation must include farm workers
- Donate to their Coronavirus Relief for Farmworkers
- Hear more farmworker stories here, including about their exposure to heat.
- Subscribe to their newsletter.
Coalition of Immokalee Workers
- Sign petition (for individuals): Ask Gov DeSantis: Protect FL farmworkers during the COVID-19 crisis and/or this organization petition for non-profits, unions or any other organization.
- Donate to them here.
- Learn more about their Fair Food Program.
- Subscribe to their newsletter.
The Smile Trust
- To learn more, subscribe or volunteer to fight against homelessness, add your email here.
- If you would like to sponsor an individual or a family, email: [email protected]
- To phonebank senior residents, email: [email protected]
- Donate to them here
Catalyst Miami
- Sign-on to letter calling on FPL to provide transparency and forgiveness in light of COVID19
- Learn about housing justice in the face of climate change, here.
- Donate to them here.
- To partner with them, click here.
Robin Haines Merrill
- To donate to her street market initiative, click here.
Dr. Jennifer Taylor
- To learn more about her work helping small underserved farmers, click here.
- To learn more about IFOAM principles of organic farming she talked about, click here.
For other ways to volunteer online to help FL vulnerable communities during the pandemic, click here.
This story originally appeared in the Sierra Club Florida News
Holistic Life Foundation to Host 14-Day Self-Care Challenge on Instagram Live
May 11, 2020
By: South Florida Caribbean News
Nonprofit Brings Virtual Mindfulness Practice to Families Who #stayathome with Breathe Overtown Campaign
MIAMI – Holistic Life Foundation (HLF), a nonprofit empowering underserved communities through yoga, mindfulness and self-care practice, along with partners Catalyst Miami and Overtown Children and Youth Coalition (OCYC) is bringing a virtual 14-Day Self-Care Challenge to Overtown families – and beyond – with its Breathe Overtown campaign.
Beginning May 11th and concluding May 28th, Holistic Life Foundation senior staff will lead a 10-minute mindfulness practice via Instagram @HolisticLifeFoundation daily at 10 am.
This “10 @ 10” live daily practice is to encourage and support Overtown-based children and their families to “take a break and breathe” during this often-overwhelming time at home.
Although this partnership began in Overtown, the organizations hope families nationwide will participate in the community mindfulness initiative.
“We are excited to introduce this 14-Day Self-Care Challenge to Overtown with Holistic Life Foundation,” said Graylyn Swilley Woods, Ph.D, executive director of the Overtown Children and Youth Coalition. “The Overtown Children and Youth Coalition welcomed the opportunity to collaborate with the Holistic Life Foundation, nationally recognized for delivering transformative services for at-risk youth. We want to ensure that our residents have skills to cope during the pandemic and beyond. The innovative programming with the Holistic Life Foundation will help strengthen the resiliency and Social-Emotional Learning skills of all families in Overtown.”
“The global pandemic has altered nearly everything about the way we live,” said Holistic Life Foundation co-founder Ali Smith. “Adjusting to this new reality is hard for everyone, with a lot of stress on working parents and young people in particular. Much like our hometown of Baltimore, Overtown is a place with a rich history and a vibrant community, but one with significant obstacles for its residents. We created the Breathe Overtown campaign after a recent Overtown community meeting where local community leaders expressed concern over the impact of such heightened levels of stress. The goal is to alleviate anxiety and focus on self-care to help navigate their feelings through this confusing and difficult time. We also love the idea of making this a family activity for families who are learning how to navigate new routines with children of all ages.”
The Baltimore-based nonprofit recently expanded into South Florida and until school shutdowns due to COVID19, HLF was serving 10,000 youth each week through its partnerships in the Baltimore City Public School system. HLF has been able to pivot its organizational approach to still meet the HLF mission of empowering underserved communities in both locations.
“Catalyst Miami is thrilled to have the opportunity to collaborate with both the Overtown Children and Youth Coalition and the Holistic Life Foundation,” said Gretchen Beesing, CEO of Catalyst Miami. “Synergies exist between the three organizations where we may leverage each other’s strengths to provide innovative programming, working together to strengthen the resiliency and an overall culture of health of all families in Overtown.”
“We are excited that our local partners in the Overtown community helped design this innovative program and are the ones on the ground who can allow us to reach more people,” added Phoebe Haupt, Regional Director of the HLF South Florida Initiative. “Both Catalyst Miami and the Overtown Children and Youth Coalition are well-respected organizations in the community known for their grassroots presence and knowledge of the community.”
To participate in daily instruction from anywhere in the world, follow @HolisticLifeFoundation on Instagram and view stories beginning at 10am 5/11.
Live video instruction will be available for replay until 10a the following day.
This article originally appeared on South Florida Caribbean News
With a pandemic, lost jobs and record heat, Miami’s poor can’t afford air conditioning
May 9, 2020
By: David Ovalle
.mcclatchy-embed{position:relative;padding:40px 0 56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;max-width:100%}.mcclatchy-embed iframe{position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%}Liberty Square housing projects residents share thoughts regarding living with the COVID-19 pandemic and navigating the stresses of shelter-in-place and health policies. By Carl Juste
Like millions during the global coronavirus pandemic, Donna Hester is suffering. She’s been furloughed from her $12-an-hour job as a cashier at Burlington Coat Factory.
But as she waits for work to resume, Hester can’t shelter comfortably at home.
Instead, the 59-year-old mother spends most of her time on the porch of her Miami Gardens house, fanning herself in the scorching, record-breaking South Florida heat. Her old central air-conditioning unit broke down for good in February, shortly before the pandemic.
The couple hundred dollars she gets every week in unemployment isn’t anywhere near enough to help her buy a new cooling unit, which will cost her between $4,500 and $10,000.
“I don’t rest well at night. Having a ceiling fan and a rotating fan just does not make me comfortable resting at night,” Hester said.
The unprecedented economic collapse has made life miserable for countless South Floridians, but perhaps none so much as those who lack air conditioning, or must limit the use of their units because they can’t afford the bills. With most people spending more time at home — watching TV, playing video games and running their appliances — bills figure to skyrocket along with AC usage.
While much of the country boasts mild spring weather — though New England is supposed to get snow this weekend — South Florida has been sweltering. Temperatures in South Florida in April broke records: more than 6 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than usual.
“We have yet to fully grasp how people will be economically impacted by higher utility bills due to increased need for air conditioning while sheltering in place,” said Denise Ghartey, a fellow with Miami’s Community Justice Project, a legal group that works to better the lives of low-income people. “Add that on top of accumulating rent bills, and it could create havoc of its own.”
The vast majority of South Floridians have some form of air conditioning: Just 1.4 percent of homes here lack AC. But among those who don’t, renters have it worst. So do African-American residents in South Florida, of whom 2.2 percent lack AC, according to the Urban Institute, a think tank that studies housing.
Places people without air conditioning can normally cool off — like malls and movie theaters — are shuttered. And there are health risks. In Miami’s humidity, the lack of AC can also lead to mold and breathing problems, a frightening prospect during an outbreak of a highly contagious virus, experts say.
“We know in places like Miami and in the Southwest, not having AC, not having some cooling system, is a major health risk, especially during the summer. We’re seeing record temperatures across the country every year, and Miami is in harm’s way.” said Carlos Martín, an Urban Institute senior fellow who has written about substandard housing during the pandemic.
Lack of cooling is a long-standing problem, particularly in Miami-Dade’s public housing, which is supported by federal dollars from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
HUD, however, does not provide funding for air conditioning, and does not require cooling units in its supported housing. In sprawling housing projects, particularly in black neighborhoods across Miami-Dade, common areas become places to congregate to beat the heat — something that is discouraged during the pandemic.
“It is something we are concerned about as we move into the summer months,” said Michael Liu, the head of Miami-Dade’s public housing agency.
But even for Miami’s poorest residents, just having AC doesn’t mean they can pay to keep their homes cool.
At Liberty Square, the county’s oldest public housing project, the lack of air conditioning has historically been a problem. Still, many of the homes have been outfitted with wall AC units in recent years.
But on a recent week day, Erica Taylor, 30, dabbed sweat from her forehead as she stood outside her family’s Liberty Square apartment. The AC unit works fine, but she and her mother have stopped running it because they can’t afford an electricity bill that would end up running between $100 and $200.
“It’s just too hot but I run the fan a lot,” said Taylor, who is currently unemployed and has been unable to find work during the pandemic.
Florida Power & Light says it’s doing its part to help people like Taylor, suspending disconnections through May 31. Thanks to lower fuel costs, FPL says, the utility says it’s also issuing a one-time decrease of nearly 25 percent for the typical residential bill.
“Customers experiencing hardship can also continue to work with FPL to find a payment plan that works for them,” Bill Orlove, an FPL spokesman, said in an email. “Additionally, FPL will continue to connect customers with resources from federal, state and local agencies that may be able to offer financial assistance.”
A coalition of community organizers called the Miami Climate Alliance has sent a demand letter to FPL asking for more clarity on who qualifies for customer relief. Among their demands: dropping re-connection fees and extending the moratorium on electricty disconnection, for at least one month after a state of emergency ends.
“Creating a cushion and a grace period after the state of emergency ends will go a long way to supporting families struggling to get back on their feet,’ said the petition, signed by groups such as the Community Justice Project, Catalyst Miami and the Dream Defenders.
This story originally appeared on The Miami Herald
This Foundation Takes a Unique Approach to Climate Philanthropy—and Gets Results
April 20, 2020
Originally published by Inside Philanthrophy
By: Laurie Mazur
Climate protestors in Miami, where advocates successfully pushed for greater community involvement in key decisions. Hernando Sorzano / Shutterstock
As the saying goes, “When white folks catch a cold, black folks get pneumonia.” Centuries of racist policy and practice mean that people of color are hit first and worst in every crisis. That’s true of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is disproportionately killing African Americans. And it is true of the ongoing crisis of climate change.
Consider this: Neighborhoods scarred by racist redlining practices are nearly five degrees hotter, on average, than their whiter, wealthier counterparts. As a result, those communities are literal hotspots for the urban heat island effect—the deadliest climate impact.
Environmental funders are increasingly aware of the need for a more equitable response to climate change. And in impacted communities across the U.S., local groups—often led by people of color—are tackling the twin challenges of climate and equity. But for the most part, philanthropic dollars are not reaching those frontline groups. Today, about half of climate funding goes to just 20 national organizations, which are overwhelmingly led by white men.
The Kresge Foundation’s Environment Program is an exception. In 2014, Kresge launched the Climate Resilience and Urban Opportunity (CRUO) initiative, a five-year, $29 million effort that prioritized work led by advocates and organizers in frontline communities.
“We wanted to address the historic disinvestment in community-based organizations,” says Shamar Bibbins, a senior program officer at Kresge who led the CRUO grantmaking. “Our question was, what would look different if we provided significant, sustained funding to help those groups deepen their influence, leadership and capacity around climate change?”
A Path to Victories on Climate
The answer to that question is now coming into view. A recent evaluation of CRUO, conducted by Spark Policy Institute and Ross Strategic, affirms the value of Kresge’s approach. CRUO grantees scored impressive policy wins in their communities, regions and states. Collectively, they built a broader coalition and helped shift thinking about climate resilience.
Importantly, the CRUO grantees showed that investing in frontline communities is a path to victories on climate: “At a time when the U.S. has abandoned global efforts on climate change and there is either paralysis or attacks on environment at the federal level, this grantmaking strategy is working and winning,” says Rachel Leon, executive director of the Environmental Grantmakers Association (EGA).
There are several reasons for climate funders’ neglect of frontline communities. First, in the mid-2000s, many of those funders aligned with the Design to Win strategy, a policy agenda focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. That strategy called for technically focused, market-based solutions, establishing funding patterns that remain despite diminished prospects for such policy changes at a national scale.
Also, “There was a perception that highly local work couldn’t add up fast enough,” says Lois R. DeBacker, managing director of Kresge’s Environment Program. “And the reality is that it's difficult to get money to small organizations—it’s not easy to give away $18 million in $10K grants.”
There is sometimes a misalignment of scope: “Frontline community groups are often multi-issue, as they should be,” says Leon. “But historically, philanthropy has focused on very specific goals and metrics.” And funders question the capacity of local groups. But that is a “chicken-and-egg” question, says Leon, because foundation support would bolster local groups’ capacity.
More insidiously, grantmaking decisions are shaped by the less-than-inclusive culture of environmental philanthropy. “We hire people and they bring with them certain networks,” says DeBacker, “Many environmental grantmakers are white, and that influences the networks they have and know. And we have mental models of who we view as experts, those we go to for advice—and that creates unintentional, but actual, bias.”
Flipping the Frame
Given those realities, Kresge’s approach was to “flip the frame” of their climate investments, says Bibbins. That meant changing assumptions, strategies and even the foundation’s culture of grantmaking.
As part of a foundation-wide pivot toward expanding opportunities in America’s cities, Kresge’s environment program was charged with developing a climate strategy that prioritized the interests of low-income urban communities of color. “So rather than funding mainstream environmental groups, hoping that they would strengthen their competency around equity, we decided to fund groups whose work was already grounded in equity, to deepen their engagement on climate,” says DeBacker.
CRUO’s grantmaking was divided into two phases. Nine-month planning grants enabled Kresge staff to work with a cohort of grantees as they devised strategies and identified areas for capacity building. Then, in the implementation phase, Kresge funded 15 of the 17 community groups from the planning cohort, focusing on those with the greatest likelihood of success.
Throughout both phases, Kresge worked to remain flexible and adaptive, allowing grantees to respond to changing conditions. This was particularly important after the 2016 election, which presented many grantees with urgent community needs and new political realities. That adaptive approach was supported by dialog with an external advisory committee and grantees, as well as other supports such as peer-learning funds that fostered learning and engagement across the climate-resilience field.
Community building and technical assistance were baked in from the start. In addition to support for local groups, CRUO made grants to a handful of national “field-building” organizations, including the Center for American Progress and EcoAdapt. And Kresge supported various mechanisms—annual convenings, peer-to-peer learning and special-issue convenings—that enabled those groups to learn from one another.
Those connections proved transformational on both ends. Frontline groups got access to the resources of national organizations; the national groups got schooled on the equity challenges facing local groups. As one field-building grantee told the CRUO evaluators, “We've learned tremendously from the first-hand experiences of place-based [organizations]… This knowledge has helped us to craft meaningful policy recommendations that policymakers and local advocates support.”
Kresge also took on what Green 2.0 has called “an overwhelmingly white ‘Green Insiders’ club” by hiring diverse, culturally competent staff. “We’ve hired people, like Shamar [Bibbins], who have really strong commitments to equity, and who have a lived experience of understanding how racism plays out,” says DeBacker. “The intensity of a commitment to equity, and the sense of urgency around it, is stronger for those who have lived it up close and personal.”
A Growing Record of Wins
Together, these approaches led to significant policy wins. In Portland, for example, several CRUO grantees (Coalition of Communities of Color, OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon, Native American Youth and Family Center) helped secure passage of the Portland Clean Energy Fund. The fund imposes a surcharge on retailers with over $1 billion in annual sales, generating $30 million a year for clean energy projects, job training, local food production, and green infrastructure. Crucially, the fund directs resources to Portlanders who are impacted by climate change but historically excluded from the emerging low-carbon economy.
In Fresno, California, the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability worked with partners to redirect state climate funds to under-invested neighborhoods in West Fresno and secured new statewide guidelines that require community engagement and support in allocating those funds. In Miami, Florida, Catalyst Miami pushed city officials to ensure that the $400 million Miami Forever Bond includes a Citizens Oversight Board that represents the interests of the community and has a say in how bond money is allocated.
As frontline groups secure policy wins, they are producing tectonic shifts in thinking about the climate movement. “The grantees really forced us to expand our vision of what constitutes climate work, because they are coming at the work from such a holistic, intersectional approach,” says Bibbins.
That expansive vision has been embraced by other funders, notably the JPB Foundation, which supports the Institute for Sustainable Communities’ Partnership for Resilient Communities. Leon, of EGA, says that support for environmental justice issues among her group’s members has been steadily rising for the last few years.
Fundamentally, the CRUO initiative showed the value of investment in frontline communities—not only because those communities are most vulnerable in a warming world. Frontline groups bring invaluable assets to the climate fight—including trusted leaders, deep knowledge of local conditions and history, and hard-won experience fighting against inequity. Paired with philanthropic resources, frontline groups are poised to win on the entwined challenges of climate change and inequity.
This story originally appeared on Inside Philanthropy
Miami could offer small businesses loans and grants for coronavirus economic recovery
April 21, 2020
By: Joey Flechas
Small business Event Service Group keep workers with hope of the SBA loans promise from the government as the coronavirus outbreak creates a work stoppage, April 8, 2020. By: Charles Trainor Jr.
Miami’s city government could create a program to distribute $1 million to keep small businesses afloat during the coronavirus pandemic.
Commissioners on Thursday will consider approving a package of assistance programs that aim to help local businesses survive the economic downturn brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nonessential businesses were shaken when governments ordered them to close in mid-March. Such orders have sent economic ripples through South Florida and the nation, fueling layoffs, furloughs and skyrocketing unemployment claims.
Before starting a detailed discussion on when to start reopening businesses in the city of Miami, administrators are proposing financial aid packages to help proprietors keep the lights on and employees on the payroll. After state and federal assistance dollars quickly dried up following a crush of applications, many owners are still hoping to get some help.
Administrators have proposed using $1 million in federal grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to fund two assistance programs that would offer emergency loans to small businesses and grants to micro businesses, a term for establishments with five or fewer employees. The city received the federal grants as part of Congress’ $2 trillion COVID-19 relief package, which passed in late March.
Under one of the programs, $400,000 would be steered toward micro businesses, the smallest of small businesses, to pay for salaries, rents and other bills. Grants of up $10,000 would be available for the smallest of small businesses to pay for salaries, rents and other bills. Owners of such businesses must have an income that is less than or equal to 80% of the area median income, depending on the size of the owner’s household.
“The goal of the micro-enterprise assistance program is to provide low- to moderate-income business owners with financial assistance that will result in business stabilization in the next three months,” the guidelines for the program say.
The other program would provide $600,000 in emergency loans for for-profit businesses located within Miami’s city limits, regardless of the number of employees. Loans ranging from $5,000 to $20,000 would be available to cover salaries, rent/mortgage, utilities and insurance payments. The loans could become grants if jobs are retained for at least one year, and at least half of the jobs that are created or maintained are filled by low- and moderate-income workers.
Under the program, a three-member committee appointed by the city’s director of housing and community development, George Mensah, would meet virtually within three days of receiving an application to determine if the business qualifies for the assistance.
Mayor Francis Suarez said the loans could help fill gaps left by Payroll Protection Program loans since owners could use the money to pay the rent and utilities. The mayor said a few key sectors in the city’s economy need the most help.
“The biggest ones are the retail sector and the restaurants,” Suarez said. “They’ve been decimated.”
Both programs would be first-come, first-served.
In a separate proposed resolution, the city would pay three community organizations $50,000 each to assist small businesses in applying for federal loans. Catalyst Miami, Prospera and the Allapattah Collaborative Community Development Corp. would divide up the city and help owners prepare and submit their loan applications.
Mileyka Burgos-Flores, executive director of the Allapattah group, told the Miami Herald the whole suite of programs would provide much-needed relief, but no matter how well-intentioned, they must be implemented so that the neediest local businesses and workers benefit.
“We really need to make sure that it’s really going to the small businesses that are sustaining our communities,” she said.
Commissioners are scheduled to meet via video conference Thursday to discuss the assistance programs, among other agenda items.
Administrators are also planning to use another $2 million in federal grants to help Miami residents pay for rent and utilities. The details of the program, which are still being finalized, are expected to be released Friday. The plan wouldn’t be the first time the city helps tenants pay rent. In October, commissioners approved a $1 million program to help some low-income seniors pay for rent increases.
This story originally appeared on The Miami Herald
Coronavirus has derailed Miami’s volunteer tax preparers. They still want you to file as early as possible.
April 6, 2020
By Lautaro Grinspan
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks about the Florida unemployment rate via livestream from Tallahassee, Florida, on Tuesday, March 24, 2020.
As the devastating economic ramifications of the coronavirus crisis come into sharper view, many families’ ability to promptly receive financial relief — including stimulus checks — will hinge on filing a 2019 tax return, experts say.
But for low-income families, getting free tax preparation assistance will be more difficult now than in previous years. Health concerns over the COVID-19 outbreak have disrupted the workflow of many of Miami-Dade’s volunteer tax preparers, prompting the outright closure of many free tax-filing sites.
“We are really concerned right now,” said Karla Bachmann, director of financial wellness services at Branches, the nonprofit that heads Miami’s coalition of free tax preparers. “We need to adapt on how we are providing services so that we can still provide services.”
In normal times, Miami Tax Pros — a group of 21 local organizations led by Branches — mobilizes more than 500 IRS-certified volunteer tax preparers across 44 tax preparation sites scattered around Miami-Dade County. As a result, around 12,000 families every year receive free tax-filing assistance, collectively saving around $3 million in preparation fees and securing over $10 million in tax refunds.
Now, many of the sites are closed, including those housed in public libraries and universities. Others, operated by local nonprofits and county-run community centers, are figuring out a way to provide tax services virtually.
But Bachmann said there are hurdles to providing this kind of financial assistance online. Many of the people who need help are recent immigrants who don’t speak English and may have limited access to the necessary digital tools.
“It’s very difficult to do virtual tax preparation because the people that we serve just don’t have the technology or the know-how to upload documents online, for instance,” she said. “Most sites have not figured out how to do it virtually. It’s actually very challenging and not an easy fix.”
At the moment, Branches is operating just two sites, in Florida City and in Lakeview, with a host of new precautions. Each site has dropped down to skeleton staff. Clients don’t come into the premises. Instead, they make appointments to drop off their paperwork through an open window or door at specific times.
“It’s almost like a drive-thru window,” said Bachmann.
Because only one family can visit per hour, each site is only handling about 10 appointments per day.
“The goal is to avoid having lots of families standing outside the office,” said Bachmann.
Last month, the U.S. Treasury announced it was extending the tax filing deadline to July. But that probably won’t be enough to compensate for limitations on the number of people who can receive help, Bachmann said.
An extension “doesn’t make any difference if we are unable to provide services,” she said.
RELIEF THROUGH TAXES
As part of the recently passed, $2 trillion coronavirus relief package, the U.S. government will funnel a maximum of $1,200 to eligible taxpayers — that is, those who make less than $75,000 for single filers.
To determine eligibility, the IRS will look at 2018 tax returns, meaning taxpayers don’t technically have to take any action to receive their payments. If no 2018 tax return was filed, the IRS will look at 2019 tax returns, which have to be filed this year.
According to Bachmann, there are many reasons why taxpayers would want the IRS to consider their most recent set of tax returns.
First, for folks who’ve suffered income losses in fiscal year 2019 relative to fiscal year 2018, more recent tax returns are more likely to make them eligible for the maximum amount of stimulus money distributed by the government.
Second, for folks whose address or direct-deposit information has recently changed, filing 2019 taxes would ensure the IRS has up-to-date information on hand, making it more likely for the stimulus money to arrive in a timely manner.
“Doing 2019 taxes is the best way, the fastest way for you to make sure you get your check,” said Bachmann.
At a time when many in South Florida are losing jobs and feeling the economic crunch from the coronavirus crisis, filing taxes as soon as possible — regardless of the extended deadline — will also give families faster access to other types of relief. That includes tax refunds as well as any tax credits that filers are eligible for, including the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC), both of which have been effective in helping lift low-income Americans above the poverty line.
“The Child Tax Credit and the EITC, that’s cash that these families really need right now,” said Gretchen Beesing, CEO of Catalyst Miami, a local nonprofit that also provides personal finance help. “But many need in-person assistance” to file their taxes.
To make an appointment at the Branches sites still operating, people can call 305-688-3551 (extension 2008). The free help is available to people who make $54,000 or less, persons with disabilities and taxpayers who speak limited English.
According to the United Way Center for Financial Stability, about 80 percent of tax filers in MIami-Dade qualify for assistance.
This story originally appeared in the Miami Herald
Dental Care Providers Explore Legislative Fixes To Address Lack of Access
November 19, 2019
By Jessica Bakeman
The community advocacy group Catalyst Miami is creating a collection of personal stories about the importance of oral health care. The group shot videos of people sharing their anecdotes during an oral health summit at Miami Dade College in Hialeah.
Some Florida dentists, hygienists, students and advocates are promoting a legislative proposal to create a new tier of providers who could offer routine procedures to people who lack access to oral health care.
A plan to create a new state license for dental therapists, mid-level practitioners comparable to physician’s assistants in medicine, was one solution offered at an oral health equity summit held Tuesday at Miami Dade College’s Hialeah campus. The practitioners perform procedures like filling cavities, placing temporary crowns and extracting loose or diseased teeth, under the supervision of a dentist.
Republican Sen. Jeff Brandes of St. Petersburg is sponsoring a bill, SB 152, that would regulate the education and licensure of dental therapists. Similar bills have received support in the state Senate but failed to pass the full Legislature in recent years.
Supporters argue dental therapists would make dental care more accessible to low-income families, especially children, as well as the elderly and residents of rural communities.
Kathlyn Leiviska is a dental therapist in Minnesota who has advocated in Florida and other states for laws that establish her position. She said while dentists can perform about 400 procedures, she can do 83, and she is paid about half as much.
“If it passes in your state, you don’t have to hire dental therapists. There’s nothing that mandates you to do that. But it’s a tool in your toolbox that you can use to help bring more providers to that population,” Leiviska said.
Susan Kass, who directs MDC’s dental hygiene program, wrote in a recent letter to the editor published in the Miami Herald that dental therapists would help more people receive care.
“Miami Dade College’s dental hygiene clinic serves thousands of patients each year, offering comprehensive care at a nominal cost,” Kass wrote in the op-ed. “When our students and licensed dentists find dental decay and the need for restorative care, we refer our patients to facilities throughout the county. What we see repeatedly, however, is that when many of these patients return, they have not had the restorative care.
“Expanding the array of dental providers to include therapists would allow Floridians access to oral health care they need and, frankly, deserve,” she wrote.
An attendee at Tuesday's summit raised a question about whether the addition of dental therapists could eliminate jobs for dentists and hygienists.
Jane Grover, a representative of the American Dental Association, argued it was better "to utilize and maximize the opportunities that are already on the ground right now," like placing more dentists in underserved areas and supporting advanced certifications for dental assistants.
Dental therapists are recognized in about a dozen states, and Florida is one of a handful of others currently considering creating new licensure requirements, according to the American Dental Hygienists’ Association.
Another legislative fix that could increase the availability of dental health care would require state funding. Lawmakers approved a measure this spring offering loan repayment for dental students who agree to accept Medicaid or work in underserved areas, but the program wasn’t funded.
During the event, participants signed letters to Republican U.S. Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, who represent Florida, asking them to support legislation that would increase the coverage of oral health care under Medicare, a federal health insurance program for the elderly and disabled people.
Susan Galvis signed one of the letters. She’s a dental assistant at a children’s hospital and is studying public health at Florida International University. She said educating parents in oral hygiene is key to improving children’s oral health.
“We don’t do anything by brushing one day or flossing one day. We’re doing it there, on site [at the dentist’s office], but then, parents need to enforce it,” she said. “We need to teach the parents even more.”
Other suggestions offered during the summit include: Hiring dental hygienists to work in schools, putting toothbrushes and non-foaming toothpaste on students’ lunch trays, raising awareness about how oral ailments can develop into more serious health complications, and paying people to go to the dentist once a year.
University of Florida College of Dentistry professor Scott Tomar explained the detrimental impacts of the lack of access to oral health care.
He said emergency rooms aren’t always equipped to treat dental problems. When people report to hospitals with tooth abscesses or other dental problems, they’re often prescribed antibiotics and painkillers, including opioids, he said.
“When we can’t provide early preventative and treatment services, this is what the outcome is,” Tomar said.
This story originally appeared on WLRN.org